Fix issue #35 by writing FlashEmbeddedAssetPackLoader and integrating hxswfml

[purplepwny]

Since embedded assets load significantly faster than assets on the filesystem, this fix depends on my commit @d29c102. To start embedding assets into flash projects, set embed_assets: true in flambe.yaml.

I know you suggested resurrecting FlashAssetPackager in #35, but I see no reason to reinvent the wheel, and so bundled the Neko version of hxswfml into the bin directory for use by the build process.

It's actually unnecessary to copy the assets to the build directory if embed_assets is true, but if you don't, you lose the ability to have side by side HTML5 and Flash builds, as is made accessible by the default Flambe html scaffolding, so I've done it anyway for now.

[Antriel]

Great and long needed addition!
Only problem I have with this is that it increases filesize quite drastically. I imagine that's because once you create a bitmap class from png, it isn't compressed anymore. It also puts constraints on sounds e.g. hxswfml not supporting mp3 @ 30kHz.
Would it be possible to embed everything as ByteArray and load it on runtime?

[purplepwny]

Well, obviously the main reason for the filesize increase is that the assets are embedded in the SWF, where it used to be just code ;p Other than that, I'm not sure that the assets aren't compressed anymore. In my case, my assets directory is 7.6 MB and my SWF is only 8 MB. Which seems about right for assets + code. FWIW, I only have PNG's and MP3's. Do you see a bigger increase than that? What's the size of your assets directory vs. your standalone SWF?

Would it be possible to embed everything as ByteArray and load it on runtime?

That's a reasonable and probably doable idea if this turns out to actually be a problem, as long as the runtime cost of decoding isn't exorbitant.

[Antriel]

Without anything in assets folder (with embedding): 0.80MB
Without embedding: 0.26MB (not sure where the extra stuff comes when embedding is enabled but there is nothing to embed)
With all assets: 8.85MB
Assets alone on disk: 6.65MB
So that gives us 1.4MB increase.

If I exclude sounds I get 3.46MB total, but picture assets are just 1.28MB, giving us 1.38MB increase.
It seems that it really stores uncompressed bitmaps instead of pngs.

[purplepwny]

Without embedding: 0.26MB (not sure where the extra stuff comes when embedding is enabled but there is nothing to embed)

It's from dead code elimination being disabled. If you don't do this, it doesn't work. It could definitely be a Haxe bug, and other Flambe users have reported a similar issue in #143 and #155.

It seems that it really stores uncompressed bitmaps instead of pngs.

I guess it could be, which is too bad since I think Flash IDE will store them compressed in the library. Your solution, of loading them as ByteArrays and decompressing at runtime is probably a good one. Another possibility would be to see if swfmill or SamHaxe behave differently. Anyway, I'd like to hear from @aduros before I spend more time on this, as it currently works well enough for my purposes.

[Antriel]

Hmm, I think DCE shouldn't remove anything from swf included via -swf-lib. What sort of problems did it cause?

[aduros]

Is it possible to show a preloader when using embedded assets?

[purplepwny]

Yes, actually, I did that in another branch that I haven't submitted a pull request for.

https://github.com/purplepwny/flambe/tree/flash_preloader

It's implemented in this game:

http://gamejolt.com/games/arcade/super-murderwolf/28563/

[flerokoo]

Hey purplepwny!
It's nice to hear, that finally people can pack assets into swf.
I tried to do it but failed!
Please, take a look at this thread:
https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/flambe/D3tF7KLMgF8

What can cause that errors?