Standalone Players and Plugins

Flash 4 includes new versions of the Flash plugins, ActiveX control, and the standalone Flash Players.

Replace Flash 3 versions of the Flash plugins for Netscape, ActiveX control for Internet Explorer with the new Flash 4 versions to view Flash movies that incorporate Flash 4 features.

Use the standalone Flash Players to create projectors or to play movies outside a browser or ActiveX application. Use a projector when you want to distribute movies to users who don't have Flash or properly configured browsers, or for distributing movies on floppy disks or CD-ROMs. There are no distribution costs or limitations on distributing projectors created with the standalone players.

Included Files: Describes all files included in the Players folder.
Installing Netscape Plugins for Windows: detailed instructions for installing the Windows plugin.
Troubleshooting: Workarounds for known bugs and common errors.

Included Files

Flash Players For Macintosh

Mac standalone player:

Flash Player - This is the standalone player version of Flash for PPC Macintosh users. Drag and Drop or use File>Open in the standalone player menu to view movies in the standalone players. To create a projector file for Macintosh Power PC only, open your movie in the standalone player and select Create Projector from the file menu or use the Publish command.

Mac Netscape Plugin:

Shockwave Flash NP-PPC - This is the Netscape Navigator Plugin version of Flash for Macintosh Power PC users. Copy this file into the Plugins folder inside the Netscape Navigator folder. This plugin will also work with Microsoft Internet Explorer 3.0 or later for Macintosh.

Flash Plugins and Players For Windows

FlashAXInstaller.exe: This file contains an installer for Internet Explorer ActiveX control on Windows95/98/NT. To use this file, copy it to your PC, then double click the file to start the installation.

NPSWF32.dll: This is the Netscape Navigator Plugin version of Flash for Windows 95/98/NT users. Copy this file into the Plugins folder inside the Netscape Navigator folder.

FlashPla.exe: This is the standalone player version of Flash for Windows 95/98/NT. It is also used by the Publish command to create Windows 95/98/NT compatible projector files. Windows projector files can be created inside the Flash editor application by selecting Publish Settings from the File menu and then selecting Windows Projector. Click the Publish button to create the Windows projector.

Flash Player Java(tm) Edition

This is our latest release of the Flash Player Java(TM) Edition.

This release supports Flash 2 features only. This version does not support Flash 3 or 4 files or Flash 3 or 4 features. To use Flash Player Java(TM) Edition with Flash 4, select "version Flash 2" in the Flash export or publish dialogs.

There are two additional folders in the Flash Player Java(TM) Edition folder, FlashSmall and FlashApi.
The FlashSmall folder contains a smaller version of the Flash Player Java(TM) Edition. Sound and bitmap support have been disabled in this version in order to reduce the size of the Applet. If you don't have any sounds or bitmaps in your movie, consider using the smaller applet in order to view the Flash movie.
The FlashApi folder contains a package, FlashApi.zip, which developers can import into their own applets and applications. FlashApi.html contains the documentation for the api in that package.

A Java Player Template has been included with Flash 4 to use with the Flash Player Java(TM) Edition. Be sure to select Version 2 from the Flash tab of the Publish Settings dialog. The Java Player Template links the Flash Player Java(TM) Edition files level (in the same folder) to your html file. To use the HTML created from the template you need to place the Flash Player Java(TM) Edition files in the same folder as your SWF and HTML files.

To install the Plugin for Macintosh:

Netscape and Internet Explorer:

1. Quit your browser before installing the new plugin.
2. Remove any old versions of the FutureSplash and the Flash plugins.
3. Copy the Shockwave Flash NP-PPC file for Macintosh into your browser's Plugin folder.
4. Open the Browser. The new Flash Plug-in should be installed and working. To verify, choose the "About Plug-Ins" menu option from Netscape's Help menu, or choose About "Internet Explorer...", then click on the "Support" button to view the list of installed plugins.

To install the Plugin for Windows:

Netscape:

1. Quit your browser before installing the new plugin.
2. Remove any old versions of the FutureSplash and the Flash plugins.
3. Copy the NPSWF32.dll file for Windows 95/98/NT into your browser's Plugin folder.
4. Open the Browser. The new Flash Plug-in should be installed and working. To verify, choose the "About Plug-Ins" menu option from Netscape's Help menu, or choose About "Internet Explorer...", then click on the "Support" button to view the list of installed plugins.

Internet Explorer:

1. Quit your browser before installing the new ActiveX Control
2. Double click the InstallAXFlash.exe file to begin the installation.

Troubleshooting

 If after installing the Flash plug-in it does not work, here are a few things to check.

• Make sure you remove the old versions of the FutureSplash or Flash Plugin.
• If you are using Internet Explorer for the Macintosh, open the Options dialog in the Edit menu. Select the Web Content tab and be sure that "Load Plug-In Objects" is selected.
• If you are testing your own SWF files from a web server, make sure that you have set the MIME type mapping for SWF files to application/x-shockwave-flash.

Netscape Navigator Plugin is installed but not working:

Netscape Navigator 4 Macintosh Users

1. In the browser, choose Edit > Preferences.
2. Choose the Navigator > Applications Category.
3. Select Shockwave Flash from the list on the right.
4. Click Delete and then click Yes to confirm the deletion.
5. Click OK to close the Preferences dialog box.
6. Restart your browser.

Netscape Navigator 3 Macintosh Users

1. In the browser, choose Options > General Preferences.
2. Click the Helpers tab.
3. Select Shockwave Flash from the list.
4. Click Delete and then click Yes to confirm the deletion.
5. Click OK to close the Preferences dialog box.
6. Restart your browser.

Netscape Navigator display problems:

When Netscape runs out of memory, you may see display problems in the plugin or Netscape may hang. Some versions of Netscape install with only 4000K of memory on a Macintosh with the standalone version of the browser (the version that contains the browser without mail). You may also have this problem with the full installation of Netscape.

To increase the memory allocation for Netscape:

1. Click on the program icon,
2. Select File > Get Info.
3. In the dialog which opens, increase the memory-we recommend at least 9000K, if you have limited memory 6000K should work for most smaller movies.

Macintosh Internet Explorer Users:

Adding the SWF MIME type for Macintosh Internet Explorer users

The movies in Flash Help are Flash movies. They are installed on your local hard drive. To use Internet Explorer 3.0 or 4.0 on a Macintosh to view these movies or any Flash movies stored locally, you must change your Internet Explorer MIME type Preferences.

To add the SWF MIME type to your Internet Explorer browser preferences on a Macintosh:

To view older FutureSplash files, repeat these steps (adding a new File Helper), but in Step 4 Representation, use the Extension of .spl instead of .swf.