Packaging Plug-ins for the Wwise Launcher
This page is intended for plug-in authors. It seeks to inform them of the requirements related to publishing a Wwise plug-in that is compatible with both the Wwise Launcher and the Wwise plug-ins Store. For more details on plug-in creation itself, please consult Creating New Plug-ins.
The following sections take you through the necessary steps to publishing a fully compatible Wwise plug-in:
Plug-in packaging
In order to be compatible with the Wwise Launcher and benefit from its plug-in management workflows, plug-in authors need to package their plug-ins in a very specific way. The Wwise Launcher works in terms of bundles, as in a self-contained folder or archive containing all the files and metadata required to proceed with the installation of the plug-in.
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Note: As indicated in the Dynamic Libraries section of How to Create Wwise Sound Engine Plug-ins, you must include dynamic libraries (or the platform-specific equivalent) in your bundle for your plug-in to work with the Wwise Unity Integration. |
Definitions
Before delving into how plug-ins can be packaged, we need to define some of the terms that will be used. The following table defines the possible values for these terms, meaning that wherever you see one of them enclosed in angled brackets (<Term>), it can be expanded to the corresponding values.
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| Android iOS tvOS Mac Linux Windows_vc100 Windows_vc110 Windows_vc120 Windows_vc140 Windows_vc150 XboxOne UWP_vc140 UWP_vc150 PS4 Vita NX |
android-9_armeabi-v7a android-9_x86 android-21_arm64-v8a android-21_x86_64 iOS Linux_x32 Linux_x64 Mac NX32 NX64 PS4 tvOS UWP_Win32_vc140 UWP_Win32_vc150 UWP_x64_vc140 UWP_x64_vc150 UWP_ARM_vc140 UWP_ARM_vc150 Vita Win32_vc100 Win32_vc110 Win32_vc120 Win32_vc140 Win32_vc150 x64_vc100 x64_vc110 x64_vc120 x64_vc140 x64_vc150 XboxOne_vc140 XboxOne_vc150 |
Bundle directory structure
A plug-in bundle is a flat directory or archive that can contain any combination of the following files (no files are mandatory except for bundle.json).
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Plug-in bundle description file. |
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Package containing all authoring files, including binary and data files. This package can actually be separated in several files if required. For example, you could split the Data, Binary, and Documentation. However, all packages will always be installed. |
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Package containing all non-platform specific SDK files, including the plug-in header files. |
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Wwise SDK plug-in files specific to a deployment platform.
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Note: Archive format The archive files present inside of a bundle must be provided in the TAR.XZ or ZIP formats and will be extracted by the Wwise Launcher using the metadata specified inside of the bundle.json file. Note that the bundle itself can also be given to the Wwise Launcher as a .tar.xz archive (instead of a folder). |
The folder structure inside of these archives must respect the following format. Please note that we only support 64-bit plug-ins in Wwise Authoring. We removed 32-bit support with Wwise 2017.2.
PluginName/
├── bundle.json
│
├── Authoring.tar.xz
│ └── Authoring
│ ├── Help
│ ├── Data
│ | └── Factory Assets
│ | └── PluginName
│ └── x64
│ └── Release
│ └── bin
│ └── plugins
│
├── SDK.tar.xz
│ └── SDK
│ └── include
│ └── AK
| └── Plugin
│
└── SDK_<DeploymentPlatforms>.tar.xz
└── SDK
└── <SDKPlatforms>
├── Release
| ├── bin
| └── lib
├── Debug
| ├── bin
| └── lib
└── Profile
├── bin
└── lib
Example
Here is an example of a plug-in bundle supporting the Wwise Authoring as well as the Linux_x32 and Linux_x64 Wwise SDK platforms.
PluginName/
├── bundle.json
│
├── Authoring.tar.xz
│ └── Authoring
│ ├── Help
│ | └── PluginName_UserGuide.pdf
│ ├── Data
│ | └── Factory Assets
│ | └── PluginName
│ | ├── Manifest.xml
│ | └── ...
│ └── x64
│ └── Release
│ └── bin
│ └── plugins
│ ├── PluginName.dll
│ └── PluginName.xml
│
├── SDK.tar.xz
│ └── SDK
│ └── include
│ └── AK
| └── Plugin
| └── PluginName.h
│
└── SDK_Linux.tar.xz
└── SDK
├── Linux_x32
| ├── Release
| | ├── bin
| | | └── libPluginName.so
| | └── lib
| | └── libPluginNameFX.a
| ├── Debug
| | ├── bin
| | | └── libPluginName.so
| | └── lib
| | | └── libPluginNameFX.a
| └── Profile
| ├── bin
| | └── libPluginName.so
| └── lib
| └── libPluginNameFX.a
└── Linux_x64
├── Release
| ├── bin
| | └── libPluginName.so
| └── lib
| └── libPluginNameFX.a
├── Debug
| ├── bin
| | └── libPluginName.so
| └── lib
| └── libPluginNameFX.a
└── Profile
├── bin
| └── libPluginName.so
└── lib
└── libPluginNameFX.a
Bundle metadata
The bundle.json file contained in the bundle should be structured as follows (all fields are mandatory unless specified).
{
"id": string, // Unique identifier of this bundle. Id must be unique across all existing plugins and versions. To avoid conflicts, use the company name, plugin name and version and build number in the Id. For example: audiokinetic_convolutionreverb_2017.2.3_4877
"name": string, // Name displayed in the Wwise Launcher for this bundle
"description": string, // Description displayed in the Wwise Launcher for this bundle
"image": string, // Base64 representation of an image to be displayed in the Wwise Launcher for this bundle (PNG, JPEG or GIF)
"vendor": string, // Vendor name displayed in the Wwise Launcher for this bundle
"type": "plugin", // Type of this bundle, must be "plugin"
// Data that is specific to this bundle type
"productDependentData": {
// Version of Wwise this bundle was built against.
// See AK_OLDEST_SUPPORTED_WWISESDK_VERSION to know the compatibility of your plug-in.
"targetWwiseVersion": {
"year": number,
"major": number
}
},
// Version of this bundle
"version": {
"year": number,
"major": number,
"minor": number,
"build": number
},
// List of files to be installed for this bundle
"files": [
{
"id": string, // Unique identifier
"sha1": string, // SHA1 of the file
"size": number, // Size of the file (in bytes)
"sourceName": string, // Name of the file
"uncompressedSize": number, // Uncompressed size of the file (in bytes)
// List of groups for which this file should be installed (refer to the table below for the complete list of groups plug-ins have access to)
"groups": [
{
"groupId": string, // Unique identifier of the group
"groupValueId": string // Unique identifier of the group's value field
},
...
]
},
...
],
// List of EULAs associated with this bundle
"eulas": [
{
"displayName": string, // Name displayed in the Wwise Launcher for this EULA
"displayContent": string, // Text displayed in the Wwise Launcher for this EULA
"id": string // Unique identifier of this EULA
},
...
],
// Labels displayed next to this bundle
"labels": [
{
"class": string, // Style class applied to this label (default, primary, success, info, warning, danger)
"displayName": string // Name displayed in the Wwise Launcher for this label
},
...
],
// Online documentation links for this bundle
"links": [
{
"displayName": string, // Name displayed in the Wwise Launcher for this link
"id": string, // Unique identifier of this link
"url": string // Target URL of this link
},
...
],
// Local documentation files for this bundle
"documentation": [
{
"displayName": string, // Name displayed in the Wwise Launcher for this documentation file
"filePath": string, // Path to the documentation file
"language": "en" | "ja" | "zh" // Language of the documentation file
},
...
]
}
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Note: Unique Plug-in Identifier To avoid conflicts with other plug-ins, it is mandatory to encode the following information in the plug-in unique identifier:
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Bundle groups
Each file specified in the bundle.json must be linked to one or multiple groups. This information will be used by the Wwise Launcher to determine if a given file has to be installed according to the context.
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| Packages |
Authoring |
| DeploymentPlatforms |
(Please refer to the DeploymentPlatforms column in Definitions.) |
Example
Continuing from our previous example, here is the corresponding bundle.json for a plug-in bundle supporting the Wwise Authoring as well as the Linux_x32 and Linux_x64 Wwise SDK platforms; it comes with English documentation:
{
"id": "PluginAuthor_PluginName_2017.1.0_0",
"name": "PluginName",
"description": "PluginName is an awesome Wwise plug-in that does XYZ.",
"image": "data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAP///wAAACH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAICRAEAOw==",
"vendor": "PluginAuthor",
"type": "plugin",
"version": {
"year": 2017,
"major": 1,
"minor": 0,
"build": 0
},
"productDependentData": {
"targetWwiseVersion": {
"year": 2017,
"major": 1
}
},
"files": [
{
"id": "Authoring.tar.xz",
"sha1": "2ab1fb750b2d4c6f9ad8f4c0b8966fe866a676c4",
"size": 7450993,
"uncompressedSize": 74509930,
"sourceName": "Authoring.tar.xz",
"groups": [
{
"groupId": "Packages",
"groupValueId": "Authoring"
}
]
},
{
"id": "SDK.tar.xz",
"sha1": "4e86453b2541ce4f3400778f932c850fd09cc0ff",
"size": 503316,
"uncompressedSize": 5033160,
"sourceName": "SDK.tar.xz",
"groups": [
{
"groupId": "Packages",
"groupValueId": "SDK"
}
]
},
{
"id": "SDK_Linux.tar.xz",
"sha1": "9cb1b7db241e476c4024d43aed46c2b17beee366",
"size": 263682,
"uncompressedSize": 2636820,
"sourceName": "SDK_Linux_x32_Debug.tar.xz",
"groups": [
{
"groupId": "Packages",
"groupValueId": "SDK"
},
{
"groupId": "DeploymentPlatforms",
"groupValueId": "Linux"
}
]
}
],
"eulas": [
{
"displayName": "PluginName",
"displayContent": "PluginName is provided for free on an \"as is\" basis. As such, ...",
"id": "EULA"
}
],
"labels": [
{
"class": "info",
"displayName": "Alpha"
}
],
"links": [
{
"displayName": "Release Notes",
"id": "ReleaseNotes",
"url": "https://www.releasenotes.com"
}
],
"documentation": [
{
"displayName": "User Guide",
"filePath": "Authoring/Help/PluginName_UserGuide.pdf",
"language": "en"
}
]
}
Version Management
Each Plug-in Bundle targets a specific version of Wwise. However, each version of Wwise can support plug-ins targeting previous versions of Wwise.
Compatibility between Wwise minor versions will always be retained. For example, 2017.1.1 and 2017.1.2 are compatible. It is also possible that major releases retain compatibility; but, you should be prepared to update your plug-ins with Wwise major versions. Consult the Release Notes to know which plug-in versions are compatible with the current version of Wwise.
Each time we break compatibility, the plug-in vendor needs to release a new version of the bundle. Installing an incompatible version of a plug-in through the Launcher will be prevented. Plug-in bundles registered and hosted on audiokinetic.com will automatically appear as options during Wwise Installation, if they are compatible.
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