CasparCG Server hotfix releases for Flash Player end of life

I tested it, and you are right, it is not working. @Julusian or @silid: can you check, if the INFO TEMPLATE command uses the new URL syntax or if we need to add another path to the allowlist of Flash player, please?

EDIT: I disabled the allowlist and the problem persisted. So it seems to be broken somewhere else.

The INFO TEMPLATE command is the one that let a lot of users stay at the 2.0.7 version, to be able to query the variables from the template (for instance to use them inside a MOS system).

Hello everyone. Today flash has definitely stopped working. Although I had the updates disabled, Windows 10 did not allow the templates to run. A quick way to solve it has been to change the date to the servers and tell it that it is 2020. It has worked again.

We have a long tread names Flash End of Life that gives all the solutions that you don’t need to change the system date :slight_smile:

Thanks didikunz, we were waiting to change everything following the instructions, but we didn’t have time. Today they have stopped working and I have posted this solution in case it has happened to someone else. Many thanks for your work.

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Hi
The fix worked for me.
Had done nothing beforehand
Today I tried to run flash template from 2.3.0 didnt work
downloaded 2.3.1 and FlashCfgWriter.
copied config-files from 2.3.0 to 2.3.1
did run FlashCfgWriter as administrator, added my template folder, checked version (said “Everything well”) and wrote config.
started casparcg 2.3.1 and flash-templates did work.

Thanks. Good work.

br markus

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Hello, any update on this? On other fixed server versions INFO TEMPLATE command is working, but not on 2.0.7.1. As a result some programs on my side don’t display text fields on this version.

Was wondering if there will be a fix.

The INFO TEMPLATE command is the one that let a lot of users stay at the 2.0.7 version, to be able to query the variables from the template (for instance to use them inside a MOS system).

I posted this issue 2 weeks ago here, but did not hear anything.

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It’s a shame because the ‘Info Template’ command is kind of critical to our workflow, so in the end we didn’t apply the patch and we’ll stay in Windows 1909 for a bit longer. We’ll consider changing if it gets a fix.

Did anybody try to apply the patch after the 12th of January or is that no longer an option at all?

Thank you

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You can run the patch anytime, with any Flash.ocx version. As long as Windows does not uninstall it, it works anyway. The trick with that mms.cfg file helps to keep the ocx in place after EOL. But there is also a way to install (the latest) OCX files on new systems, described here.

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Hi guys.

I been trying to run flash templates for a couple of days in a new installation without success. I downloaded and tried 3 versions of casparCG: 2.0.7.1-flash-eol-hotfix, 2.1.12NRK and 2.3.1-lts-stable, also FlashInstaller.zip and FlashCfgWriter.zip. I followed step by step the guide and I can’t get it work. Also I searched in the log file if I found something and this what i got in 2.0.7, for example:
2.0.7

[2021-01-24 22:07:46.527] [6564] [info]    Flash 32.0.0.387
[2021-01-24 22:07:46.529] [6564] [info]    flash[cg20.fth.pal|0] Initialized.
[2021-01-24 22:07:46.529] [6564] [info]    flash[cg20.fth.pal|0] Invoking info-command: <invoke name="GetInfo" returntype="xml"><arguments></arguments></invoke>
[2021-01-24 22:07:46.564] [3280] [info]    flash-player[cg20.fth.pal|1024x576] Initialized.
[2021-01-24 22:07:46.564] [3280] [warning] flash-player[cg20.fth.pal|1024x576] Flash call failed:<invoke name="GetInfo" returntype="xml"><arguments></arguments></invoke>
[2021-01-24 22:07:46.608] [6564] [trace]   Template-Host Unknown

[2021-01-24 22:07:46.652] [6564] [info]    Initialized flash module.

[2021-01-24 22:07:46.696] [3280] [info]    flash-player[cg20.fth.pal|1024x576] Uninitialized.
[2021-01-24 22:07:46.699] [9948] [info]    flash[cg20.fth.pal|2439] Uninitialized.

[2021-01-24 22:07:59.544] [10448] [info]    Sent message to 127.0.0.1: 201 VERSION OK\r\n2.0.7.86498d14f Flash EOL Hotfix\r\n

[2021-01-24 22:08:15.288] [3788]  [info]    flash[cg20.fth.1080p5994|0] Initialized.
[2021-01-24 22:08:15.289] [3788]  [info]    flash[cg20.fth.1080p5994|0] Invoking add-command: <invoke name="Add" returntype="xml"><arguments><number>1</number><string>FRAME.ft</string><true/><string></string><string><![CDATA[ <templateData></templateData>]]></string></arguments></invoke>
[2021-01-24 22:08:15.326] [4164]  [info]    flash-player[cg20.fth.1080p5994|1920x1080] Initialized.
[2021-01-24 22:08:15.326] [4164]  [warning] flash-player[cg20.fth.1080p5994|1920x1080] Flash call failed:<invoke name="Add" returntype="xml"><arguments><number>1</number><string>FRAME.ft</string><true/><string></string><string><![CDATA[ <templateData></templateData>]]></string></arguments></invoke>

[2021-01-24 22:08:27.589] [4164]  [info]    flash-player[cg20.fth.1080p5994|1920x1080] Uninitialized.
[2021-01-24 22:08:27.593] [6564]  [info]    flash[cg20.fth.1080p5994|2439] Uninitialized.

Any suggestion ??

Tuto

Replace the flash .ocx manually. It’s still on an older version.

I checked the Flash.ocx files (System32 and SysWOW64) and in the properties says 32.0.0.445.
I have CasparCG running flash templates in a notebook and the log shows also version 32.0.0.387, weird.

Another idea?

Tuto

It does not really matter, what version it reports. But what really matters is, that the correct path to your template folder is set inside the mms.cfg. Because when it says (like it does in the line above) “Flash call failed” it is very likely, that something is wrong there.

I’ve been testing flash in the new releases today and I managed to get the 2.0.7.1 working just fine but I didn’t have the same luck with the 2.3.1 / 2.3.2.

I’ve tried setting parcial/total template paths in the server but the message is the same “CG ADD FAILED”.

I have not used the new versions a lot so maybe I’m missing something related to the media scanner or something like that?

Thank you,
Carlos

In 2.3, did you enable flash in the casparcg config? It is disabled by default

Oh right, that was it.
Thank you very much!

I am currently trying fringe and weird configurations with the new flash situation and seeing if they work at all.

I know it defies its purpose and its kind of a security risk but I just set the mms.cfg template path to the C: drive so my different testing servers work without having to change the path every time.

Is there any other undesired effect from this that we know of?

When testing servers it’s a bit of a hassle having to change it every time I open a different build so I may keep this for a bit.

You also could add multiple AllowListUrlPattern=... lines to the mms.cfg files. The little FlashCfgWriter.exe utility does not support this, to keep it simple, but these files can be edited manually.

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I think I have found the issue with INFO TEMPLATE in 2.0.7.1
I have made a build https://builds.julusian.dev/casparcg/CasparCG.Server-2.0.7.2-flash-eol-hotfix.zip
If you are happy that it works, then I shall check with SVT about if they are ok with making that an official version

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Yes, I tested it. It works. Thank you very much.

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