# How to make a proper preload

**URL:** <https://forum.kirupa.com/t/how-to-make-a-proper-preload/64674>\
**Category:** flash\
**Created:** [September 18, 2004, 6:39pm UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/how-to-make-a-proper-preload/64674 "2004-09-18T18:39:53Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**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/64674/1 "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

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**Author:** ![system](https://canada1.discourse-cdn.com/flex011/uploads/kirupa/original/3X/6/2/621e5c11736f46532526e61be85940af4230f3e5.png) [@system](https://forum.kirupa.com/u/system)\
**Post date:** [September 18, 2004, 9:08pm UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/how-to-make-a-proper-preload/64674/2 "2004-09-18T21:08:17Z")

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you can preload your main movie and then add a preloader to the external SWF.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![system](https://canada1.discourse-cdn.com/flex011/uploads/kirupa/original/3X/6/2/621e5c11736f46532526e61be85940af4230f3e5.png) [@system](https://forum.kirupa.com/u/system)\
**Post date:** [September 18, 2004, 10:15pm UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/how-to-make-a-proper-preload/64674/3 "2004-09-18T22:15:18Z")

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Hi!

I actually don’t want to put a preloader in my main swf, the reason why is that everything has already been programmed, and my timeline has to stay with 10 frames, and adding one for the preloader would screw the whole thing. So again, does anyone know by any chance how to calculate the totalBytes of the preloader (an swf with only the preloader, no content) and the external (main) swf?

thanks!