Windows: With hardware-accelerated Flash 10.1 final now available, it's a good time to try out some full-screen Hulu or other videos. But click anywhere else, and the window-filling frame goes away. Here's how to keep videos playing full screen using Flash 10.1.


We've previously pointed to a fullscreen Flash fix, but the post that covered the fix offered up specific file-copy fixes for particular Flash builds. Now that Flash has updated to 10.1 final, and is changing rapidly due to security fixes, a more general sense of how to change Flash's behavior so it doesn't close down on clicking elsewhere is called for.


Luckily, Andrew Brampton provides the answer. His fix requires doing some hacking in a particular configuration file: NPSWF32.dll for most Windows systems, but gcswf32.dll for Chrome users. And it requires using a hex editor to pin down a particular string and change two values.

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How do you pull that off? First off, download the free XVI32 hex editor. Once you have it installed, hunt down the file you need to edit, make a copy of it, then drag another copy to the Desktop. Brampton provides the locations:

On win32 open

C:\Windows\System32\Macromed\Flash\NPSWF32.dll On win64 open

C:\Windows\SysWOW64\Macromed\Flash\NPSWF32.dll or if using Google Chrome (as Chrome now comes with the Flash plugin) open

C:\Users\Andrew\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\Application\6.0.408.1\gcswf32.dll


Now right-click on the .dll file, select "Open With," tell Windows you'll "Select from a list" to open it, then point to the XVI32 executable contained in the package you downloaded. As Brampton explains, the exact two-character code you'll need to change will differ between Flash versions, but there's a basic string you can search for. As of the latest version of Flash for Chrome (10.1.53.64), you'll hit the Search menu and select Find (or hit Ctrl+F), then search for this string of hex bytes:

74 39 83 E8 07 74 11 83 E8 05 75 13 8B

The 74 and 75 "bytes" will likely always stay the same, and some of the characters between them, but other nearby bytes may change. Your job is to change the first two bytes in that string ("74 39" in this case) to "90 90". Before you try to save your changes, make sure that you've got a backup copy of the original, and then close down all your browser windows before saving, or you'll encounter a "sharing" error of some sort. If you have successfully saved your changes, copy the file back to its original location, then re-launch your browser.


As noted, these specifics will change—the Flash version, and the exact byte string you're searching for. Using Brampton's guide, though, you should be able to update your Flash builds whenever you lose the ability to catch the worthwhile bits from Saturday Night Live while, um, totally working really hard on a Friday.

Fullscreen Hack for Flash 10.1 [bramp.net via #tips]