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Automatically Defining SoundBanks

This method will apply if:

  • The media requirements are difficult to predict in advance by the sound designer.

  • A high level of granularity is required for media to keep the memory usage low.

  • It's preferable to package Events individually, one per SoundBank.

Wwise can be configured to automatically define SoundBanks for Events and auxiliary busses.

To enable auto-defined SoundBanks:

[Warning]Warning

The Wwise Unity Integration does not support auto-defined SoundBanks. If you plan to use Unity, leave this option cleared, and choose one of the other Strategies for Managing SoundBanks.

  1. From the Wwise menu bar, click Project > Project Settings (Shift+K).

  2. In the Project Settings dialog, select the SoundBanks tab, and then select Enable Auto-Defined SoundBanks.

When selected, Wwise automatically defines SoundBanks for:

  • Events not included in any user-defined SoundBank.

  • All Auxiliary Busses.

Refer to SoundBanks Tab for further details.

The SoundBank Manager's Auto-Defined SoundBanks list contains all Wwise objects that might lead to an automatically defined SoundBank. For each object, the list provides the following columns to determine if a SoundBank was defined:

  • Automatic: Whether a SoundBank was defined, Yes or No.

  • Inc: The object's Inclusion property.

  • In User SoundBanks: A list of user-defined SoundBanks that include the object.

The following figure shows the SoundBank Manager for a project configured to automatically define SoundBanks.

In the example project, the following Events do not have a SoundBank:

  • Event Play_RC3 does not have a SoundBank because the Event's Inclusion property is not set.

  • Event Play_Music does not have a SoundBank because the Event is included in the user-defined SoundBank Music.

[Note]Note

The contents of the Auto-Defined SoundBanks column is updated dynamically following each project change. The remaining columns are only updated following SoundBank generation. The Date Updated column indicates when the last update occurred.

Auto-defined SoundBanks do not contain media files; they only contain Structures and Events. The following figures show the Add and Edit tabs of the SoundBank Editor when inspecting the auto-defined SoundBanks Play_RC1. The contents of auto-defined SoundBanks cannot be manually edited. However, the various tabs of the SoundBank Editor provide useful information about the contents and references of auto-defined SoundBanks.

Integration

Auto-defined SoundBanks explicitly exclude media. Using such a SoundBank requires extra game code. For the Wwise Unreal Integration, see Understanding Auto-Defined and User-Defined SoundBanks in the Wwise Unreal Integration documentation.

The Wwise Unity Integration does not support auto-defined SoundBanks.

Additional Notes on this Method

The following table lists the pros and cons of automatically defining SoundBanks.

Pros

Cons

Creates SoundBanks and media with a high level of granularity that can be managed by the game engine as needed.

SoundBank creation is simple.

A hybrid approach that includes user-defined SoundBanks alongside auto-defined SoundBanks is possible.

The contents of auto-defined SoundBanks cannot be manually edited.

Potentially increases the number of reads and seeks on the disk as the media assets are loaded one by one.

When generating SoundBanks, you must generate all SoundBanks.


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