Storyline2 with imported Engage won't preview

Oct 31, 2014

Hi!  I've been able to import an Engage file into Storyline 2, but when I want to Preview the project I keep getting an error message (attached) that says "We're sorry, something went wrong with Articulate Storyline and it might close." 

Thoughts?

21 Replies
Ashley Terwilliger-Pollard

Hi Ryan,

The Engage element won't be included in the preview as it's a web object, and you can only see those upon publish. With that being said, it shouldn't be crashing Storyline as a whole though. Can you check that you're following the directions Becky shared in terms of adding the Engage interaction into Storyline? Also, please confirm you're working with local project files for both Storyline and Engage as detailed here (article is for Storyline 2, but the same applies across all products). 

Ryan Passey

Thanks for the suggestions.  I actually followed those instructions when importing the Engage file in the first place, but I removed it and followed them more closely after your recommendation.  However, I experienced the same result.  But if you say it will work in the published file, then I'll try that.  The problem is, even if it works, is that I will no longer have preview capability as long as the Engage file is there.  That doesn't seem right.

 

Ryan Passey

Thanks Ashley.  It makes sense that Preview should still work, just not show the Engage part, I believe that's how Presenter 09 worked.  However, before seeing anything in Preview the error message I attached in my first message appears. Storyline doesn't crash, just the Preview feature.  Once I click "Send error report" on the error message, it goes away and I can continue to work in Storyline.  Thoughts?

Ashley Terwilliger-Pollard

Hi Ryan,

If you want to share the .intr file here with us, I'm happy to take a look at placing it in a Storyline course and see how it previews for me. It may be something wrong with the Engage file itself since the Storyline file seems to work ok without it. If you're not ready to go through the repair steps yet (which is my next recommendation after ensuring you're working with all local project files), the next thing you could try is the Engage file in a brand new Storyline file - see if that previews without the error message - or even if you can publish it and then view it within the published output in the intended environment. If that works - I'd try the same again in your existing file. 

Ashley Terwilliger-Pollard

Hi Ryan,

Thanks for sharing that. It looks to be a community interaction - and the same crashing occurs in SL2. I presume you have Engage 09 installed when trying to conduct the import? I'm going to share this with our QA team, in regards to the crash that occurs - but I haven't had a chance to test publishing it yet - so I'll keep you posted on that element. 

Ryan Passey

That's correct.  It's the flipbook community interaction, which may be the reason...  But I do have Engage '09 installed, with the rest of the '09 suite.  Also, I only have SL2, (not SL1) so it looks like we've conducted the same test.  I'm glad you're seeing what I've been seeing!  Thanks so much for helping!  I look forward to your next message.

 

Ashley Terwilliger-Pollard

Hi Ryan,

Thanks. I did report this to my team, but was able to do some additional testing this AM in terms of publishing, and I was able to successfully publish for web, and then view the published output. So at least that element works. What I would say, is leave a placeholder slide for your Engage interaction - and put that in as the very last thing you do prior to publishing. That way you'll be able to preview as you work throughout the course. 

Just in case, here is a link to the published output I created. 

Harry Carter

Well gee, did Articulate Ryan's problem? "Ryan, your new car only has 2 tires but if you don't go too fast the other two rims shouldn't burn up".

I mean, come on, the software is expensive to many here and answers need to be forthcoming and soon. I've seen many situations here through the years where things don't work and months, perhaps years go by where nothing gets resolved.

What is Ryan's problem exactly and what is the solution and are you still working on it or has it been swept under the rug?

I don't mean to be abrasive or rude but geez.

Regards,

Harry

Ashley Terwilliger-Pollard

Hi Harry,

Engage interactions can't ever be previewed once inserted into Storyline as they're included as web objects.

The issue that Ryan ran into was Engage 09 interactions that were imported were causing Storyline to freeze and crash during preview, instead of just displaying the normal messaging regarding how web objects can't be previewed. Our team is currently investigating this issue, and so far the workaround is to either upgrade the Engage 09 interaction to Engage '13 prior to importing or don't insert the Engage 09 interaction until you're ready to publish the entire course. 

Once we have additional information to share on this issue we'll update the thread here. 

Harry Carter

I realize what is going on, my main reason for writing is that this hasn't been resolved in 4 months and "Our team is currently investigating this issue" doesn't seem logical. Does it really take 4 months or longer to "investigate" an issue?

Is this upgrade FREE? Because spending money on a problem that you are "currently investigating" doesn't seem logical either.

Regards,

Harry 

Ashley Terwilliger-Pollard

Hi Harry, 

I'm sorry that it wasn't the answer you were looking for or that the time has exceeded your expectations. It's an issue our team is looking into, and is not consistently reproducible so it's harder to pin down when/how/what files etc. cause this to happen.

If you're also running into this issue we're happy to take a look at your project files as well. You can upload the Engage 09 file and the Storyline 2 file here. 

The upgrade to Engage '13 is not a free upgrade, but you could also download the trial version and upgrade your files that way. If you'd prefer not to do that, then I would recommend not inserting the Engage interaction until you're ready to publish. As for a future fix that deals with this issue, I can't speak to when or if it would be included in an update or new version, but once we have additional information to share we'll post here. 

Ashley Terwilliger-Pollard

Hi Erika,

If you're using Engage 09, this behavior still persists and you'll want to either wait on inserting the Engage interaction until you're ready to publish it (since the Engage interaction cannot be previewed anyway in Storyline) or if you've upgraded to Engage 13 this should work normally. 

If you are using Engage '13 and still having difficulty, we'll want to take a look at the .intr and .story file to see how it's behaving. You can upload them here in the ELH forums or send along to our team by uploading in this form. 

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