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Published project takes too long to start

Nov 1, 2011 12:40 AM

Tags: #publishing #captivate_5

I have a quick question about a simple captivate project. I created a project with only powerpoint slides (no animation) and with some audio. However I takes a very long time to load the course. Much longer than my other "more complicated" captivate projects. While the file size is only 10Mb (half the size of the other projects).

The course should start after downloading 5% of the file (Settings: Start-End, Pre-loading = 5%), but still no results.

Let me know if you are interested in a quick look….Any idea why this take so long?

Link: http://www.nomoneylaundering.com/downloads/elearning/aml_awareness_tra ining/aml_awareness_training.htm

2208 Views 29 Replies Latest reply: RodWard, Apr 12, 2012 7:21 PM

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1. RiskLMSspecialist,

Nov 1, 2011 7:37 AM in reply to shvdv

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I'm assuming you published in Flash? If so, maybe select a different version of Flash to publish with?

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2. shvdv,

Nov 1, 2011 2:30 PM in reply to RiskLMSspecialist

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I published the project in Flash version 10. This should be the best version right?

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3. RodWard,

Nov 1, 2011 7:56 PM in reply to shvdv

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The Flash player version you publish to is determined by your target audience and what they are using. It's less of a question about which is the "best version". Usually, the later versions will have speed improvements etc, but if your users don't have those versions then you would be forcing them to upgrade in order to see content. In some corporate settings the end users may not have permissions to change or update their Flash Player version. Know your target audience.

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4. shvdv,

Nov 1, 2011 10:43 PM in reply to RodWard

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Hi RodWard,

Thanks for the tip. But what about the issue with my project. If the flash version is not the problem what else can slow down the startup time of a published course? The file size is 10Mb and it should start after downloading 5%, but with my highspeed boardband internet is still takes 4 minutes to start. While other projects with double the file size only takes a few seconds.

Stan

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5. RodWard,

Nov 1, 2011 11:00 PM in reply to shvdv

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Tell me more about what this project contains. Are there any videos, SWF animations, Question Pools? If you have voiceover audio, was it added separately slide by slide or to the project and then synced up to slides?

Are there any widgets or other components?

Are there heavier graphics or introductory videos near the beginning of the course module?

Does it load up and play immediately when you run it from your own PC drive, or is there a slight lag when compared to the other projects you mention?

Are all of these other faster projects constructed and structured the same way as this one, or is there something different about the one that is slow?

I get the feeling that there is something more in play here than just the size of the project.

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6. shvdv,

Nov 2, 2011 1:27 AM in reply to RodWard

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Hi Rodward,

It's a powerpoint project. No animations nor videos. Just audio and nothing special. That is why I am so confused about the time it takes to start. I have made several more "complexed" courses with twice the size and without any issues. If you like you can download the project from here and take a look.

I would highly appreciate it..

Link: http://www.nomoneylaundering.com/downloads/elearning/AMLAwarenessv4.cp tx.zip

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7. RodWard,

Nov 2, 2011 1:47 AM in reply to shvdv

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I'll take a look at your file to see if anything jumps out.

Are your other courses that behave better also based on PowerPoint and created in the same way, or are they created all in Captivate from the start?

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8. shvdv,

Nov 2, 2011 2:05 AM in reply to RodWard

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No, the other projects are created from scratch in Captivate and not in PP.

Stan

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9. jaw63,

Mar 29, 2012 10:06 AM in reply to RodWard

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I'm having a similar issue. Has this ever been resolved? If so, would you mind posting the solution so I can try it as well? Thank you.

Jessika

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10. iluvelearning,

Mar 29, 2012 11:52 AM in reply to shvdv

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If you have audio on some of your slides and the audio plays at the beginning of the timeline on that slide, it doesn't matter what your preload is set at...the file will NOT load until 100% of the project has been buffered since it has audio playing at the start of the slide(s).

On the slides with audio...move the start of the audio on the timeline to .1 (just drag it back a TINY bit) and then resave and republish with the preloader set where you want it. That should help. Once someone gave me that advice, my files started loading MUCH faster. Let me know if you need further instructions and I can take some screen shots.

Good luck!

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11. shvdv,

Mar 29, 2012 2:01 PM in reply to iluvelearning

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Hi,

Thanks for your reply.
I moved the audio parts 0.1 on all slides but I didn't see much difference. Any other tips which might help? I don't have this issue when I create a project from scratch, only when I import slides from PP (without audio).

Stan

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12. RodWard,

Mar 29, 2012 6:46 PM in reply to shvdv

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What is your preloader % set to?
What is the available download bandwidth on the computer where the published project loads slowly? (Google for websites that will test this and give you an actual download bandwidth value in megabits per second.)
How many megabytes is your project?
Have the images in the move been optimised to reduce filesize?

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13. shvdv,

Apr 1, 2012 4:44 AM in reply to RodWard

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Hi,
Below you will find my settings. Nothing unusual...

What is your preloader % set to? 5%
What is the available download bandwidth on the computer where the published project loads slowly? (Google for websites that will test this and give you an actual download bandwidth value in megabits per second.) I am using Godaddy and do not have issues with the speed. Other -elearning courses works okay.
How many megabytes is your project? 10Mb
Have the images in the move been optimised to reduce filesize? Yes

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14. RodWard,

Apr 1, 2012 7:13 AM in reply to shvdv

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If you have any widgets in your course, try removing them and testing whether that speeds things up.

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15. __icarus__,

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Apr 11, 2012 6:39 AM in reply to shvdv

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I am having a similar issue ... I have a 20 meg file but the preloader is set to only 1% and it seems to take forever to load, haven't tried moving the audio a bit from the start yet but will ... does anyone else have any other tips they have come across to speed things up?

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16. __icarus__,

Apr 12, 2012 5:45 AM in reply to shvdv

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OK tried moving the audio clips from the beginning of the slide timelines and still nothing, what is up with this program? why would you allow users to set a preload limit if it doesn't actually do anything? Does anybody have any other tips to resolve this?

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17. RodWard,

Apr 12, 2012 5:50 AM in reply to __icarus__

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@_icarus_ Are you delivering your courses from a web server or a LAN server?

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18. __icarus__,

Apr 12, 2012 6:39 AM in reply to RodWard

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Hi Rod,

A web server.

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19. shvdv,

Apr 12, 2012 7:02 AM in reply to RodWard

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I have no widgets or any other animations in my course. Only slides and audio.

Stan

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20. __icarus__,

Apr 12, 2012 7:08 AM in reply to RodWard

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Rod did you say there is an update for Captivate 5 that should resolve this? I don't have 5.5 ... I have version 5. Do you know what the actual version number is that is supposed to have the fix? I am running 5.0.3.631.

Thanks!

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21. shvdv,

Apr 12, 2012 7:15 AM in reply to __icarus__

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I am running the same version here.

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22. RodWard,

Apr 12, 2012 8:25 AM in reply to shvdv

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Your version of Cp5 is later than mine, and mine doesn't have this issue.

Which particular preloader are you using in your project? Have you tried just using the default.swf preloader?

Have you tried uploading your content to a totally different web server to see if the same content performs differently? For example, try SCORM Cloud and see if the same or a different preloader works from there. Your issue might just be your current web server environment.

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23. __icarus__,

Apr 12, 2012 8:44 AM in reply to RodWard

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I have used this preloader in the past with no issues, I will try uploading the content to another server to see if it makes a difference

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24. shvdv,

Apr 12, 2012 9:32 AM in reply to __icarus__

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I switch to the default pre-loader and the problem seems to be solved. I need to do more checking but it looks promising.

Stan

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25. __icarus__,

Apr 12, 2012 10:58 AM in reply to shvdv

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Let me know if this works out for you Stan.

Thanks

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26. shvdv,

Apr 12, 2012 12:32 PM in reply to __icarus__

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Yes, it works.

I was using a preloader from the web for my e-learning courses. No issues before, but when I used the powerpoint import feature I had a very long start up time. Now I switch to a default preloader from the Captiva gallery folder and it seems that the course starts immediately.

Don't now why but it seems to solve my problem.
Stan

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27. __icarus__,

Apr 12, 2012 12:54 PM in reply to shvdv

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Weird, thanks very much for letting me know and thank you Rod for your help as always. I will give it a shot.

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28. __icarus__,

Apr 12, 2012 3:26 PM in reply to shvdv

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Well that was what the problem was, I used the default preloader and my project loaded right away, thanks Rod!

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29. RodWard,

Apr 12, 2012 7:21 PM in reply to __icarus__

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OK. Please mark this thread as Answered then so that other users will know where to find a solution.

By the way, another little gotcha with preloaders is that if you transfer your project file from one computer to another, and the path shown to the preloader under Preferences > Project > Start and End is NOT exactly the same, then Captivate will not be able to find the preloader file at publish time and will not be able to include it with the output files. This can mean that your preloader simply does not appear and your project load time will suffer because basically you are getting no preloading at all.

I found this out the hard way when I transferred a project file from my 64bit computer to a 32bit computer and the preloaders tanked. The file path was looking for them in a non-existend Program Files (86) directory (as found on 64bit systems running 32bit apps), whereas the current 32 bit PC only had a Program Files directory.

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