Flash Tracer For Firefox 3.5

I just installed Flash Tracer on the newest version of Firefox (currently 3.5.3), and I wanted to shed some light on the steps you will need to take to get it working.

The first think you will notice is that Alessandro Crugnola, the talented creator of this add-on, no longer continues it’s development, so if you visit it’s page on the Mozilla Add-ons website (https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/3469), it does not give you the option to install it, instead telling you: “This add-on is for older versions of Firefox”. You can still install it by loading the add-ons .xpi file though, which is located on its home page http://www.sephiroth.it/firefox/flashtracer/ (The link is here if your feeling lazy).

Next you will need to tell Firefox that you are comfortable using out of date add-ons. Open a new browser window or tab, and type about:config into the address bar as shown below.

After promising Mozilla that you will be careful, you will see a list of the Firefox configuration details. Right click anywhere on this page and create a new Boolean.

Give your new Boolean the following name: extensions.checkCompatability.

And finally, set it’s value to false.

Restart Firefox and your add-on should now load correctly.
Click > Tools > Flash Tracer to open the Flash Log and you should see something like this:

If you don’t see the text inside it, you might have to configure Flash Tracer to read the correct file. You can do this by opening the preferences panel, (click the small wrench icon in the bottom right hand corner of the window) and browsing to the correct location. If you have Flash Player 9 forwards, It’s probably in one of these locations:

• Osx: {user}\Library\Preferences\Macromedia\Flash Player\Logs\flashlog.txt
• Windows XP: C:\Documents and Settings\{user}\Application Data\Macromedia\Flash Player\Logs\flashlog.txt.
• Windows Vista: C:\Users\{user}\AppData\Roaming\Macromedia\Flash Player\Logs\flashlog.txt

If you can’t find the file at the any of the above locations, or it’s not picking up trace statements when you know it should be, I’d suggest reading through this fantastic post by Mark Walters on correctly setting up Flash Player’s error reporting.

Random Short Story
A year or so back I was playing a Flash game on NewGrounds and hadn’t shut down the Mac Console (which was still reading through the error log), and I noticed the following message: “need to implement score saving still, sorry!!”.
It’s since been fixed, but I thought it was hilarious at the time, and as such I’ve tried to make a point of leaving funny messages hidden inside anything I’m not being paid to create. I thoroughly encourage you to do the same!

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