Captivate 9 | Publishing failed | error(s)

[vikrantdangi21]

I am unable to publish my course (SCORM and HTML as well)

I have tried following steps to resolve:

1: Clear the cache

2: Deleted the temp files

3: Created one more copy

4: Changed location of file and publish as well

5: Deleted unused items

6: Tried on different systems

But every time i am getting the same error

I am facing so many issues with captivate and i had worst experience of my life with this tool. 

[Lilybiri]

Do you run Captivate as Administrator (if you are on windows)? Are the paths for Publishing and Cache pointing to folders on your system, not on a networked drive?

Are you publishing both to SWF and HTML? If yes, please publish separately, I also had issues since 9 to publish to both at the same time.

Unused items in Library have no connection at all with publishing.

Apparently you didn't clear the Preferences yet. Lookj in the subfolder 'utils' of the installation folder and run the ClearnPereferences file appropriate for your OS, while Captivate is closed.

[vikrantdangi21 · Accepted solution]

Hi Lilybiri,

Thanks for your response, i have tried those methods but non of them was working.

But i have tried one other other method (copy all slides in new blank project) and publish is working fine.

But i am still unable to find the exact issue behind this error(Due to lack of time).

[Lilybiri]

It means that the project was corrupted, can be due to many reasons.Difficult to find te real one. You could have sent the bug report.

On Tue, 27 Feb 2018 at 23:12, vikrantdangi21 <forums_noreply@adobe.com>

[RodWard]

If copying all slides into a new project shell resolved the issue then the most likely reason was that the original project CPTX was becoming corrupted.  You did the right thing.  Finding the exact cause of corruption is usually impossible for Captivate developers to ascertain anyway and you could spend weeks trying to find it.  Only a programmer on the Adobe Captivate team would likely be able to tell you the precise reason.

[sunnydabral]

This software generates random bugs, it is a poor tool to work with. It looks like this software was not tested properly before releasing. With more customization it generates more bugs. (The placed objects alignment, test size sometimes changes when copy pasting the slide, it lags as hell, etc etc). Even after putting huge efforts for all the views, the files goes corrupt and the solution to the problem are weird .

This tool does fail all the requirements for a rapid tool , its a random bug generator .

I don't think they will ever fix these issues in future updates, since they have released 2017.

[RodWard]

I always find it strange how some people experience nothing but problems with Captivate and come to the conclusion you have (that it's a terrible piece of software) and yet other people seem to find it works fine for them and they love it.

Do you think it's possible there might be OTHER factors at play here besides the programming of the software itself?

[sunnydabral]

Well Rod, This is not a one day conclusion, I have been working on this responsive tool from like 3 months and still working.

How can you explain bugs which appears randomly in a software? isn't that strange?

If these issues appears without any reasons, It clearly suggests that there is a programming issue in this tool, like this one above.

Piece of cake!!!

[vikrantdangi21]

I have worked on almost every Authoring tool (Captivate 4 to captivate 2017, Articulate storyline 1 to 360, Articulate studio, Articulate rise, lectora, sleev, Claro Live and so on) and almost for all big names across the glob.

And i am also facing the same random issues with captivate 9, i am not saying this is bad tool but this tool is great for creating Simulations but not to create full custom responsive courses with Custom GUI.

And there are other people have same opinion for reference 59 Ridiculous Adobe Captivate Issues | LinkedIn ,  

[RodWard]

Well guys, I have been using every version of Captivate since version 1 came out under the Macromedia banner. Yes I have seen plenty of bugs here and there through the versions, and after more than 12 years using it I know this tool warts and all.

I very RARELY use it for software simulations.  The vast majority of my courses are for other types of content.  It does any of these very well.

I've written several books about troubleshooting its issues starting from Captivate 5.0 all the way up to Captivate 9.  (That last book was over 400 pages in length.)  The issues I dealt with in the books are the same issues people were asking about on this Forum.

So I DO know what I am talking about when I say that the vast majority of the "issues" people report and complain about with this tool are due to one or more of the following:

• Not having their system set up properly to be compatible with Captivate.
• Not having Captivate set up properly to work on their OS.
• Not knowing how to use Captivate properly.
• Wanting Captivate to do something it was not designed to do.

Bag Captivate if you want, but I use it every day professionally and yet somehow I magically manage to avoid most of the same issues many other people vent about on this forum.  Do you honestly believe I am just THAT lucky?

[sunnydabral]

Rod, It is very skillful of you that you have created a 400 pages of book on troubleshooting these issues. Please share the link so people could find a way out of those weird bugs.

But I think writing 400 pages of troubleshooting clearly states how good is the software it self.

I also think this tool works pretty well for simulation purposes. 

My system requirements are above the mark

I have worked and created custom functionalities in captivate but it seems like the random bugs that keep generating while in development process wastes lot of efforts(in responsive projects). Can you be specific with what it is not designed to do?

I'm sure only a wizard can resolve those random bugs created by the programming errors with some magical tricks .

[RodWard]

"Random" things often only appear to be random because we don't understand the underlying causes.  Captivate issues (like all other software issues) aren't really random. They always have causes. When you know the cause, you can eliminate the issue because then it's no longer a mystery as to why it happens.

The problem with genuine software bugs is that it's often quite difficult for anyone without a very specific skillset to locate the cause of the bug.  When something IS a bug, generally the ONLY people with the required skillsets are the people that programmed the app.

If you want a link to the e-book I wrote here it is: http://www.infosemantics.com.au/troubleshoot-adobe-captivate

Be advised that the book is NOT free. People on this forum have been purchasing the books in this series for several years now.

When I said you need to set your system up to be compatible with Captivate and vice versa, I wasn't just talking about the minimum required specs as shown in the table you clipped from Adobe's website.  There's a lot more to it than that.

It's 400 pages long, not because Captivate is a bad application, but because there are just SO many things you can do with it and SO many ways you can get into trouble if you don't know what you are doing. YES the book does document quite a few legitimate bugs, but the vast majority of the "issues" (which were usually gleaned from the questions I answer every day on this forum) were due to user error and not knowing how to approach a problem.

Captivate is just a software tool.

As the old saying goes: A poor tradesman ALWAYS blames his tools.

[sunnydabral]

Sir, I like your spirit of solving those mysteries(bugs), the cause of the issues are many times illogical as they are resolved with hit and trial.

Yea the programmers should fix those countless bugs that affects the productivity and efficiency of this tool with updates.

Thanks for the link. I have also encountered and logged many issues and their troubleshooting on a doc, as soon as I'm done I will give them for free.

Yes it is, but a buggy software tool.

The old saying also states a poor trade can cost you a lot .

[vikrantdangi21]

I am not against or in favor of any authoring tool but,

so many times working on captivate i felt like "I am thirsty and to drink a glass of water i need to go to do google, than raise issues in forums, than get into discussion and finally to go through 400 pages book just to find out out one simple thing, how to drink water?" People will prefer to die thirsty if this will remain the same.

The main purpose behind developing these tool is to make rapid learning, not to make developer commit suicide just to resolve the BUG's of tool.

[RodWard]

Here's my take on this:

'Rapid' is an entirely subjective term.  Rapid in comparison with WHAT?  I once worked on a mining company that had something called the Rapid Growth Project.  Phase 1 of that project was supposed to take three YEARS (and there were several phases after that).

I remember what Captivate was when it first came out at version 1.0.  At that time it was a bare bones simple tool, produced by a company called Macromedia (who had bought it off another company called eHelp...who bought it off.. etc).

But we e-learning developers were NOT satisfied with that bare bones functionality.  We demanded more and kept asking for this feature and that feature to be added to the tool.  Macromedia responded, and so did Adobe after they bought out Macromedia.

Several versions later we're still demanding new things be added (as well as old bugs get fixed) in Captivate.  By nature we e-learning developers are a very difficult bunch of people to please because we never seem to feel any of these 'rapid e-learning authoring tools' are rapid enough, or have just the right set of features.

If Captivate has become too complex or feature laden, I think WE have to share a large part of that blame.  Try making a list of things you want taken OUT of Captivate and see if it's not a lot shorter than the list of things you want put INTO it.

[sunnydabral]

...People just never miss a chance to show how much they love this software.....

[Lilybiri]

You are lucky to have find the ideal software???? Can you tell the secret?

[RodWard]

Every year it's the same story.  Some people heading to Storyline because they're disgruntled with Captivate, and people coming over to Captivate because they're disappointed with Storyline.  Like cows that think the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence.

[Lilybiri]

Rod, some of my flute students thought they would become a soloist without more practice if they would buy a better flute 🙂