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I have some ancient Adobe Shockwave files with .dcr file extensions.

I managed to view them with the official Adobe player (download the full version, not the slim version).

However, Chrome refuses to open the files (showing the save file dialog instead). Other browsers can view the Shockwave files, but there are other problems like:

  • No audio.
  • Some animations go way too fast.
  • Browser crashes.

Also, the official installer includes a dark pattern: default to installing Norton. So I am wary of asking other people to install Adobe’s Shockwave player.

Are there any alternate ways to view Adobe Shockwave files that would fix these problems? Perhaps a way to convert the DCR files to a more modern format? Unfortunately, I do not have access to the original Macromedia Director source files.

Service Desk Bunny
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Leftium
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5 Answers5

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As of 2017, I have had success with an obscure web browser Pale Moon, 32-bit version (that's the important part - even on 64-bit OS's).

and voila - you now have a Shockwave player.

Just bear in mind that when you run a .dcr file for the first time, Windows will show you a "Do you really want to run this program?" prompt pointing to adobeshockwaveextrabundle.exe executable in some temporary folder inside C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\Temp.

Also, when you click OK on that prompt, the .dcr file should run with no problems, but you will also most likely get an error prompt talking about error related establishing write permissions for temporary files or some such. It seems harmless so far, but I haven't actually determined whether that actually interferes with something (e.g. Shockwave game saves).

Dragomok
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IE-on-Chrome extension still (August 2017) runs shockwave dcr files, as I just discovered.

M. Kirby
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You can enable playing the file on Chrome by installing the required plugin: https://helpx.adobe.com/shockwave/kb/enabling-shockwave-player.html:

  1. Type chrome://plugins in the address bar to open the Plug-ins page.
  2. On the Plug-ins screen that appears, find the Adobe Shockwave Player listing. Check the status (Enabled or Disabled).
  3. Click Enable.
  4. Select Always Allowed to always allow Shockwave Player to run.
  5. Close the Plug-ins screen.
  6. Use F5 button to reload the web page. If you see the animation playing in the Step 5 of Shockwave Player Help, then Shockwave Player has been successfully enabled.

If you want to convert, you can use one of the many tools aout there, I had a good luck with this tool

TomEus
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    Thanks, I forgot to mention the shockwave file is an interactive game, so converting to mp4 is not feasible. Also this is a Macromedia Director Shockwave file (DCR file extension), a precursor to Flash (SWF extension). – Leftium Aug 17 '16 at 07:10
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    As of April 2017, Chrome doesn't recognise `chrome://plugins` anymore. Any idea where I can enable Shockwave now? I tried **More tools** > **Extensions**, but it doesn't seem there are any Shockwave plugins in there. – Dragomok May 12 '17 at 06:41
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If you have Internet Explorer, you can just drag and drop the dcr into an IE window.

pilau
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easy for me. go to shockwave click on jigsaw games and look for a download player, download extract/install rename loader.dcr to zzz then when you click on .exe it will request location of loader just point to .dcr or .dir file you wish to use or alternately before you click the .exe rename the .dcr .dir file to loader.dcr

theking
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