HELP! Cannot see/load Images, Audio, or video in project

Apr 12, 2013

After searching through other posts, I cannot find out what happened or how to fix my issue. I downloaded a trial version to determine if this would be a good program for our company, but already ran into major issues. 

Project details: 

3 Scenes: Scene 1 has 12 slides, scene 2 has 6 question slides, scene 3 has 7 question slides

Windows XP, working off of local hard drive the entire time, all images/video are on local hard drive and verified they work. 

Issues:

When looking at Story View (see image below), all images are visible and look great, but when I open one of the slides, the audio isn't loading, images won't load, and the mp4 videos won't play (see image below). HOWEVER, on the first 9 slides of the first scene, everything works perfectly including the audio, images, and video. 

1. "Loading Audio..." appears on multiple slides and never loads. However, some slides have multiple audio recordings and one works fine, but the other one just says loading audio. I have let sit for an hour and nothing... Is there a way to find source audio file recording? Note* I can delete the audio and record new within this project and it seems to work. 

2. Images: Won't show on slide view. I've tried deleting image and re-inserting, but that just gives a blank image box. (I did find that creating a new Storyline project and inserting image works fine, but I don't want to redo all my slides). 

3. Video: Same issue with images. 

I like this program, but being this happened the very first time of using the program that is a big turn off. Any help is appreciated! 

Thanks,

Dave

15 Replies
Christine Hendrickson

Hi there, Dave. Welcome to E-Learning Heroes!

So sorry for the trouble you're having with creating your first Storyline course. Hopefully we can get this all smoothed out for you, and quickly.

From all of the information you shared, it sounds like the file has become corrupted somehow. You mentioned that the images show up when inserted into a new Storyline file. I'm wondering if this would work for the entire course. You won't need to set up your slides again if you import the slides, themselves. If you need information on how to do this, please take a look at the following tutorial:

Importing from Another Storyline Project

Another thing I would suggestion checking is the file names of the images and the course. Are there any special characters, spaces, underscores, etc.? If so, try renaming the files. 

Can you try that out and let me know if you're able to see any improvements, please?

Thanks!

Christine

Greg Faust

I just encountered a similar problem to the OP-- I opened my Storyline file this morning, and things are missing:

  • Audio clips on the timeline perpetually say "Loading Audio"
  • Images are blank (transparent).

I restored the file to a version from last week, and everything seems okay.

Is this a common problem? Is there anything I can do to mitigate the risk of corrupt storyline files?

Thanks,

Greg

Leslie McKerchie

Hi Greg and welcome to E-Learning Heroes!

Things to help prevent problems:

Be sure to work on your local drive, make sure file name is less than 260 characters, and make sure you have not characters, accents, or symbols in the file name.

If you do have some corruption, most of the time importing into a new project will help.

Hopefully you will not have any other issues though

Mark Guiney

Hello,

I am currently having the exact same issue with my project. The audio files say 'loading audio', the images are blank, and when I attempt reinserting the same images, they show up as outlines of images and nothing further. I have tried importing into a new project, to no avail.

This is of great importance. It would be extremely helpful if the entire problem could be fixed, but the most important aspect at this point is the audio files. There are hours of recordings, and it is vital I retrieve them.

Thanks in advance for any assistance.

Ashley Terwilliger-Pollard

Hi Mark and welcome to Heroes!

Were you able to confirm that you were working with local project files as Leslie and Christine mentioned above? Working from a network or USB drive could cause odd Storyline behavior. Additionally, are you using Storyline update 4? 

Have you tried importing it into a new file?  

Mark Guiney

Hi Ashley,

We have been working off a local file, yes. I am fairly sure we have the most updated version, but if not, would updating cause any further formatting changes? I don't want to risk more damage to my project for something that isn't a certainty to restore the project to its original state.

I have also attempted importing it into a new file. The same issues still exist.

Ashley Terwilliger-Pollard

Hi Mark,

First, you can check what version you're using by opening a Storyline file and going to the Help tab and clicking on About Articulate Storyline. You'll see a pop up box like below where you'll see the update number.

If the import did not work, it's possible the file has been corrupted, and if that's the case there is not much to do to fix it. I'm happy to take a look at it though and see if I experience any different behavior. You can either share it here in the forums, or if you'd prefer to share it privately please let me know and I'll send you a private message with details. Installing the update wouldn't cause any further corruption issues, but would help with future files as there were a number of bug fixes detailed here

Sarah Taylor

I am having an identical issue. I have a trial account as a possible acquisition for a new company. I have .story files that should were last opened on a subscriber account off the same hard drive with no issue. But now every single file is showing the full course in story view but blank slides in scene view. Importing made it worse - more slides went blank. Please tell me this is an issue with the installation that can be fixed. It is on literally every .story file and I can't imagine that the dozens I have are all somehow suddenly corrupted.

Leslie McKerchie

Hi Sarah,

Thanks for sharing what you are experiencing with multiple files. 

Do you know what version of Storyline you're using? 

  • You can check by going to Help > About Articulate Storyline

We are currently on Build 3.52.25247.0 of Storyline 360. You can read all of the details here.

If you're already on the latest version, I'd recommend repairing your installation to see if the behavior improves.

You mention a hard drive, but please be sure that you are working on your local C: Drive with your software installation, project files, and assets.

Sarah Taylor

Hi Leslie,

Thanks. I am on the correct version (just installed the trial yesterday). My files are indeed on the C: drive. I will try another reinstall from scratch. I am wondering if this might be related to the other issue I flagged in this thread https://community.articulate.com/discussions/articulate-storyline/malware-warning-on-storyline-files#reply-748984 to which you responded indicating a ticket would be opened. I'll try a fresh install to see if there is any change in behaviour.

Sarah Taylor

Thank you. I uninstalled, rebooted, and reinstalled. Same issue is still present. Appreciate you opening the ticket and I hope we can get this solved. I'm scared try opening anything at the moment for fear that will end up corrupting good files that represent many many hours of work!