Director MX 2004 emerging issues

Last updated:May 13, 2005

Adobe and Apple are working together to ensure compatibility between Adobe products and Mac OS X v10.4 "Tiger". Before choosing to install Mac OS X 10.4 "Tiger", users should review the following known issues to determine if they are relevant to their workflow. Adobe and Apple are working together on these issues:

Director MX 2004 Issues:

• The ability to copy the name of a cast member when the cast is in "list view" is not functioning properly. (Ref. 159521)
• Adding a folder called "Support files" prevents the projector from launching. (Ref. 161135)
• Expander arrows in Director's panel group header bars do not animate (Ref. 189350)
• Quick "white flash" when Director application is started and system preferences file is loaded (Ref. 189359)

Shockwave Player Issues:

Note: The following only affects the Adobe Shockwave Player in Safari.

• 3D sprites rendered in OpenGL draw over the Safari browser window. This issue does not occur in Internet Explorer or when using "Software Renderer" instead of OpenGL. For more details, review 3D sprites in a Shockwave movie shift location during playback in Safari (TechNote f6b002d1). (Ref. 129713)
• DVD sprites in Shockwave render offset from intended location. (Ref. 189486)
• Mousedown events work sporadically and are not reliable in Safari. (Ref. 143627)
• High ASCII characters do not display in the status bar. (Ref. 136492)
• Safari returns extra strings when retrieving embed tag. (Ref. 136379)

Note: Also refer to Adobe compatibility with Apple Macintosh OS X v 10.4 (Tiger) (TechNote d2410320) for information about compatibility considerations affectingmultiple Macromedia products.

9/16/2004 Download the latest installer for Director MX 2004 that will update your authoring installation to Director 10.1 r11. This latest version contains fixes for a number of issues found in the product soon after its release. The new installer addresses bug and has an updated help system. For a list of the issues addressed please read the Bug fixes for Director and Shockwave versions 10.x.x (TechNote 19353)

Some users have reported that the following issues are affecting their usage of Macromedia Director MX 2004. Issues described in this document may prove to be platform or system specific, and may not affect all users. Technical support will update this document as we learn more about any of the issues, so check back frequently.

Some Windows users may experience problems with product activation after installing the Flash 7.2 updater.

After installing the Flash 7.2 updater, users may find other Adobe products require reactivation. Further reactivations are required each time the application is launched. Ultimately, activation will fail after the product has been reactivated several times. This issue is addressed in the ServiceNote Reactivation failure after upgrading to Flash 7.2 (ServiceNote 19468).

A movie's sound stops unexpectedly if the sound is contained in a QuickTime movie compressed with the Sorenson 3 codec.

Currently, the only solution is to not use the Sorenson 3 codec for compressing QuickTime videos for use in Director. For more information, see QuickTime video (Sorenson) drops sound in Director MX 2004 (TechNote 19296).

Developers see that Director MX 2004 supports the DVD video format, and they expect to export a Director movie as a DVD video or DVD menu for playback on a set-top (TV) DVD-Video Player.

While Director MX 2004 introduces support for the DVD video format, developers are not able to export a Director movie as a DVD video or DVD menu for playback on a set-top (TV) DVD-Video Player. Instead, Director can now access and display the video on a DVD or DVD-ROM as a new media type. Gaining access to this media type gives greater flexibility to developers who want to use higher quality video or audio in their Director / Shockwave projects. For more information see DVD video capabilities in Director MX 2004 (TechNote 19156).

Developers are unable to find the DVD Event Manager or information about how to use the manager.

The DVD Event Manager is a cross-platform Movie In A Window (MIAW) tool that facilitates the process of creating sophisticated DVD-based interactivity without the need for intensive scripting. Developers can find the DVD Event Manager in the Goodies folder on the Director MX 2004 CD, and developers can also find it in the Director MX 2004 Goodies Folder available for download. For more information seeWhere do I find information about the DVD Event Manager? (TechNote 19164)

Developers are running into issues with the new Movie In A Window (MIAW) changes. For example, some developers are not aware of the new Display Template tab, which controls movie specific properties.

Developers authoring MIAWs should review MIAW (Movie in a Window) authoring guidelines (TechNote 19152) for guidelines, and see Projector window and Display Template options (TechNote 19270) for information about using the Display Template tab.

Developers are confused about Director's capabilities with respect to Windows Media content and MPEG video.

Director MX 2004 for Windows introduces the ability to leverage the Windows Media framework for playing back various media types. Primarily, this allows developers to use WMV and WMA files in Director projects. All developers interested in using Windows Media content should read Using Windows Media in Director (TechNote 19172).

Note: Most media types that Windows Media Player can play will also play in Director through the Windows Media feature, though this does not guarantee a given file or media type will play inside Director. If a file uses a special codec, that codec must be installed on the end-user machine in order for Director to play it using the Windows Media framework. Here are some file types that can work in Director using the Windows Media feature: WMV, WMA, MPEG-1, MPEG-2, AVI, ASF, DivX, WAV, AIFF, MP3, MIDI.

Developers are encountering issues working with DVD media. There are variations in the implementation of the DVD feature between the Macintosh and Windows version of Director. For example, some methods are not available on both platforms.

Download the latest installer for Director MX 2004 that will update your authoring installation to Director 10.1 r11. This latest version contains fixes for a number of issues found in the product soon after its release. The new installer addresses bug and has an updated help system. For a list of the issues addressed please read the Bug fixes for Director and Shockwave versions 10.x.x (TechNote 19353)

The DVD feature works differently compared to other support for digital video in Director and has a wider array of properties, methods and events that give developers better control over DVD media playback. Therefore, developers working with DVD media should review DVD Authoring Issues and Hints in Director MX 2004 (TechNote 19151) , which describes several issues that may be encountered when using DVD content in Director.

Developers are unable to find projector options that used to be located in the projector options.

Some projector settings and options that were previously available in the Create Projector > Options menu have moved to the new Display Template tab of the Property Inspector. For more information see Projector window and Display Template options (TechNote 19270).

Some customers who have used the "Archive and Install" or "Erase and Install" features of Apple Macintosh OS X have had problems running some or all of the Macromedia applications that use activation. The most common symptom of this issue is that when you click the application icon in the dock, the icon "bounces" as though it is launching, but it does not launch

Adobe has released a hot fix that resolves this issue for all products installed. For more information see Some applications won't run after upgrading to Macintosh OS X version 10.2.8 or to Panther (version 10.3) (ServiceNote 18933)

Some developers can't make custom icons for their projectors. They select an .ico file type, but Director does not register it as an icon.

Developers need to follow a set of guidelines in order to successfully create an icon for use with Director projectors. For more information see How to make a custom icon for Director Projectors (TechNote 19274).