preview not working

Apr 23, 2013

Hi!  I'm working in Storyline though VMWare fusion on Windows XP home edition.  I had been working on a different machine with a similar setup (same except that it was xp professional edition).  Now that I'm on my new machine, the preview of the whole file doesn't work.  It loads the slides, and then a black box covers the entire thing (can't see menu to the left or slide that I'm on).  It doesn't play the slide, so I'm not sure if it's even under there.  Any ideas?  It asked me to install Flash, which I did.  Am I missing something else?

6 Replies
Christine Hendrickson

Welcome to E-Learning Heroes, Rachael!

Sounds like you may be running the installation of XP through the WMWare app. Is that correct? If so, Articulate software is not supported in a server environment, such as Citrix or VMware ThinApp. Please review the following article for more information:

Articulate Support > Server support

If not, you may want to take a look at the minimum system requirements to run Storyline, to make sure this machine is capable of viewing your course content:

Articulate Support > System requirements for Storyline

If you're using the most recent version of Flash (or a minimum of version 10) you also may want to make sure you're using the correct DPI setting on your system. Storyline will function as expected when Windows is set to 96 DPI (dots per inch).

Storyline doesn't currently support 120 DPI. If your system is set to 120 DPI, you may experience erratic behavior, such as:

*  Elements of the application are misplaced or distorted.

*  Objects are misplaced or distorted when previewed or published.

*  Zoomed images don't work as expected.

*  Font sizes are incorrect after using the translation features.

Here's how you can switch to 96 DPI

I hope this helps!

Christine

Rachael LeClear

Hi Christine,

Thanks.  I'm not sure what VMWare ThinApp is--I'm using the standard version of VMWare Fusion.  The thing is, I was using almost exactly the same thing on my other computer, and it was working fine.  

I'm set to 96 dpi.  I can preview the slides one at a time, but not the whole project at once.  Is this the best I can hope for?

Thanks again,

Rachael

Christine Hendrickson

Hi Rachel,

Thanks very much for getting back to me!

So, you are able to preview some of the slides? How exactly is this happening? Are you viewing them separately, or does only the initial slide preview properly when you try to preview the entire project?

I'm not sure if it's an issue with the file or the system you're using at this point. Are you able to share the .STORY file with me? I'd be happy to test it on my end and see if it previews properly.

Another thing you may want to check is the location of the project files and the file names. 

  • Work on your local drive (your C: drive). Working on a network drive or a USB drive can cause erratic behavior, including file corruption, loss of audio, and other unexpected behavior. 
  • You should also make sure the directory path to your project files and your published output is less than 260 characters (for example C:\Articulate).
  • Avoid using special characters, accents or symbols in your file names (this includes spaces and underscores).

Additional information regarding "Naming Files, Paths, and Namespaces" in Windows operating systems can be found in the following Microsoft article.

Thanks Rachael!

Christine

Rachael LeClear

Hi Christine,

I can preview each slide individually--i.e. by going to "preview>this slide", regardless of which slide I'm on, and it works fine.  When I try the whole project, it loads, and then a big black box covers the entire player.  I'll try sharing it with you.  I just tried a different file, and it actually works fine, so it's something specific about this file.  Look for a message with link soon... 

thanks!

r

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