Microsoft Silverlight Game Support

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Microsoft officially ends support for the final version of Silverlight 5 on October 12, 2021. That means it won’t receive official quality improvements and security updates. The installer won’t be. Later, we will use that knowledge in developing 3D games using Silverlight 3, the newest kid on the block from Microsoft. The only requirements needed to develop 3D games using Silverlight are to understand the basics of the C# programming language, XAML code, and the Visual Studio IDE.

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This article provides information about resolving various errors reported by online games in Internet Explorer.

Original product version: Internet Explorer 9 and later versions
Original KB number: 2528246

Summary

When playing online games from websites like Facebook, Yahoo, MSN, and other websites using Internet Explorer you may notice that the online games may not perform as expected. Playing or attempting to play online games may give the following results:

  • Games may fail to download
  • Games will not start
  • Games may not load completely
  • Some game functionality may not work
  • You may be dropped from a game or game website when playing a game
  • Your screen may go black when playing a game
  • Games may freeze during play

Note

If you are having issues with Internet Explorer functionality other than just games, see Tips for solving problems when Internet Explorer crashes or stops working.

More information

The most common cause is a missing or outdated add-on that's needed to play the game. Most online games are based on Silverlight, Flash, or Java and do require Internet Explorer add-ons to function. In most cases, ensuring that you have the latest updates for Windows, Internet Explorer and any Internet Explorer add-ons can help resolve most issues. To troubleshoot online games issues in Internet Explorer do the following:

Internet Explorer

If you are using ActiveX Filtering or Tracking Protection in Internet Explorer 9 or a later version, some content like games or videos might be disabled. To find out if you are using ActiveX filtering or Tracking Protection, see one of following articles:

  • Use ActiveX controls for Internet Explorer 11.
Microsoft Silverlight Game SupportWhat

Microsoft Silverlight

For games that use Silverlight, issues can be resolved by updating to the latest version of Silverlight. The following troubleshooting steps may help to resolve the issue:

  • Install the latest version of Silverlight and then make sure Silverlight is enabled in Internet Explorer
  • If you need to uninstall and then reinstall Silverlight visit the Get Microsoft Silverlight website and click the Uninstall Silverlight tab
  • For help with Silverlight issues, visit the Silverlight Community website

Java

For games that require Java add-ons, issues can be resolved by updating the add-ons to the latest version. The following troubleshooting steps may help to resolve the issue:

  • Make sure you have the latest version of Java installed
  • In some cases, it may be necessary to uninstall Java from your installed programs list and then reinstall the latest version
  • For help with Java issues, visit the Java Help Center website

Adobe Flash

For games that require Java add-ons, issues can be resolved by updating the add-ons to the latest version. The following troubleshooting steps may help to resolve the issue:

  • Update to the latest version of Adobe Flash
  • In some cases, it may be necessary to uninstall Adobe Flash from your installed programs list and then reinstall the latest version
  • For help with Adobe Flash issues, visit the Adobe Flash Help and Support website

Adobe Shockwave Player

For games that require Adobe Shockwave Player add-ons, issues can be resolved by updating the add-ons to the latest version. The following troubleshooting steps may help to resolve the issue:

  • Update to the latest version of Adobe Shockwave.
  • In some cases, it may be necessary to uninstall Adobe Shockwave Player from your installed programs list and then reinstall the latest version.
  • For help with Adobe Shockwave issues, visit the Adobe Shockwave Player Help and Support website.

Make sure the add-ons are installed and enabled

You will need to make sure that the necessary Add-ons are enabled in Internet Explorer, to do this follow the steps below:

  1. Start Internet Explorer and click the Tools icon and then click Internet Options.
  2. Click the Programs Tab and click the Manage add-ons button.
  3. From the Show dropdown selection, select Run without Permissions.

Look for the following add-ons in the displayed list and make sure the Status is listed as Enabled.

Note

When checking to see if the add-on is installed you can also verify the current version of the add-on.

  • The add-on for Microsoft Silverlight is listed as:

    • Microsoft Silverlight

  • The add-ons for Adobe Flash and Adobe Shockwave Player are listed as:

    • Shockwave Active X Control
    • Shockwave Flash Object

  • The add-on for Java is listed as:

    • Java Plug-in (May be multiple add-ons)

For security reasons new builds of Microsoft Office for Microsoft 365 on Windows block activation of Flash, Silverlight, and Shockwave controls. Most users won't be impacted, but for some users this may cause one of the following issues:

  • When you click on an embedded Flash movie in PowerPoint Slide Show, nothing happens even though this worked before.

  • Power View in Excel does not work anymore (because it uses Silverlight). You may see an error message that says 'Activate method of OLEObject class failed'.

  • Flash content is displayed as a blank page with an X when you click a folder that has the folder homepage set in Outlook.

Silverlight Support 2021

Unblock these controls by editing the registry

Caution: Follow these steps carefully. Serious problems may occur if you modify the registry incorrectly. Before you start we recommend that you have a known good backup of your registry. See this article for more information: How to back up and restore the registry in Windows.

  1. Exit all Microsoft Office applications

  2. Start the Registry Editor by tapping Start (or pressing the Windows key on your keyboard) then typing regedit and pressing enter.

  3. Locate the proper registry subkey. It will be one of the following:

    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoftOffice16.0CommonCOM Compatibility
    (for 64-bit Office, or 32-bit Office on 32-bit Windows)

    or

    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREWOW6432NodeMicrosoftOffice16.0CommonCOM Compatibility
    (for 32-bit Office on 64-bit Windows)

    Note: The COM Compatibility node may not be present by default. If you don't see it, add it by right-clicking the Common node and choosing Add Key.

  4. Add a new subkey with the CLSID of the control you want to unblock as the value by right-clicking the COM Compatibility node and choosing Add Key.

    Control

    CLSID

    Flash

    {D27CDB6E-AE6D-11CF-96B8-444553540000}

    {D27CDB70-AE6D-11CF-96B8-444553540000}

    Silverlight

    {DFEAF541-F3E1-4c24-ACAC-99C30715084A}

    Shockwave

    {233C1507-6A77-46A4-9443-F871F945D258}

    Note: For Flash you'll need to add two subkeys, one for each of its CLSID's.

  5. Within that new subkey we're going to add two new values by right-clicking the new subkey and choosing New > DWORD (32-bit) Value.

    • A REG_DWORD hexadecimal value called Compatibility Flags with a value of 0.

    • A REG_DWORD hexadecimal value called ActivationFilterOverride with a value of 1.

  6. Exit Registry Editor and start your application. The control you need should be unblocked now.

Microsoft Silverlight Game Support Download

Example

For example, to unblock Silverlight in order to get Power View working in Office 2016, 64-bit, on Windows you would locate this registry key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoftOffice16.0CommonCOM Compatibility

Note: Remember, if the COM Compatibility node doesn't exist yet you'll need to create it.

Then add a subkey with the value {DFEAF541-F3E1-4c24-ACAC-99C30715084A}.

In this case, the resulting path is HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoftOffice16.0CommonCOM Compatibility{DFEAF541-F3E1-4c24-ACAC-99C30715084A}.

What Is Microsoft Silverlight Game Support

To that subkey you'll add a REG_DWORD value called Compatibility Flags with a value of 0, and a REG_DWORD value called ActivationFilterOverride with a value of 1.

Microsoft Silverlight Game Support

See Also