yep, play every frame selected. still no dice
could it be the amount of time on the animation?
the animation stops @ frame 27. so.....

file3.frameExtension= floor ((frame - 1) / 3) + 1;
if (file3.frameExtension > 9)
file3.frameExtension =1;

im guessing this expression is like make each image go for 3 frames.

3 frames x 9 images = 27 total frames.

I just want it to loop after 27 frames.