Localhost Lassie problems solution
I noticed lately quite a few people had issues with -*test*-('")ing Lassie games on their computers I never had a problem until tonight... i was trying to get item cursors to change within a flash movie and they just wouldn't.. the strange thing was, it was the exact same AS i used in NOTH.. which wouldn't work now either :s the solution: go here: http://www.macromedia.com/support/documentation/en/flashplayer/help/settings_manager04.html And set permissions for Flash Player to use your Lassie folder to access files works like a charm now you need to close the web page before the changes take place the big question is, is this gonna mess things up when releasing games?

Ah yes... the security sandbox strikes again. Adobe/Flash just keep on tightening the restrictions so that there is less and less breathing room for file sharing/data access. While security is good, it's getting downright inconvenient for developers. Here's my favorite (or LEAST favorite) annoyance... Flash 8 finally allowed access to the system file browser for easy and convenient local file selection. I was going to implement that in Shepherd to browse for media to place into a room layout. While that was all well and good, the darn system only provided reference to the selected filename... it wouldn't reveal the local path due to security restrictions. So, while you could use this handy feature to tell Shepherd you wanted to place "background.swf" into your room, you still manually had to type the path to tell it where the file was located. ARG. No fear though, the necessity for a file browser has been rendered moot by AS3. I'm pushing Lassie to a library-based system, which takes a bit more set-up on the developers part to compile a library, but the benefit is well worth the extra work... actually, it's not even that much more work than hassling with countless media files; it's just a different process. Either way, the new file management system in SuperSheep / Shepherd (yes, Shepherd) is pretty nice.