** NB! Adobe released a patch for Adobe Captivate 4 on May 30th. This actually seems to have solved the problems for me. I will do some more extensive tests and post my results later **
I have Windows Vista Home Premium 64-bit version installed on my machine at home. When I purchased Adobe Captivate 4 I looked at the system requirements and everything seemed fine.
Here is what Adobe writes on their Captivate product page.
System requirements
Windows
- Intel® Pentium® 4, Intel Centrino®, Intel Xeon®, or Intel Core™ Duo (or compatible) processor
- Microsoft® Windows® XP with Service Pack 2 (Service Pack 3 recommended) or Windows Vista® Home Premium, Business, Ultimate, or Enterprise with Service Pack 1 (certified for 32-bit editions)
- 512MB of RAM (1GB recommended)
- 1.5GB of available hard-disk space; additional free space required during installation (cannot install on flash-based storage devices)
- DVD-ROM drive
- 800×600 screen resolution (1,024×768 recommended)
Pay attention to the (certified for 32-bit editions) part because this is extremely important. This doesn’t really say if Adobe Captivate 4 will work on a 64-bit system or not, but on the other hand it doesn’t say anything about it not working. Most 32-bit programs will work just fine on a 64-bit system so I figured that the same would be the case here. I also have the Adobe Master Suite and I haven’t had any issues with these 32-bit programs running on a 64-bit system.
To help others from running into the same problems as me then you need to be aware of the following.
Adobe Captivate 4 does not work on a Vista 64-bit system. Sure you will be able to start the program and perform most of the basic tasks, but once you wan’t to do something interesting then it just doesn’t work.
– You cannot record anything in CP4 on a 64-bit system
– You cannot add audio (import mp3,waw files) into CP4 on a 64-bit system
– You cannot record audio from your microphone in CP4 on a 64-bit system.
A lot of other “interesting” things are happening as well. For example I received a CP4 project from a client. The project uses the text-to-speech functionality in CP4. I am not able to open this project at all on my 64-bit system. However, it works fine if I open it in a 32-bit Win XP system.
On my 64-bit system I am not able to create a blank project and import slides from the above mentioned project. On 32-bit Win XP it works just fine.
Basically this means that I am greatly handicapped when it comes to CP4. I need to use a secondary computer with Win XP 32-bit and CP4 installed to actually work in CP4 and then use my Vista 64-bit system for all the other tasks. A real pain in the…
Of course I could just make a dual boot partition on my machine and install Win XP and Vista 64-bit and then reboot everytime I wanted to use CP4, but why does it have to be so difficult. It would require me to reinstall everything on my PC , which would take me days to do.
So.. If you currently own a Vista 64-bit system then you should think twice about purchasing Adobe Captivate 4. Download the free 30-day trial first and see if it works for you. You can download the trial here: http://www.adobe.com/go/trycaptivate
16 Comments
I’ve been running Windows 7 64-bit, build 7100 for about a week now. There are only two programs that have given me any issues – Filezilla FTP (the drag and drop doesn’t work well), and Captivate 4.
That said, I *am* able to record screen captures just fine, and the program has been very stable. The only thing I can’t do is record audio.
There really needs to be a patch for this because, as you said, they don’t make it clear that it doesn’t work and heck, they are packaging it on the Adobe Elearning Suite, which includes a 64-bit version of Photoshop!
mark
http://www.elearninglive.com
P.S. If you can spare a day or two for the format/install/reinstalling all your apps, then I highly recommend you ditch Vista and go with the Win7 beta. It’s much better.
Follow up to my comment….apparently the update that came out today fixes the problems! So, I take back all my bad-mouthing : )
Ha ;o) Well isn’t that great. That update actually seemed to have fixed the problems for me as well Mark.
I just did a quick test and I can actually record demonstrations and also record audio. I will do some more extensive tests later but it really looks like it’s working ;o)
/Michael
Hi Gents. I have been reading your comments on the patch for audio on Vista 64 systems. I am also having this issue and it would be great to find out where to get the patch. I also agree that Adobe should make people aware of this issue and point out the patch if its avail! Txs
Just open up Captivate 4 and then go to Help > Updates.
Details of the patch is here:
http://blogs.adobe.com/captivate/2009/05/captvate_4_patch_update.html
Note it says nothing about 64-bit though.
mark
http://www.elearninglive.com
FWIW – all the items you mentioned are not fixed after the update running 64-bit Windows 7 RC1. Also – screen capture hangs, and you have to terminate C4 to get out of the process.
This patch fixed my audio problem w/Vista 64. Thanks for your quick answer to this Mark…
Rex- I’m able to do screen captures in RC1 build 7100 64-bit and it doesn’t hang for me. Seems to work fine though it won’t allow capturing of the desktop – when trying to capture the desktop itself, Captivate doesn’t recognize any clicks or interactions with the desktop for me. I haven’t tried recording audio yet so can’t comment on that.
Are you running as Administrator? I set mine up to run in compatibility mode and also as admin by default.
@mark – same build, same issues as you – plus the whole application will never close completely. I always have to terminate it from the taskman. I’m running it as Admin, and compatibility mode.
The only difference (maybe?) is that mine was installed via the eLearning suite.
I really hope it gets fixed for Win 7. I’m sure it will.
I found Adobe Captivate 4 cannot record Windows Explorer shell (Explorer, Desktop, Control Panel, etc.). My Windows is Vista x64.
I also tried Windows 7 (x64), and Adobe Captivate 4 cannot record Windows Explorer shell (Explorer, Desktop, Control Panel, etc.) either.
Please suggest.
Thanks!
I also tried Adobe Captivate 4 on Vista (32-bit), and Windows Explorer shell (Explorer, Desktop, Control Panel, etc.) cannot be recorded.
Has anyone else encountered the same issue?
I cannot install E-Learning Studio on my 64-bit Windows 7 machine, no matter what I do. I can install E-Learning Studio on a new Dell Precision T7400 running 64-bit Windows XP, however it will not install captivate 4 on there!!!
Grrrrr! LOL
Anyone else have any similar issues?
TIA
JFD
I am using vista 64 bit OS with HP AMD quad core box and even with the update Captivate 4.0 will not allow the discovery of an audio device. Other programs in the system have no trouble with audio using the built in mic or logitech procam 9000 audio system. I am thinkngabout the W7 upgrade but I doubt it would fix this issue. This C4 install is not in the elearning suite it is stand alone. I hear that W7 comes with a vm shell to run an XPSP2 instance and that might be my ticket. Anyone know?
Sorry I don’t know about that Rem. However, I have only heard positive things about Captivate 4 and W7 64-bit so I assume that things are working properly there.
Have you read this post: http://www.captivate4.com/2009/03/13/audio-playback-and-usb-mic-problems-in-captivate-4/
This was a fix for audio problems before the patch came out. However, there is no harm in trying it now and see if it helps you.
/Michael
the update does fix the vista 64 bit issues and yes, Win 7 pro and above comes with XP mode. Your bios and chip have to support VT technology. You download the bits from Microsoft (just look up XP mode). You can run WIN XP apps in virtual mode within Win 7. It is a great tool!