Setup

Perform the following:

1. If not already done, you must install the Wwise Unreal plug-in as described in Installation and Building the plug-in.
2. In the following examples, we will use the ThirdPersonCharacter Project - a template sample that comes with the default installation of Unreal. To get this sample, download and open the Unreal Editor, select Games > Third Person, give it a name, and click Create Project. This project contains everything you need to follow these tutorials, except for the Wwise Authoring application, a Wwise project, and sounds.

Note: In order to follow these tutorials, you only need the default installations of Wwise and Unreal. There are no supplemental materials available for download in relation to Wwise. Instead, you are expected to create the material yourself and simply use the tutorials as inspiration.

Background Reading

Just like with other game engines, there are fundamental concepts you'll need to learn to make informed decisions when integrating audio in Unreal. An awareness of these concepts will also help you troubleshoot any issues that might arise. As such, to effectively use the Wwise Unreal Integration, we recommend you first learn a bit about Unreal. Before proceeding, we suggest you consult the following links to gain the necessary background knowledge:

• Level Editor
  This is the initial layout when you open Unreal. You will use it to manage your assets, like placing sounds in the level or creating new ones. It's also from the Level Editor that you will open other views, like the Blueprint Editor.
• Actors, Components, Blueprints
  In Unreal, any object in your level is an Actor. There are different types of Actors to accommodate your needs, and Actors can have components to define what they can do. For example, an Actor could have a Mesh that you can use as a Trigger to define ambience areas. On an Actor, you can add a Blueprint, which allows you to design systems. Within these systems, you can reference your Actor’s components, so that when something enters your Trigger an ambience will start playing.
• Event-Based Packaging
  The following integration examples assume you are using Wwise 2019.2 or newer, which means we can take advantage of Event-Based Packaging. With it, you won't have to create SoundBanks in Wwise, simply Generate SoundData within Unreal and all relevant data from Wwise will be referenced in your Wwise Project.

Tip: When generating SoundData you’ll receive a small notification message, playing a notification sound. Depending on the level of your own sound integration, this notification sound can be quite loud, but it’s possible to disable it. Go to UnrealPreferences > Miscellaneous and disable Enable Editor Sounds.

Once you’ve read through the resources listed above, parts of these tutorials might seem self-evident. For clarity, the examples included here are probably more simple than what you would see in an actual game production. Nevertheless, we’ll start with the most common types of sound integration and progress towards more complex examples.