HELP: Significant delay between 1st and second slides in Storyline

I would need to see the .story file (just the first 2-3 slides) to be sure but I suspect the issue is related to the size of the photos on Slide 2. Did you import those images at that size or did you scale them down after importing? If the latter, Storyline is probably buffering large image sizes and it's just taking a while to do that. I'll be happy to take a look at the .story file for you.

Hi Steve,

Thank you so much for the quick response and offer to help. I felt visceral wave of relaxation when I read your message!

I did scale them down, so that might be it. Curious still as to why the delay doesn't happen  when I preview, only when I publish.

Also, the delay came up  a few months after I originally created those images, not from the beginning. I created the 1st 2 slides first and then built from there.  I'll look to see if I can find the exact time the delay started by going back into my backup copies, but for now I'll just try resizing to see if that fixes it.

Here is the file with the 1st 2 slides, maybe you'll spot something else?

Thank you so much, it is very generous of you to look at it!

Hi Rhonda,

I'm reviewing your slides now. Although there is a large quantity of media on the second slide (taking into account all of the layers) and a number of images can be optimized for file size, I don't see any one piece of media that is so large as to cause the delay. The reason it plays back much more quickly in Preview is because the content is being loaded from your hard drive rather than having to download from the web.

I'm trying some additional troubleshooting steps now. I'll let you know what I find.

Hi Rhonda,

I deleted all but a couple of the layers and all of the audio but still found the delay excessive on Review. I replaced the images on those layers with copies that were 100% of the size the layers are displaying currently (that is, the images I swapped in were not scaled down from a larger original size). Still, the delay was excessive. I replaced the font with plain Calibri with no improvement.

I deleted the images and the close X buttons on the layers. That improved (decreased) the load time but not as much as I would have expected.

While it's still worthwhile importing smaller versions of the images on each layer, I recommend opening a case with Support to see if they can find a cause for the excessive delay.

Steve,

I cannot thank you enough for taking the time. I really appreciate it. Will contact support!  If ever you need someone to eyeball or test a project, I'm happy to return the favor!

Hi, Rhonda.

Thank you for opening the support case! I see you're working with Johnrey, so you're in great hands!

Please reach out through the case if you have additional questions. 

Hi Steve,

Wanted to follow up with you and post the solution for anyone in the future that may have this issue.

Turns out it was a loading/caching issue. Support helped to figure this out. So before the main slide could load it had to load all 25 image intense layers. 

I had 24 slide layers in addition to the base and each slide layer was graphic intensive. I changed each layer into an independent slide (By copying and pasting, thankfully it worked well and I didn't have any reformatting to do) and changed each trigger. So now instead of having to load the equivalent on 25 slides in my 1 +24 it only needed to load the single slide and each slide even though graphic intensive loaded quickly. Problem solved.  

My lesson is use slide layers if only one or 2 graphics or only need maybe 4 layers but anything more, use a separate slide which loads quicker despite the number of  graphics  on the slide slide. 

 Thanks again Steve for your time and guidance! And great Job from the support team!

We have a similar problem.  The loading 3 dots come up on every slide, while for a short moment, it gives the impression as if the module is broken during faster paced sections. 

Hi, Jody!

Thanks for reaching out and I'm sorry to hear that you're experiencing this issue with your course loading. I see that you’ve reached out to our Support Engineers and are working with my teammate, Cleo. You’re in great hands! We’ll continue the conversation in your support case.

Hello,

We previously used layers to create click through modules however we have now started using the slide recording/simulation storyline feature. It works great however we have noticed since doing this the opening video of the eLearn now laggs, the 3 dots appear and then it goes black for maybe 10-15 seconds then jutters and goes black again and then the video on the first slide eventually plays. Just seems odd that we didnt have this issue prior to using the slide recording has anyone else has had a delay issue?? Many thanks in advance 

Hi Joanna, 

Sorry to hear that you ran into this snag. 

I do not see this issue being reported by other users. I also did a quick test on my end by making a simple screen recording and I can confirm that it didn't take 10 - 15 seconds to load when I published it to Review 360. I'd like to test your project file to see if the loading behavior is specific to your environment, or if has something to do with the screen recording itself. 

Would you be willing to share a copy of your project file here or in private by opening a support case for testing? We'll delete it when we're done!