FFR Standalone!

[justin_ator]

Official FFR Standalone Thread!

This guide is designed to help you use a Flash Standalone player to play on the FFR engines. If you're experiencing lag on FFR trying to play in your internet browser, this is your solution!

If you have a general idea what you are doing, here is the quick version with the basics for you to run FFR.

Originally Posted by DossarLX ODI

tl;dr version

- Download a flash player (see below in step one for links)
- Open up flash player
- File --> Open
- For the location type in http://www.flashflashrevolution.com/...y/ffr_Wide.swf or http://www.flashflashrevolution.com/ffrndanotherway.swf

Quick terminology to be sure everything is clear:
Legacy Engine = The original FFR engine, found on the site here (and labeled as FFR the Game).
Velocity Engine = The second FFR engine, found on the site here (and labeled as FFR the Beta).
Web Browser = what you're surfing the net in right now (often IE, Chrome, Firefox, Opera, Safari, etc).
Playing FFR in a browser = Playing FFR on the site on it's designated pages (found above).
.SWF = ShockWave File (alternatively Small Web File), this is the extension of the engines themselves located on the website.
Standalone Flash Player = This is NOT something connected with a browser (stand alone). It is a separate file created by Macromedia Flash, one that you download and install (you'll see how below) to run flash applications.

There are four sections to the guide below.

1) You will need to download a Flash Player Standalone, as this is what runs the engine.
2) You will need to find the appropriate .swf link for the engine you wish to run.
3) [Official FFR Only] You will need to log in on Internet Explorer (regardless of the browser you use) for your scores to record.
4) You will need to open the engine link in the standalone to run it.

That being said, here is the breakdown on each. Feel free to skip steps that do not apply to your situation.

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STEP ONE

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Flash Player Standalone

You will need a Flash Player to run the standalone. The list of current options for Flash Players consists of the links below.

----> Click on a link below, and a download of a .zip folder should start. Once it has completed, unzip the folder [extract the files] and store the folder in a location where you can find it again. I will come back to using this in the next few steps. If for some reason the .zip download above does not work, go to this link to find the whole download list.

WINDOWS USERS
a) Flash 8
b) Flash 9
c) Flash 10
d) Flash 11
MAC USERS
a) Flash 9
b) Flash 10
c) Flash 11
LINUX USERS
a) Flash 9
b) Flash 10
c) Flash 11

These links will all play the standalone engines, but performance results will vary from person to person. Generally we hear better feedback about Flash 9 when running FFR, due to the engine being written in AS2 as opposed to AS3, but this does not necessarily mean that Flash 9 will run better on your computer. You will have to try each out to really decide which works best.

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STEP TWO

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.swf Files

You'll want to find the proper link to the engine you wish to run, as you'll be needing the link to load the engine in the standalone. Right click (or open the page) and copy the link to the engine you want to run.

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ENGINE LINKS

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Official FFR Engines:
Legacy Engine (Both single & multiplayer)
Velocity Engine (Multiplayer Engine Link)
R^2 Engine (original Beta engine)
R^3 Engine (true Beta engine -- discussion thread here)

Other Engine Links (Non-official)

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Hakulytes Engine:
This engine (set up by Hakulyte) is an engine for Isolation Files (files that are cut to focus on one part of a song, such as the trill in Crowdpleaser)
Legacy // Velocity // R3 XML

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Dragonsfury Engine:
This engine (set up by TC_Halogen and psychoangel691) was the engine for a part of the FFR community during the period where FFR was down
Legacy // Velocity // R3 XML

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Tarriks Engine:
Created by Tarrik, this engine hosts plenty of extra challenging files
Legacy // Velocity // R3 XML

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Team Indeed Engines:
These engines (hosted by qqwref and DossarLX ODI) host files specifically for Team Indeed and Dossar's tournaments
Velocity // Dossar's Tournament Legacy // Dossar's Tournament Velocity

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Community Engine:
This engine (hosted by justin_ator) is designed to be an engine for files of anyone interested in getting a file out to an engine. Dumps, Play-testing, Old FFR files, and plenty of other songs can be found here
Legacy // Velocity // Velocity Beta // R3 XML

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Team Fur Engine:
This engine (hosted by Yoshl) is the engine for Team Fur
Legacy // Velocity

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Team Blaze Engine:
This engine (hosted by Charu & reuben_tate) is the engine for Team Blaze
Legacy // Velocity // R3 XML

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Using R3 Engine XML's
Credit to Charu:

Originally Posted by Charu

Oh yeah, folks. I was helping Arc with this when he was testing it out, but... you all might be wondering what he meant by this.

Well, it's exactly what it sounds. With this new build, you can play alternate engine songs using FFR's R^3 engine. Better unifying an all in one package, oho.

For example sake, I'm going to use the Team Blaze engine since we have that.

Under options, you'll notice something called "engine playlist" and it'll ask for input. Well...

Using this link: http://teamblaze.zxq.net/r3.xml or any above xml link

And then selecting Team Blaze Engine as it loads up... You can access our playlist and even load our level swfs using R^3.

EDIT: ALSO, here's a neat feature. You can actually play MP with alternate engine songs, granted the opponent is ALSO using R^3.

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STEP THREE

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Logging in on Standalone

You'll have to follow this process to log in and have scores record on the official FFR engines.

1) Open Internet Explorer (even if you don't typically use it).
2) Go to Internet Options --> Security Options, and uncheck the box that says Enable Protected Mode (example)
3) Check the "Remember Me" box before logging into FFR on IE.
4) Log in.
5) Re-enable Protected mode (same way you turned it off) if you want.

This can all be viewed in this video tutorial made by rushyrulz

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STEP FOUR

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Running the Engine

This can be simple for some people, harder for others. It all depends on what security measures you are running, etc.

-To start, open the Flash Standalone Player file that you saved. (example)
-Go to File, then Open
-Paste an engine link from the list of swf links below into the url input box (example)
-Click okay, and the window will open.

*Here is where the process can vary.

--If your Flash Player displays a message saying it has stopped an unsafe operation, [see pic] then you may need to go into the security options for your browser's Flash, and "Allow" the Standalone permission to run [see pic, and select the .swf file under 'choose location']
If it isn't starting correctly, an authentication test fails, or you keep getting logged out, then you probably need to Login using Internet Explorer as shown in the previous step.
If there are other various problems that are showing up, clear your cache in Internet Explorer (Internet Options, Delete Browsing History, and only select Temporary Internet Files) and try reloading the engine.

ALSO! After you have worked through this and the engine is running, go to File and click Create Projector. This will create an exe file that will automatically do the above steps when you click it. That way, you don't have to repeat this process every time. Save this somewhere you can find it, to play later!

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LAG REDUCTION

If the standalone is lagging for you, here are a few options you can try:

Gamebooster:
Download and run Gamebooster, to try to eliminate extra processes that might not really need to be running. This works for some, but not for all.

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Themes: GIVE THIS A TRY, IT WORKS BETTER THAN YOU'D THINK
Believe it or not, running the Windows 7, Aero, or Vista theme and appearance on your computer can actually make the game lag for some people (myself included). To help reduce that lag, you might consider changing the theme and layout to Windows Classic for the times you play FFR. (right click on desktop, appearance options, etc.)

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Windows Performance Changes for XP and Vista:
1.Go to start.
2.Right click computer.
3.Click properties.
4.Then on the bottom left it will say performance click that.
5.Then Click adjust visual effects.
6.Then click the bubble that says best performance.

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Windows Performance Changes for Windows 7:
1. Start.
2. Right click computer.
3. Click properties.
4. On the left sidebar, click 'Advanced system settings'.
5. Click the advanced tab.
6. Under 'Performance', click on the 'Settings' button.
7. Click the radio button that says 'Adjust for best performance'.
8. Click 'Ok'.

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Data Storage on the Standalone:
V-Ormix suggested Right clicking on the flash player and going into the settings tab to allow Unlimited Storage (you right click in the flash player screen, like if you accidentally right clicked while playing FFR).

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CCleaner:
You can download CCleaner here to try and remove unnecessary processes that are running on your computer.

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Program Priority:
You can go to your computer's Task Manager, click the Processes tab, right click the Flash Player, and set priority to 'Real Time' or the Highest Priority

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If there are any questions/complaints/comments, post in the thread and I will try to answer them as quickly and efficiently as possible.

Also, special thanks to these folks for originally helping me perfect the thread and get all the information correct:
psychoangel691
TC_Halogen
DossarLX ODI
rushyrulz

[Zageron]

Stuck, Closed, and then reopened so justin can edit it.
Feel free to post now.

[MaxGhost]

Why not just put all the SWF links here including external ones for reference, instead of on your profile? This is easier access than your profile.
Great post btw, I was getting tired myself of explaining it to every single person.

[DossarLX ODI]

The FFR velocity engine link in that random thought is an invalid link. It's http://www.flashflashrevolution.com/...y/ffr_Wide.swf

You should also include Tarrik's swf link (not just the page) - http://zestorax.zxq.net/ffrndanotherway_1130.swf

I suggest just giving the .swf links, it's a bit confusing to put the game pages in because those links don't work on the standalone player, only the direct .swf links do.

DF engines:
Velocity
Legacy

[SeraphinEveles]

will playing things on the standalone record scores? my thought would be no..

[MaxGhost]

Yes, it does record your scores. What would the point of this be if it didn't?

From kayla in the front page comments:
"Wait, I just read the guide. There’s no need to download the engine .swf to play on the standalone ?_?
When you open the standalone you just go to file then open and put in the link to the .swf."

^This. Once you open a .swf file, the most recent ones you opened show up in the most recent list in the File menu. Much easier way to keep track of all the engines, you just open it once and it's gonna stay there. Only thing is that it only tracks the last 10 URLs, so if people keep making new engines, this won't work anymore.

[SeraphinEveles]

Originally Posted by MaxGhost

Yes, it does record your scores. What would the point of this be if it didn't?

offline play? i would assume that's why some people wanted it.

on another note, will it update, or do you need to "manually" update it?

[psychoangel691]

Seraphin it will record everything back to the site as long as you are logged in on the standalone.

[SeraphinEveles]

ok, next thing. where does flash install to on win7 x64? O_o

[MaxGhost]

Originally Posted by SeraphinEveles

ok, next thing. where does flash install to on win7 x64? O_o

It's a standalone app, meaning it doesn't install anything. It's just an .exe that runs itself.

[DefectiveDavis]

The standalone says it failed to load the game playlist.
Is there a fix for this?

[rushyrulz]

You can use my crappy video in your well-constructed thread .
Actually, I might make a newer, better version because that old one was done on my laptop at school rofl. I'll PM you later tonight, but for now feel free to use my old video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1UB2Eqt9YvA

[Riotpolice]

I remember when I wasn't playing with a standalone...scores were of the equivalent to the bottom of my toilet after sitting 10 minutes on it. GET THE STANDALONE, IT WILL SAVE YOU.

[SeraphinEveles]

i also got the "song list couldn't load" error.

[Sephiroth28]

Yeah, I didn't realize how bad my lag was since I was so used to it until I got standalone. It's way better.

Edit: I feel like one of those "real people" trying to advertise something on TV. lol

[ShAiOnEi]

Originally Posted by DefectiveDavis

The standalone says it failed to load the game playlist.
Is there a fix for this?

This

[flipsta_lombax]

Yeah, even with Flash 10, it failed to load the game list for me too. I posted a thread about this problem haha.

[psychoangel691]

Are you guys downloading the .swf? That could be why you're getting that error. I don't know why he has it that way. When you open the standalone go to file then open it'll bring up a spot to put in the url put the url in for the .swf so you'll want to put in http://www.flashflashrevolution.com/~velocity/ffr_Wide.swf for velocity engine and http://www.flashflashrevolution.com/ffrndanotherway.swf for the legacy.

This was the old sticky with info for the standalone http://www.flashflashrevolution.com/...d.php?t=114638

[DossarLX ODI]

Downloading the .swf and opening it from your computer is going to wind up with authentication issues (like psychoangel stated). You have to use the link from the site.

Authentication pissed me off when I was trying to configure an engine for my tournament - I spent hours trying to get it to work and I had to ask Velocity about it. Authentication only works if you use the site's engine. Reason for this is that it's URL sensitive, and more things I don't need to go into.

With that being said, this part of the post should be fixed:

2) You will need to download a .swf file for the Engine.

It should be "You will need to use an engine .swf link" so people don't go downloading the .swf and wind up raging about authentication issues that prevent the song list from loading.

[flipsta_lombax]

You guys are heroes. Fixed and playable. <3