Extended FAQ

Be sure to check our normal FAQ in the Discord if you don't see your question here, then ask in #help-me-please if you are still not satisfied.

Q: Why is there no Mac version of Flashpoint?

A: To get Flashpoint working on Mac, we need to set up every component of the Flashpoint package to work on Mac. This is an unrealistic goal at the moment because none of the core Flashpoint staff use Mac regularly. Core goals for Mac support that would need to be met include building and testing a current version of Flashpoint Launcher, setting up Apache and PHP, and developing an equivalent solution to the Redirector. Rather than building another Redirector from scratch, it might be possible to use the Mac version of Fiddler or mitmproxy. If we choose to go with mitmproxy, this page might help us understand how to implement it. However, we aren't even sure how to set a proxy on Mac, although this Super User thread provides some ideas. Another idea would be to bundle a portable browser with a Flash plugin so we can use its proxy settings, but we aren't sure whether any portable browsers are available for Mac.

Q: Where can I see what websites have been archived?

A: The Flashfreeze Google Drive folder contains all of our early site scrapes, up to August 1, 2018.

Newer scrapes are in our OwnCloud folder.

A few more site scrapes are available from this Archive.org item and BlueMaxima's Archive.org account.

Here is a somewhat updated spreadsheet of sites we have worked on. (Revised version to come)

The #flashfreeze channel on our Discord server also has some leftover rips people have gotten.

Q: What is the difference between requesting and curating a game? Can I "submit" a game?

A: Requesting - This option adds your game to an ever-growing list of ones people want added. You will need to fill out the request form which takes 1-5 minutes. Chances of game being saved by any of the curators is small because there are thousands of games waiting on the list, some of which have been waiting for over a year. If you want to increase the chances of it being saved, we suggest that you try to write an engaging description of the game and/or the reason you want it saved.

Curating - This is the process of actually adding the game to Flashpoint. It requires testing the game using procedures detailed in our curation guides. It takes about 30 minutes to do the first time, but as you learn the process you can get it under 5 minutes. To get started, follow our Curation Tutorial. Once you curate a game, it will be saved and added to the next version of Flashpoint.

Q: What tools should I use to archive whole websites?

A: HTTrack or wget. You can also use cURLsDownloader or HAR extractor, but they are better for downloading small parts of sites or games.

Q: Why do I need Flashpoint to play the games offline? Can't I just use a standalone player like the Flash Player projector to play them?

A: Many web games have what is known as a sitelock, which means that they will not work unless they are being played on the original site they were hosted on. Since the projector is not connected to the Internet and cannot identify those sites, those games will refuse to load on it. Flashpoint gets around this by running the games through a local server proxy which, simply put, tricks them into thinking they are being played on the original sites they were meant to be played on. See this diagram for a simplified demonstration of the technical functioning of Flashpoint.

Q: How do I tell what platform a game is?

A: The easiest way to check these kinds of things is to right-click the game window and look at the context menu that appears. If it says something about Flash, it's a Flash game. If it says nothing out of the ordinary or no context menu appeared, it's probably HTML5. If the game is 3D, it's either Shockwave, or Unity Web Player (or rarely Flash). You can also use inspect element to look at the embed of the game for the following file extensions:

.swf - Flash

.dcr/.dir/.dxr - Shockwave

.unity3d - Unity Web Player

.jar/.class - Java

If it's something else it may be under one of our other platforms, but these are the most common types.

Q: Where can I submit my collection of SWFs?

A: This is our public upload location for site rips.

It is highly encouraged that you first check the Game Master List and the Animation Master List for any game/animation that are already in Flashpoint and only upload ones that are not.

Q: Will Flash games disappear from the Internet when December 2020 hits?

A: They won't disappear by themselves. However, once Flash support is removed from browsers, most people won't be able to use flash content unless they downgrade their browser version. In that situation, the sites that are hosting the games might decide to remove the Flash games because the vast majority of people won't be able to play them anymore. As we cannot rely on the assumption that sites might stay up, we're working hard to grab as many games as possible while they're still here. For more information on the various browsers' road map for Flash's End of Life, see Flash EOL.

Q: Why can I not see the games' logos/screenshots?

A: Flashpoint Infinity does not come with the game logos by default due to size reasons. However, they can be downloaded as an upgrade from the Home tab within the Flashpoint Launcher. Then once it's finished downloading, simply restart the launcher. The logos are only visible in Grid viewing mode; You can change the view mode using the drop-down menu that is situated at the bottom-right corner of the launcher window.

Q: Why can I not find X game/animation in the launcher? Why do some games/animations not appear?

A: There are a few possibilities:

1. Flashpoint Infinity comes with only Flash support from the start to reduce size, but the other platforms can be downloaded as an add-on. If you are using Flashpoint Infinity and looking for a game or animation that is on a platform other than Flash, you will need to download the Other Technologies pack from the Home tab of the launcher.

2. Make sure you spelled the name of the game/animation correctly when searching. The Search feature as it currently is only allows for "exact" searches. If a search fails, try searching for partial names rather than full names. Varying punctuation is also a common culprit. We are planning on overhauling the Search feature to allow for more customizable and dynamic browsing in the future, so stay tuned!

3. Make sure you don't have a playlist selected by accident; Searching in a playlist will look for the game in that playlist specifically. So make sure you have All Games selected in the left-hand column before making your search.

4. It's also possible that we don't have the game yet. If you wish to request a game or an animation to be added to Flashpoint, you can do so via the respective request forms that you can find in Game Master List and Animation Master List. Alternatively, if you want to ensure that the game/animation is added, you can learn how to curate it yourself by following our Curation Tutorial. In either case, please thoroughly search the master lists above to make sure that we don't have the game or animation already.

Q: What is a good tool to decompile/hack SWF files (Flash games)?

A: The recommended program for this purpose is JPEXS Free Flash Decompiler.

Q: What is the legality of this?

A: "The only real answer is nobody knows and really, nobody should care. Games that more or less have a ticking clock until they die need to be saved now, as fast as possible." - BlueMaxima

Q: Won't the games just be converted to HTML5?

A: No. HTML5 is an entirely different technology, so it's impossible for them to be converted automatically. Developers could port them over to the platform, but most will not have the time or resources to do it. Besides, the capabilities of HTML5 are different from those of Flash, so a game ported to HTML5 will never be identical to the original.

Q: Can't I use the Wayback Machine to play them?

A: The game has to be archived there in the first place, which may or may not happen. Wayback is specifically poor at grabbing multi-asset games (games that use more than one file), so chances are that it will not work there. Games with sitelocks won't work there even if they are archived.

Q: Where are the games stored?

A: The games and all of their assets are stored in the Server\htdocs folder within Flashpoint's directory (wherever you extracted it to).

Q: Where is the games' save data kept? How can I delete it/transfer it to another computer/drive?

A: You can find the location where each platform keeps their save data in Save Data Locations. For your convenience, there are two batch scripts included with Flashpoint which can be used to backup and restore save data to another computer or drive; Namely Saves Manager - Backup.bat and Saves Manager - Restore.bat. If you want to delete save data you are going to have to find and delete it manually at the locations listed on the aforementioned page.

Q: Why won't my Ultimate torrent open?

A: You will need a torrent client such as qBittorrent to open the .torrent file. The .torrent file tells your torrent client how to download Flashpoint Ultimate.

Q: Why is Flashpoint not working after my download?

A: Make sure you unzip the program, as it will not work while still zipped. Please use 7-Zip when doing this, as WinRAR is known to fail. If Flashpoint is still not working, follow the Troubleshooting steps in the Readme.