How to Install and Integrate Wwise as a Plugin in Unreal Engine on a Mac

Welcome to part 2! I'll go over how to create an Unreal project and Wwise project and how to connect the two. This also contains the step for an already existing project. To start, open Epic Launcher you installed and Launch the editor. Here you'll want to select your project in the projects tab, or create a New Project. For this I chose to create a Blank Session.

Installing the Wwise Plugin

Navigate to where your Unreal Engine is installed and find the Engine Plugins folder. Drag the three folders (Wwise, WwiseNiagara, WwiseSoundEngine) into the Plugins folder in Unreal Engine. After the download completes, you should see these folders in your destination.

Component	Typical Mac Path / Folder Name
Unreal Engine Installation	Applications/Unreal Engine/[version]/Engine/Plugins
Wwise Project Path	Documents/WwiseProjects/YourWwiseProject/YourWwiseProject.wproj
Wwise Plugin Folders	Wwise, WwiseNiagara, WwiseSoundEngine

From the last tutorial you should now be able to see Wwise in the Audio subsection. Next Check the box "Enabled" and click the "New plugin" button. You'll have to restart Unreal. Once it restarts you'll see this message pop up. You do want to open the "Settings Window". This will bring us to the window where we tell Unreal where to find our Wwise Project and what version of Wwise we are using.

Creating the Wwise Project

Now let's open Wwise and make a project to put into Unreal by hitting "New". This will bring up the "New Project" window where you'll need to Add the platforms you're working on, i.e. Mac. Once you click Add you'll have to browse "Base Platform" to find Mac. It should look like this for and Mac/PC games. You'll click "Okay" and the project will open. If you're going to be using this for a commercial releasing game you'll need to Import you License for Wwise. If you're using this for a student project like I am, you can close this window.

Working with Audio Assets

Next we will want to import a sound to work with by dragging from finder into the Default Work Unit. Then on your new Sound Effect, you want to create a Play and Stop event to be able to hear your sound in Unreal. Then going to "Layouts" we'll want to switch to our "SoundBank" layout. In the "SoundBank Manager, select all the checkboxes so you can generate the proper Sound Banks. Then we'll need to create a new sound bank by clicking "New". You can name it whatever you'd like. Then you will need to drag you sound events into the "SoundBank Editor". Then click on "Generate" and you've finished creating your first usable Wwise Project.

Connecting Wwise to Unreal Engine

Going back to Unreal, You'll need to click the dots next to "Wwise Project Path". Your Wwise Project should be under the path, Documents/WwiseProjects/YourWwiseProject/YourWwiseProject.wproj. This Window will pop open, It can also be found under the Window tab then Wwise Picker. Here you can already see your events and drag them into the "Content Browser". You'll also need to path to the "Wwise Mac Installation Path" so that the banks can generate. This should be in your Application folder, if not you can search for it in finder and find it that way.

Now we need to import our SoundBanks so they can be generated engine side. These will be in the "GeneratedSoundBanks" folder in your Wwise Project folder. Once that is done, Command click to select both files then right click, select "Generate Selected SoundBanks" at the top. This will bring up the "Generate SoundBanks" Window everything should be selected. Once that is done a pop up on the bottom right will appear, you do want to import the changes.

Congratulations you've fully implemented Wwise into Unreal on a Mac! Some things to note is that you'll have to load the sound banks at the start of the game in code or blueprints otherwise there will be no sounds in your executable files. Also any changes made to the Wwise project will require you to regenerate your sound banks, both in Wwise and Unreal for the changes to take effect.