This website uses cookies to improve user experience. By using our website you consent to all cookies in accordance with our Cookie Policy. X

Publishing for Flash Player 11 in Flash Professional CS5.5 [basic]

Recently Adobe released a new version of Flash Player, this time with a number 11 that features 3D acceleration (which I will write something about soon hopefully), support for bigger bitmaps, JSON etc. However those of you who wish to check out those new functions in Flash Professional are up for an unpleasant surprise - Adobe is yet to release an update that actually allows for publishing to the newer format. There is a workaround for this problem, however it is not quite perfect, but on the other hand the only other way is to switch from Flash Professional to a different programming environment (for example: Flashdevelop which is a perfect alternative for people that are seriously thinking about programming in ActionScript).

So anyway, how to add Flash Player 11 support to Flash Professional?

1. Before anything we will need the latest Flash libraries: http://www.adobe.com/support/flashplayer/downloads.html. At the very end of "ADOBE FLASH PLAYER 11" paragraph there is a link leading to a file called: "PlayerGlobal (.swc)" which will be needed in the next step.

2. Now open your Flash Professional installation folder (on XP by default it is: "C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Flash CS5.5"), then move to "Common" -> "Configuration" -> "ActionScript 3.0". In here you already should see directories like "FP9" or "AIR2.5" - we will focus on Flash Player 11 for which we will create "FP11". To this "FP11" folder put previously downloaded "playerglobal11_0.swc" and rename it to: "playerglobal.swc". The final path to the file should look something like this: "C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Flash CS5.5\Common\Configuration\ActionScript 3.0\FP11\playerglobal.swc".

3. Those libraries give us access to the latest functions available in ActionScript but we still need to tell Flash Professional to actually use them. To achieve this head onto the "Players" directory (which is located within "Configuration", just few steps above our previous location) and duplicate a "FlashPlayer" file (in case there are more files like this, duplicate the one with the highest number in the name) renaming it to "FlashPlayer11" in the mean time. Proceed to open it with a text editor of your choice (Notepad will do just fine) and at the very top find lines that look like this:

  <player id="FlashPlayer10" version="10" asversion="3">
   <name>Flash Player 10 & 10.1</name>
Ten replace them with this:
  <player id="FlashPlayer11" version="13" asversion="3">
   <name>Flash Player 11</name>
("version="13"" is not a spelling error)
Further more find a line that starts with: "playerglobal.swc" which we need to modify so it points to our "FP11" directory (created in the previous step).
Or you could just download the whole profile file from here: FlashPlayer11.zip

4. Theoretically that is all you need to export SWF files in their latest version. Unfortunately it is "theoretically", because in reality Flash Professional won't be able to open them, as it is using an older version of the player. Right now I have both good and bad news: that old player can be replaced... but only for the "debugger" (the usual move testing done by CTRL+ENTER won't work). That is why this is not a perfect workaround, but perhaps still better than nothing.
To replace the old Flash Player you will first need to download a latest debug projector: http://www.adobe.com/support/flashplayer/downloads.html ("Flash Player 11.0 Projector content debugger"). Then open the "Players" folder located in the Flash Profesional installation directory (for XP it will be: "C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Flash CS5.5\Players"). There you will find "Debug" and within it "FlashPlayerDebugger.exe" which is a file you will need to replace with that projector gotten off Adobe site (while at the same time renaming it to " FlashPlayerDebugger.exe" most likely).

5. Now it is only a matter of starting Flash Professional and checking whether debugging actually works (CTRL+SHIFT+ENTER by default) while using the example from the documentation: flash.display3D.Context3D - ActionScript 3.0 Reference (at the very bottom; also read the comments under the example).


Name:
Comment:
Confirm the image code:confirm image