SL1 to SL2, layer issues

Feb 29, 2016

Holly Fogarty
By Holly Fogarty

Hallo there!
I've been given a file that was built in Storyline 1 by someone who worked here before me and my task is to update it with new imagery. So, I open it up, Storyline 2 asks if I want to import it and I do.

With the import, there are little issues here and there with timing not running the same as the original but that's all tweakable so I'm not worried about that. The layers are where I start to run into project-ending issues!


In some of the chapters/slides of this presentation, the layers are acting very peculiar.

You click on the base layer to activate them, they appear for less than a second and then fly off screen, but the audio/video that accompanies it IS playing in the background, just with no visuals. There's no animations or transitions on the layer slides to explain this. I've tried to delete triggers on the base and layer slides, put in new ones, take out content and put in brand new shapes/images. I've replaced hotspots with image/text triggers. I've tried taking the content and putting it into a new presentation, but to no avail; the same thing happens over and over. I can't really share the full files, but here's a sample video that I've put together with random graphics and layers (ignore the horrendous sound quality, that's not the problem, haha!)

 

I have opened it in Storyline 1 and it seems to work as it should, so worst case scenario means that I'll have to update it in Storyline 1 which is still do-able, it just seems strange that the import would go so wrong. Is this something that's been reported before?

6 Replies
Crystal Horn
8 years ago03/01/16 at 7:58 pm (UTC)

Hi Holly,

Thanks for sharing your file.  I do see what you illustrated, and I was able to reproduce it by adding a new slide to your presentation with the same conditions, showing layer 2 when clicking on the hotspot.  The shape on that layer slides right off the screen.  I'm doing some additional testing and research, and I will update you soon.

Crystal Horn
8 years ago03/01/16 at 8:34 pm (UTC)

Holly, 

I opened a new project file altogether, and I was not able to reproduce that behavior with the conditions that you have set up.  At this point, I would like to have our support engineers take a look at your project to help you find a cause, so I'm setting up a support case on your behalf (#743756).  I'll follow along so that I can provide any updates here in the forum as well.

While at this point we don't know what's causing the erratic behavior in this particular file, I'd like to share some additional information about protecting your files.  File corruption is unpredictable, and there's no straightforward way to determine what causes it. Common causes are environmental (disk errors, power outages, improper shutdowns), viruses, failed Windows updates, and even file size (i.e., very large files have a higher risk of corrupting).
 
Consider these preventative measures to protect your project files:
 
1) Save and publish projects on your local hard drive. Working on a network drive or external USB drive can cause erratic behavior due to latency.
 
2) Save incrementally. If your app has an AutoRecovery feature, take advantage of it. If not, save a new version of your project every hour or so with a new file name each time. If a file becomes corrupt, you'll still have a working version available.
 
3) Install Dropbox. Snapshots of changes in your local Dropbox folder are kept for 30 days. If a file is damaged or deleted, you can restore a previous snapshot: https://www.dropbox.com/help/11/en.
 
4) Don't leave the app open and unattended for long periods of time. Some users have reported file corruption after leaving their apps open overnight. It's possible that a malware scan or disk backup could run because the machine is idle, making your app vulnerable to crashing.

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