FMOD Guide

FMOD is a plugin for Unity and other game engines that makes implementing sound effects and music into games significantly easier, as well as giving our musicians and sound designers more power and flexibility to shape the soundscape of our game. It uses a separate software to add sounds and allow for substantial editing power over how the sound is played and used in-game. Then, some very minimal final steps are needed in Unity to tell it exactly where and how you want the sound to be used. Fortunately, a lot of the infrastructure to support FMOD and streamline the process of using it has already been done, so all you need to do is follow these simple steps!

Note

If you have any issues with FMOD, please contact PASTA CAMEL on Discord. Please do not commit and push a broken FMOD project to GitHub, as it could break everyone else's FMOD project.

How to Open the FMOD Project in FMOD Studio.

In order to make changes to sounds in the game or add new sounds, you have to use FMOD Studio, as well as some code to integrate your changes. Here are the directions to get started:

1. Install FMOD Studio from their website.
2. Navigate to the folder for the GitHub project (should be called either Game-1 or Eye-of-the-Nile).
3. From there, open the folder called FMod Project. This is where all the FMOD assets are stored.
4. Open the FMod Project file with FMOD Studio.

If all goes well, you should now be able to see and change the FMOD project. On the left, there is a sidebar with three tabs, where you can see all of our files (called assets), sounds that Unity can actually use (called events), and where those events are stored (called banks).

How to add new sounds in FMOD Studio

The details can vary based on what you're adding, but the basics are really simple:

1. Drag and drop the audio file(s) you want to use into the Assets tab.
2. Go to the Events tab, right click, click Event Defaults (not New Event), and click one of two options:
   • 2D action: if you have a short sound that doesn't need much change or special instructions. Recommended for most sound effects.
   • 2D timelime: if you have a longer file, or something that needs extra instructions, especially time-dependent ones like looping a section. Recommended for music.
3. Go back to the Assets tab and drag the assets you brought in earlier onto the timeline.
4. In the Events tab, right click your new event and click Assign to Bank, then Browse, then the bank that makes the most sense (usually not master).
5. Save your progress with Ctrl + S, and build the project with F7. Go back to Unity and within 5 seconds your changes will be reflected.

   Note

   Don't forget to save AND build, or your changes will not be reflected in Unity.

How to use FMOD events in Unity

Now that you've added your new sound into FMOD, it's very simple to use it in Unity. Most of the work is already done for you!

1. In whatever script you're using, add a serialized variable (a variable that's either public or has [SerializedField] next to it) of type EventReference (example: [SerializedField] EventReference myCoolSound).
2. There's many ways to play the sound, but the process is streamlined by the AudioManager. These functions are recommended:
   • AudioManager.instance.PlaySFX()
   • AudioManager.instance.PlayOneShot()
   • AudioManager.instance.PlayMusic()

More information can be found in the documentation for AudioManager.

1. In the Unity Editor, put your script on an object and assign the event reference by clicking the search icon next to it, and finding the event you created earlier.

And you're done!!! Once you're familiar with the process, it's fairly straightforward. Now that you are familiar with FMOD, feel free to experiment with it's more advanced features! There's plenty of tutorials online that go through FMOD's features more in depth.

Author

Stephen Nuttall