Before proceeding, review the Requirements page and make sure you have installed supported versions of the Unreal Engine and Wwise.

This UE integration package contains files related to the Wwise plug-in only; it does not contain the entire Unreal Engine source code, nor the Wwise SDK.

Installation Procedures

There are two ways of installing the Wwise Unreal plug-in: either as a game plug-in or as an engine plug-in - not both.

Note: For more information on the difference between engine and game plug-ins (sometimes referred to as "installed" plug-ins), refer to the Unreal Engine documentation.

Installing the Wwise Unreal Plug-in as a Game Plug-in

Installing Wwise as a game plug-in is handled by the Audiokinetic Launcher. Refer to Integrating Wwise into an Unreal Project in the Launcher documentation.

It is also possible to integrate Wwise using offline integration files. Refer to Using Offline Files to Install Unity or Unreal Integrations in the Launcher documentation.

Refer to Changes to your Wwise Project to understand what happens to your Wwise project.

Managing Wwise Plug-ins

There are various plug-ins available for Wwise, which need to be installed correctly in order to be used in the Wwise Unreal plug-in. Plug-ins for Wwise are managed via the Audiokinetic Launcher. For more information on managing plug-ins for Wwise, refer to the Adding Plug-ins to Unity and Unreal Integrations in the Launcher Documentation.

Note: If there are plug-ins missing from your Wwise installation when you use the Wwise Unreal plug-in, you will see the following error: LogAkAudio: Error: Could not find plugin dynamic library.

Installing the Wwise Unreal Plug-in as an Engine Plug-in

Caution: Installing the Wwise plug-in for Unreal as an engine plug-in is intended for expert users only.

If you will be working on multiple Unreal projects and Wwise will be used in each of them, you might want to install the Wwise Unreal plug-in as an engine plug-in.

1. Downloading the Wwise Unreal Engine integration package:
   1. Open the Audiokinetic Launcher and select the Unreal page.
   2. From the RECENT UNREAL ENGINE PROJECTS menu, select Download Wwise Integration to use as an engine plug-in. The Download Wwise Unreal Integration page opens.
      
      
      
      
      
   3. Select the Wwise Integration Version that starts with the desired Wwise version number.
   4. Select the Unreal Version corresponding to the one you have installed.
   5. Specify the desired Download Directory. The Launcher automatically populates this field with C:\Users\<username>\Documents\Wwise Unreal Engine integration. If the folder already exists, its content will be overwritten.
   6. Click Download. The Unreal page displays OFFLINE FILE DOWNLOADS above the projects list with a progress bar, the Unreal Engine Integration plug-in version, and the directory path. Wait for the download to finish before you continue.
      
      
2. Copying the Wwise integration and SDK files to the Unreal Engine Plugins folder:
   1. Within the Wwise Unreal Engine integration folder, you will find a folder called Wwise. Copy the Wwise folder to your existing Plugins folder; …\<UE installation directory>\Engine\Plugins.
   2. Within the …\<UE installation directory>\Engine\Plugins\Wwise folder, create a folder called ThirdParty.
   3. During the packaging process, the Unreal Editor might need to rebuild the Wwise UE integration. For this reason, you must copy several folders from the Wwise SDK installation folder to the Wwise\ThirdParty plug-in folder hierarchy. Open the following folders:
      • Source: C:\Program Files (x86)\Audiokinetic\Wwise 2021.1.14.8108\SDK\
      • Destination: ...\Plugins\Wwise\ThirdParty\
        
   4. Copy the following folders from the source folder to the destination folder:
      • include
      • Win32_*
      • x64_*
      • Mac
        
   5. If your project will be deployed on other platforms that have a folder in the SDK source folder, you must copy those folders (which contain the platform's libraries) to the ThirdParty folder as well.
      
      
3. Enabling the plug-in and linking your Unreal and Wwise projects:
   1. In the Unreal Editor, open your project.
   2. From the toolbar, click Edit > Plugins.
   3. In the dialog box that opens, navigate to the Installed > Audio page.
   4. Select the check box under Wwise Unreal Engine integration to enable the plug-in.
   5. From the toolbar, click Edit > Project Settings.
   6. Navigate to the Wwise > Integration Settings page.
   7. Specify the Wwise Project Path in the Installation section and close the dialog box.

Refer to Changes to your Wwise Project to understand what happens to your Wwise project.

Changes to your Wwise Project

The first time you open your Unreal project after integrating Wwise, the following changes will be made to your Wwise project:

• MediaDuplicated and MediaNotFound log messages are disabled, since media is no longer included in SoundBanks.
• CopyStreamedFiles post-build step is removed from the Wwise project, if possible.
• Generate Metadata File is disabled, as only the per bank metadata files are needed.
• Generate Per Bank Metadata File is enabled.
• Generate XML Metadata is disabled, since Unreal gathers information from the JSON metadata files.
• Generate JSON Metadata is enabled.
• Include GUID, Max attenuation and Estimated duration are enabled.

Disabled Media options in Logs tab of Project Settings

SoundBanks Settings in SoundBanks tab of Project Settings