Working with States

A State needs to belong to a State Group before it can be applied to any object in Wwise. You can logically organize States into State Groups in ways that make it easier to manage them. For example, you would probably find it useful to group together States associated with the main character in a game. You would then create a State Group named Main Character, to which you can add states that will be applied to the properties for the objects associated with the Main Character. From the game, you know that the main character will probably experience the following states: stunned, calm, and high stress. It would be useful to group these together and then define the property changes associated with the individual States.

After you have set up your State structure, you can subscribe objects to State Groups in the Property Editor and customize the State properties as needed.

To help you easily identify a State Group or a State in the interface, Wwise uses a unique icon to identify them.

Icon

Represents

State Group

State

Creating State Groups

You can create all the State Groups that you need from either of the following two places in Wwise:

To create a new State Group for your project from the Project Explorer:

In the Project Explorer, switch to the Game Syncs tab.
In the States section, do one of the following:
- Select a Work Unit or Virtual Folder and click the State Group icon in the Project Explorer toolbar.
- Right-click a Work Unit or a Virtual Folder and click New Child > State Group from the shortcut menu.
A new State Group is added to the list of State Groups.
Replace the default name with one that best represents the State Group.
Note
Each State Group name must be unique and consist only of letters, digits, and underscores. Use either a letter or underscore as the first character.
Continue to add State Groups as needed.

To create a new State Group for your project from the States tab of the Property Editor:

In the States tab of the Property Editor, click Add >>.
The State selector menu opens.
Select New
Select the Work Unit into which you want to create a new State Group.
In the Name field, replace the default name with one that best represents the State Group.
Note
Each State Group name must be unique and consist only of letters, digits, and underscores. Use either a letter or underscore as the first character.
Click OK to create and subscribe to the new State Group.

Creating States

When a State is called by the game, it applies property changes to objects in response to the game conditions. The transitions between the States are defined in the State Group editor.

To create a new State:

In the Project Explorer, switch to the Game Syncs tab.
In the States section, do one of the following:
- Select a State Group and click the State icon in the Project Explorer toolbar.
- Right-click a State Group and select New Child > State from the shortcut menu.
A new State is added to the State Group.
Replace the default name with one that best represents the State.
Note
Each State name in a State Group must be unique and consist only of letters, digits, and underscores. Use either a letter or underscore as the first character.
Continue creating States as needed.

Deleting States or State Groups

You may need to delete a State or a State Group that you no longer need in your project. Keep in mind that deleting a State Group also deletes all the States in that State Group. Deleted States will no longer be available to the objects and Presets that were using them.

States are integrated in the game using one of two mechanisms:

They can be integrated by calling an Event with a Set State action. In this case, deleting a State or State Group will create problems in Wwise as the called State will no longer be available.
They can be integrated by calling the State Group and the State itself. In this case, the sound designer who intends to delete the State or State Group should advise the audio programmer of the change.

Use the Find All References command on the State Group's shortcut menu to find which object is using the State Group before you delete it.

To delete a State Group:

In the Project Explorer, switch to the Game Syncs tab.
In the States section, right-click the State Group or State that you want to delete, and select Delete Selection.
The selected State or State Group is deleted.

	Note
	If you delete a State or State Group by mistake, you can undo the delete by pressing Ctrl+Z or by clicking Edit > Undo.

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	Note
	Each State Group name must be unique and consist only of letters, digits, and underscores. Use either a letter or underscore as the first character.

	Note
	Each State Group name must be unique and consist only of letters, digits, and underscores. Use either a letter or underscore as the first character.

	Note
	Each State name in a State Group must be unique and consist only of letters, digits, and underscores. Use either a letter or underscore as the first character.

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