What version of the Flash authoring tool should I use?
We recommend Adobe Flash CS3 Professional, this is available from http://www.adobe.com/products/flash/. Older versions, e.g. Macromedia Flash MX can be used, but you may not be able to open many of the example FLA files found on this site.
What version of Flash should I output for? (Flash Lite / Flash 7 / 8 / 9 etc)
Flash 7. It is very important that that you set your movie to target this, and not any more recent versions.
To set it, go to the File / Publish Settings screen, then the Flash tab, and choose 'Flash 7' next to the text version.
Don't use any of the 'Flash Lite' versions. This may change when mscape expands to include Windows Mobile devices without touchscreens, but for now Flash 7 only is supported.
What Actionscript version should I use?
Flash 7 (see above) only supports a maximum of Actionscript 2.0, so this should always be used. If you want to include any third-party ActionScript code, make sure it doesn't use Actionscript 3.0, or it will not work in your mscape.
What frame rate and screen size should I use?
Most Windows Mobile devices are 320x240 in portrait mode, and 240x320 in landscape mode, so these are the recommended sizes to use. For frame rate, remember that the PDA is many times slower than your PC, so try and keep the frame rate as low as possible. We tend to use the default of 12 frames per second. To set the screen size and frame rate, go to Modify / Document via the main menu.
My Flash Movie worked fine in mscape tester, but doesn't play back properly on the PDA
Probably what has happened is that you have published your Flash movie for Flash Player 8 or 9. This will run fine on your desktop PC, but not on the PDA as that only runs Flash 7.
How do I create video for use in mscape?
mscape uses Flash to play videos as well as interactive Flash content.
If you have Adobe Flash CS3 Professional, the following page steps you through the sequence to output movies that are compatible with mscape. How to Create Videos Using Flash CS3 Professional.
How do I control the playback of my movie from mscape?
There are many places on the web where you can find tutorials, sample code, and forums.
One of our favourites is FlashKit. In addition to tutorials and samples, this site also has a large database of free sounds, graphics, and animations that you can include in your Flash movies.
How do I loop a Flash Movie?
The Flash communication system built into mscape prevents movies looping by default. To work around this, you should put a gotoAndPlay(1); action in the last frame of your movie using the ActionScript window (F9).
loadMovie / loadVars / XML doesn't work properly within Flash
There is a difference between the way Flash handles URLs to local files when run as part of a mediascape. In short, you cannot use relative URLs to local resources in Flash movies running as part of an mscape. See the following document for details on how to work around this issue - UsingLoadMovie.
I've stopped my Flash movie, but some sounds are still playing?
Audios that are played looped in Flash don't stop when you run the Stop function within mscape. See the following document for details on how to work around this issue - LoopedAudios.
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