# How to make a proper preload

**URL:** <https://forum.kirupa.com/t/how-to-make-a-proper-preload/122947>\
**Category:** Uncategorized\
**Created:** [September 18, 2004, 6:39pm UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/how-to-make-a-proper-preload/122947 "2004-09-18T18:39:53Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![frankie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/258eb7/32.png) [@frankie](https://forum.kirupa.com/u/frankie)\
**Post date:** [September 18, 2004, 6:39pm UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/how-to-make-a-proper-preload/122947/1 "2004-09-18T18:39:53Z")

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Hi there!

I’ve been reading the tutorials about doing a preloader, but I haven’t found exactly what I’m looking for. Here it is: I would like to make a preloader in a specific .fla file, then load an external swf into it. How do I tell flash to get the bytesTotal not only for the preloader, but as well for the external file? Is there a special way to load the swf with a preloader?

Thanks for your help!  
Frankie