No sound in unreal 4.27 packaged build with "Failed to load SoundBank" log error

Question

Hello,

I've recently been attempting to package my game using Unreal 4.27 and with wwise integration 2022.1.4.8202.2651. I've noticed some sounds are not working correctly in the packaged build, and the log states that the bnk files are failing to load or open.

[2023.11.19-10.55.37:193][  0]LogWwiseFileHandler: Error: FWwiseInMemorySoundBankFileState::OpenFile 852598580 (BNK_Locomotion): Failed to load SoundBank (BNK_Locomotion.bnk).
[2023.11.19-10.55.37:193][  0]LogWwiseFileHandler: Warning: State SoundBank 852598580 Opening Failed -> Closed
[2023.11.19-10.55.37:193][  0]LogWwiseFileHandler: Warning: IncrementCountDone SoundBank 852598580: Could not open file for asset loading.

And this occurs for a number of BNK files, which then cascades into events failing (probably due to the non loading of bnk files)

One thing to note all sounds work FINE in the editor.

I believe all the directories are setup correctly:

Unreal project packaging settings

Additional directories to cook: 

• /Wwise/WwiseTree
• /Wwise/WwiseTypes
• /Wwise/Generated (not sure if this should be /Wwise/GeneratedSoundbanks, but tried it, but it didn't work)

WWise Integration Settings

The Wwise project path is setup correctly.

The Generated Sound Banks Folder is setup correctly and i see the files where they should be.

The Wwise staging directory is WwiseAudio

The Wwise windows installation path is setup correctly (can generate sound banks successfully in both the wwise authoring tool and unreal).

I have tried everything but NOTHING seems to fix this:

• Deleted the cache file and regenerated the sound banks
• Made sure the project wwise installation is the same version as the wwise authoring tool
• Packaged a build avoiding the use of the .Pak file and checked the file structure in the packaged build to make sure the bnk files exist
• Tried various additional additional directories to cook including Content/WwiseAudio etc 
• Tried variations with various paths.

I just don't understand what is going wrong, especially as some sounds work in the packaged build, the ones that were working the last time i generated the sound banks. Is there anyone who has experienced this?

Answer 1

So with the help of a kind soul, i managed to resolve this issue. If you are seeing these types of error the first thing to check, are you setting any wwise events or values in your constructor e.g.
staticConstructorHelpers::FObjectFinder<UAkAudioEvent>Asset1(TEXT("AkAudioEvent'/Game/WwiseAudio/Events/EVT_Locomotion/Play_IGC_Impact_Shared.Play_IGC_Impact_Shared'"));
    if (Asset1.Succeeded())
    {
        AttackImpactSFX = Cast<UAkAudioEvent>(Asset1.Object);
    }

If you are this will be the cause, the CDO is attempting to load the event before the wwise system has initiated as this occurs as the engine itself loads, and in my case was before the gameinstance init. In order to fix this move the setting of the file into a BeginPlay() or PostInitializeComponents() e.g. 

void UIGCCombatComponent::BeginPlay()
{
    Super::BeginPlay();

    // Set default wwise impact SFX event
   AttackImpactSFX = LoadObject<UAkAudioEvent>(NULL, TEXT("AkAudioEvent'/Game/WwiseAudio/Events/EVT_Locomotion/Play_IGC_Impact_Shared.Play_IGC_Impact_Shared'"), NULL, LOAD_None, NULL);
}

This should resolve the issue, i really hope this helps anyone else as it had my stumped for quite some time.