Videos on layers won't replay

May 11, 2015

Dominic Calderon
By Dominic Calderon

Hi there, so I've encountered a problem with getting videos on layers to replay once the layers have been shown. Basically I have a slide where the base layer is essentially a "home" layer. On the base layer there are 2 hotspots. Each Hotspot triggers an "opening" layer with video, which automatically advances to another layer containing more info. On the more info layer, there is a "Back" button which triggers a "Closing" layer with another video, which then hides the layer when complete to take the user back to the base layer, in order to choose another option/hotspot. Everything works perfectly the first time a hotspot is selected, but once back on the base layer, the "opening" layer videos won't play and are just stuck at the first frame.

Videos are mp4, encoded in h.264, and are locally stored. Some of the "opening" layer videos are the same file but edited/trimmed using the built in Articulate video editor.

I've tried:

1.Setting all layers to "Reset to Initial State" when revisiting

2. Using a "Jump to Slide" trigger instead of "Hide Layer" trigger to get users back to base layer (While slide was set to "Reset to Initial State" in slide properties)

3.Using "Hide Layer" triggers when "media completes"


I just don't know what else to try to get this working. I've built a mockup slide using a different mp4 video and the same problem persists. Any help on this would be greatly appreciated! Here's the mock up slide:

62 Replies
Dominic Calderon
almost 9 years ago05/12/15 at 3:29 pm (UTC)

Hi Ashley, thanks for helping work towards a solution to this problem! I just loaded up the story file you sent over, but unfortunately it had the same problem I encountered. After clicking through to the "horses" layers, clicking "back, and getting back to the base layer, if I click the "horses" hotspot again, the "opening" video does not play automatically, it's frozen on the first frame. Was this working for you on your computer?

Ashley Terwilliger-Pollard
almost 9 years ago05/12/15 at 7:15 pm (UTC)

Hi Dominic,

I think I misunderstood your set up - and thought it was the "closing" layer that wasn't replaying. I see what you're referring to in regards to the "horses opening" layer not play the video again - which is odd as the "horses closing" layer replays and time. I essentially reset it up based on the "closing" layer as the opening and it worked normally again - this version is now attached.

I know you created this just as a sample file, but it makes me wonder if something is off in terms of the file creation - can you confirm you're working on files as described here. 

Dominic Calderon
almost 9 years ago05/13/15 at 4:18 pm (UTC)

Screen Capture

Ashley, thanks for your continued help with this issue! I can confirm that I am working with files saved locally and that meet file path/naming requirements. I first encountered the issue while working with another set of videos sent directly from our company's animator in the mp4 format recommended for use with Articulate, so it's not just happening these specific videos. I have simultaneously been working with a support tech who sent me a working story file, but had to keep the videos full length. I'm beginning to think this is an issue Articulate has when working with "trimmed" or edited video via the built in editor. The story you sent me replays the opening and closing intermittently. The opening layer would open like it should but now the closing layer will freeze/hang. Here is a screen capture I took to show you. It may just mean Articulate doesn't play well with multiple trimmed videos.

Ashley Terwilliger-Pollard
almost 9 years ago05/13/15 at 8:45 pm (UTC)

Hi Dominic,

Were you working with one of our support engineers? I'd be happy to take a look at the case and see what else was mentioned there.  From your screencast it looks like it got stuck on the second time playing the first layer and kept playing the video past the normal point? You mentioned the videos were created by your animator - could they trim them prior to inserting into Storyline? 

The previews I did showed the video each time based on that set up - are you testing the publish as well? 

Dominic Calderon
almost 9 years ago05/14/15 at 6:21 pm (UTC)

Hi Ashley, thanks for sticking with me on this haha. Yes, I've been working with a support member, the case number is #00552544. I went through and recut the original video into 4 separate video files and I'm still having the opening/closing videos are still not playing when revisiting layers. I've been publishing and checking that instead of the preview and it's still not working. It might be easier if I could send you the actual file I'm working with. Whats your privacy policy like, I'd obviously have to get the okay from my supervisor to send it over.

Dominic Calderon
over 8 years ago09/01/15 at 5:09 pm (UTC)

Hi there, honestly, the articulate team worked on it for like 3 days, sent
me something back that worked but only in html, not flash. Now as I'm
finishing the project up, I'm realizing the slide is doing the exact same
thing again. So no answer was figured out unfortunately. Articulate is some
of the buggiest software I've ever worked with.

Ashley Terwilliger-Pollard
over 8 years ago09/01/15 at 8:04 pm (UTC)

Hi Dominic,

I checked in on your case and it seems the opposite occurred - that Renato was able to duplicate the issue when viewing the HTML5 output, but that it worked successfully in Flash. He submitted it to our QA Team to review and shared the following steps as a workaround:

 I have submitted your case to our Quality Assurance team for their review.
As a workaround you can try doing the following below:

Add a trigger to play the video when the timeline starts to the layers that have inserted video.
 1. Go to Top Drawer Opening layer
 2. Click the gear icon next to the slide layer.
 3. Create a new trigger by clicking the paper icon.

 Action: Play media
 Media: Top Drawer Opening.mp4
When: Timeline Starts
 Object: Top Drawer Opening
4. Click Ok

The case is still with our QA team for review, and this thread is linked to that report so once there is additional information to share we'll post an update here but I cannot offer a timeframe in regards to that. 

Dominic Calderon
over 8 years ago09/01/15 at 8:19 pm (UTC)

No worries Ashley, thank you for your reply! Yes, sorry I had mixed up what had occurred when replying to David. Thank you for being quick to respond as always, and I know it's probably tricky trying to pinpoint this small, very specific bug, so kudos to the QA team. As for the work around, it still did not work for me, unfortunately. Thanks for sharing the response for David to see though, it might be of use to others as well!

Ashley Terwilliger-Pollard
almost 8 years ago06/10/16 at 1:28 pm (UTC)

HI Gary,

This thread is a bit older so I'm not certain that you're experiencing the same thing, since this was also likely before the latest update of Storyline 2 Update 9 which was released at the beginning of May. Is that when you started experiencing the behavior? Could you tell us a bit more about what's occurring and share your .story file here so that we could take a look? 

Christie Pollick
almost 8 years ago06/13/16 at 5:32 pm (UTC)

Hi, Gary -- Thanks for reaching out and sorry to hear of your troubles! First, may I ask if you can share a bit more about the environment where you and your learners are accessing the course? Can you please confirm that you are uploading the published content to the location where it will ultimately be accessed as described here? 

Christie Pollick
almost 8 years ago06/14/16 at 3:22 pm (UTC)

Hi, Gary -- Yes, as you had indicated, I also experienced the same issue with the videos not replaying properly when I test them on the SCORM Cloud as you can see if you click here. I would like to set you up in a case so that our Support Engineers are able to do some more in-depth investigation of what may be contributing to this issue. You will be receiving a case confirmation via email shortly, and we'll be sure to follow along with their progress! :)

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