Loaded SWF reverts to original MC as soon as I mask it!

[Flashgordon]

Hi all

I'm working on a virtual catalogue and I get my movie to load the next page SWF into an existing mc on stage when the viewer clicks for the next page.
The problem is, I am using a mask to show parts of the page, and if I use a mask, the loaded SWF doesn't show, it just shows the empty movieclip that I first placed on the stage. If I remove the mask layer, the loaded SWF shows fine. This is surely a bug, right? I'm using flash 5, but I've also tried it in flash 8 professional and it does the same thing.

p.s. If I remove my mask to show the SWF, later duplicated movieclips that I need don't appear, but they do with the mask layer there, so it's a catch 22 situation. It's doing my head in!!

Any advice would be appreciated!
TIA
Andy

 

[Flashgordon]

I've worked out that you can't duplicate a movie clip that's already had an external SWF loaded ito it. You can only duplicate the MC in it's original state. That may explain why my duplicates were not working. OK, snow I may be able to work around the masking.....