Facebook display issue

[Pallid Planetoid]

^ Curious.... How do your results compare in regards to the video "play" image for embedded FB videos Moonchild (in regards to last post on previous page)

[Buzzy62]

Sorry it took me so long to respond here. Was having lunch and couldn't really do any valid testing.


So, Now that I'm back, what I have figured out in MY testing is as follows:

1. If I use the default UA settings, FB (mainly the menu bar at the top is what I was seeing get scrambled) will display properly, but the embedded videos¹ will usually just play partially and then stop. Reloading the page, closing PM and restarting it, removing cookies, etc ALL do nothing to fix that issue. The only way around it is to change the UA. The version *I* have been using is "Opera/9.80 (Windows NT 6.1; U; en) Presto/2.7.62 Version/11.01".

2. If I change the UA from the default setting, FB's menu bar gets terribly scrambled. I know that FB regularly screws with the way the page displays, so I left it alone for a while, but it didn't seem to get any better, so I tried changing the UA back to default. That DID fix the menu bar, but then the video playback was hosed again (issue #1).

Now, to clarify things a little bit. I was changing both the "general.useragent.override.fbcdn.com" and "general.useragent.override.facebook.com" settings when I said that I was changing the UA. In my settings NOW, I have changed the "general.useragent.override.facebook.com" to "Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; Win64; rv:25.8) Gecko/20151126 PaleMoon/25.8.1" and the "general.useragent.override.fbcdn.com" to "Opera/9.80 (Windows NT 6.1; U; en) Presto/2.7.62 Version/11.01". In addition, I have created a "general.useragent.override.fbcdn.com" string that is ALSO set to "Opera/9.80 (Windows NT 6.1; U; en) Presto/2.7.62 Version/11.01".

In doing it this way, I have no issues with the FB menu bar display NOR do I have any video issues.

Let me know if there is anything else you would like me to try!

¹ The problem seems to only be with "related videos" that show up underneath the main embedded video (usually there's 3 listed). When I play the main video, I don't see the issue, or at least not as frequently (might have something to do with the length, not sure). But when I try to play any of the related videos, it will start playing, getting a few seconds into it, then the permanent "loading" icon displays.

[Pallid Planetoid]

Now, to clarify things a little bit. I was changing both the "general.useragent.override.fbcdn.com" and "general.useragent.override.facebook.com" settings when I said that I was changing the UA. In my settings NOW, I have changed the "general.useragent.override.facebook.com" to "Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; Win64; rv:25.8) Gecko/20151126 PaleMoon/25.8.1" and the "general.useragent.override.fbcdn.com" to "Opera/9.80 (Windows NT 6.1; U; en) Presto/2.7.62 Version/11.01". In addition, I have created a "general.useragent.override.fbcdn.com" string that is ALSO set to "Opera/9.80 (Windows NT 6.1; U; en) Presto/2.7.62 Version/11.01".

In reference to notations in red above.

Did you intend to say general.useragent.override.fbcdn.net (instead of ".com")?

Otherwise you're referencing the same pref setting twice.

This general.useragent.override.fbcdn.net preference is an added pref setting that does not exist by default which I had added and I'm figuring this is what you possibly meant to say.

So to summarize what you have then:
general.useragent.override.facebook.com is set to: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; Win64; rv:25.8) Gecko/20151126 PaleMoon/25.8.1
general.useragent.override.fbcdn.com is set to: Opera/9.80 (Windows NT 6.1; U; en) Presto/2.7.62 Version/11.01
... and if my assumption is correct:
general.useragent.override.fbcdn.net is set to: Opera/9.80 (Windows NT 6.1; U; en) Presto/2.7.62 Version/11.01

So in your case the facebook.com UA is the same as I have, but as to the other two UA settings you have use the "Opera" UA instead of the "pre-goanna" UA that I have (in all 3 cases).

Thanks for the info, it seems that results can vary between users.

Just a cursory check, at least your settings display the "play" button image consistently but I don't have the time to test extensively at this time.

[Buzzy62]

Well, I have done some extensive testing with the following UAs:

1. general.useragent.override.facebook.com
This one affects the FB menu bar AND video playback.
If I leave it at default, the FB menu bar is correct, but "suggested" videos that follow an embedded video will only load and play the first few seconds. The main embedded video MIGHT also be affected, but it seems to be more rare.
If I change it to "Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; Win64; x64; rv:25.8) Gecko/20151126 PaleMoon/25.8.1", it will also display the FB menu bar, but videos are still affected.
If I change it to "Opera/9.80 (Windows NT 6.1; U; en) Presto/2.7.62 Version/11.01", the FB menu bar is incorrectly displayed, but the videos all work without any issues.

2. "general.useragent.override.fbcdn.com" and "general.useragent.override.fbcdn.net" (I added the second one a while back, but now it seems to make no difference)
This one doesn't seem to affect anything anymore. I have tried the following and see no change in FB video playback OR the FB menu bar.
"Opera/9.80 (Windows NT 6.1; U; en) Presto/2.7.62 Version/11.01"
"Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; Win64; x64; rv:25.8) Gecko/20151126 PaleMoon/25.8.1"

So, in conclusion, it now seems that the fbcdn.com override and the added fbcdn.net override have no affect on the menu bar OR the video playback. I can "fix" the video issue by changing the facebook.com override, but at the cost of having the menu bar scrambled.

I hope this isn't TOO confusing! I'm doing my best to try to find the culprit!

[Buzzy62]

Did you intend to say general.useragent.override.fbcdn.net (instead of ".com")?

Yes, I only added it based on someone saying that they noticed that the videos were being sourced from the .net side instead of the .com side.

However, I have now tested that theory and it seems to make no difference for either the fbcdn.com OR the fbcdn.net overrides.

My current settings are:
"general.useragent.override.facebook.com" is set to "Opera/9.80 (Windows NT 6.1; U; en) Presto/2.7.62 Version/11.01"
"general.useragent.override.fbcdn.com" is set to "Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.1; WOW64; rv:31.9) Gecko/20100101 Goanna/2.0 Firefox/31.9 PaleMoon/26.0"
"general.useragent.override.fbcdn.net" is set to "Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.1; WOW64; rv:31.9) Gecko/20100101 Goanna/2.0 Firefox/31.9 PaleMoon/26.0"

Now, all videos play properly, BUT, the FB menu bar is all scrambled.

[Pallid Planetoid]

Hmm, this looks different than what you had originally posted. I had tried what I thought you had originally posted and I found some embedded videos would not play. I notice now that in two of the settings you're now apparently using a slight variation of the default and for the one facebook.com setting your using the "Opera" UA setting.

Going back to my original settings that I posted on page one HERE, I find that the videos will generally play more reliably and I get the "play" icon in the middle of videos which is not the case with the PM default UA settings for FB. In any case I have not had any issues of any kind regardless of what I try as far as the FB header not working properly as you and others have described. Btw, since you're still experiencing problems with the FB menu bar header, others have said these settings I posted solved that issue.

I'll keep your settings in mind in the event I run into video issues at a future time.

Thanks for the info.

[NorrinRadd]

Ok, so is there a "bottom line" here? I'd like videos to play, but for me, it's more important to not have that effed up menu bar. In my case the Notifications area overlaps other stuff to the point that I can't tell what I'm looking at or clicking on.

Right now using PMR's UA settings, the display is fine and dandy. I haven't had occasion to try any videos.

[tewitt1949]

I'm glad to see others are having problems besides me. Here is what I've noticed within the last 2 days. First thing the blue bar on FB was blank, my find friends, messages, log out area was down below the blue bar. I fixed that by holding shift key and scrowling the mouse button to make everything smaller, that would correct the blue bar. And now 1 day later, the same 2 laptops using PM, on both I cannot log into face book. I type in user name and password, hit sign in and it comes back to the sign in screen. Same 2 laptops using internet explorer, FB works fine. I have had windows automatic up date shut off for a while so it ain't that. I do update PM when ever it asks, seems like there was an update within the last week.

3-4 days ago I wasn't having any of these problems.
I have 8.1.

I still don't have it fixed. I hope the next up date will fix it because I'm not real computer savoy to do much other than click update. Please help PM.

[tewitt1949]

Followup on my problem. I cleared all facebook cookies and it fixed my problem.

This link did it.... viewtopic.php?f=3&t=12391&p=87399#p87478

[Pallid Planetoid]

Followup on my problem. I cleared all facebook cookies and it fixed my problem.

This link did it.... viewtopic.php?f=3&t=12391&p=87399#p87478

Facebook has a tendency to sometimes have cookie issues now and then (due to ongoing changes of which they leave either orphaned or corrupted cookies behind) that can sometimes impact the website. This is the best way to solve the issue since the approach outlined in this link only addresses Facebook cookies specifically, leaving all other cookies alone in the event they may be needed by the user.