Getting Started¶

Requirements¶

Steam Audio requires FMOD Studio 2.00 or later.

The Steam Audio FMOD Studio integration supports the following platforms:

Windows 7 or later (32-bit and 64-bit)
Linux (32-bit and 64-bit, tested with Ubuntu 18.04 LTS)
macOS 10.7 or later (64-bit Intel)
Android 5.0 or later (32-bit ARM, 64-bit ARM, 32-bit Intel)
iOS 11.0 or later (64-bit ARM)

Add Steam Audio to your FMOD Studio project¶

To add Steam Audio to your FMOD Studio project:

Download the latest version of the Steam Audio FMOD Studio integration: steamaudio_fmod.zip. Extract the contents of this file to any directory of your choosing.
In your project directory (this is the directory containing your project’s .fspro file), create a subdirectory called Plugins, if it doesn’t already exist.
Copy the following files from the directory you extracted steamaudio_fmod.zip into, to the Plugins directory of your FMOD Studio project.
- (Windows 32-bit editor only) lib/windows-x86/phonon.dll and lib/windows-x86/phonon_fmod.dll
- (Windows 64-bit editor only) lib/windows-x64/phonon.dll and lib/windows-x64/phonon_fmod.dll
- (macOS editor only) lib/osx/phonon.bundle and lib/osx/libphonon_fmod.dylib
- (all platforms) src/phonon_fmod.plugin.js

Spatialize an event¶

Once Steam Audio is added to your project, you can spatialize any event:

Select the event you want to spatialize.
Click the Master track for the event.
In the effects deck at the bottom of the window, right-click an empty spot, and choose Add Effect > Plug-in Effects > Valve > Steam Audio Spatializer.
Drag the Steam Audio Spatializer to an appropriate position in the effect chain.

If the event already contains FMOD’s built-in spatializer effect, you can delete or bypass it.

Integrate Steam Audio with your game engine¶

Before you can use the Steam Audio FMOD Studio integration in your game, you must configure your game engine to use Steam Audio and load the Steam Audio FMOD Studio integration.

If you are using Unity as your game engine, see the Unity tab below. If you are using Unreal Engine as your game engine, see the Unreal Engine tab below. Otherwise, see the C++ tab for instructions on how to configure your game engine to load the Steam Audio FMOD Studio integration via C++ code.

These instructions assume that you have added the FMOD Studio Unity integration and the Steam Audio Unity integration to your Unity project.

Configure the FMOD Studio Unity integration to use Steam Audio

In Unity’s main menu, click FMOD > Edit Settings.
Under Dynamic Plugins, click Add Plugin.
In the text box that appears, enter phonon_fmod.

If you are building for iOS, do the following instead:

In Unity’s main menu, click FMOD > Edit Settings.
Under Static Plugins, click Add Plugin.
In the text box that appears, enter FMOD_SteamAudio_Spatialize_GetDSPDescription.
Click Add Plugin again.
In the text box that appears, enter FMOD_SteamAudio_MixerReturn_GetDSPDescription.
Click Add Plugin again.
In the text box that appears, enter FMOD_SteamAudio_Reverb_GetDSPDescription.

You can configure these static plugins as a platform-specific override for iOS, while using the phonon_fmod dynamic plugin on other platforms. For more information on how to do this, refer to the documentation for the FMOD Studio Unity integration.

Configure the Steam Audio Unity integration to use FMOD Studio

In Unity’s main menu, click Steam Audio > Settings.
Set Audio Engine to FMOD Studio.

These instructions assume that you have enabled the FMOD Studio Unreal Engine plugin and the Steam Audio Unreal Engine plugin for your Unreal Engine project.

Enable the Steam Audio FMOD Studio Support plugin

In Unreal’s main menu, click Edit > Plugins.
Under Audio, check Enabled under Steam Audio FMOD Studio Support.

Configure the FMOD Studio Unreal Engine plugin to use Steam Audio

In Unreal’s main menu, click Edit > Project Settings.
Under Plugins > FMOD Studio, expand the Advanced section, and click the + button next to Plugin Files.
In the text box that appears, enter phonon_fmod.

If you are building for iOS, the version of the FMOD Studio Unreal Engine plugin you are using may not correctly initialize static DSP plugins, leading to errors at runtime. As a workaround, you can modify the Source/FMODStudio/Private/FMODStudioModule.cpp file in the FMOD Studio plugin’s root directory:

Near the top of the file, after all the #include directives, add:

#if PLATFORM_IOS
extern "C" {
FMOD_DSP_DESCRIPTION* F_CALL FMOD_SteamAudio_Spatialize_GetDSPDescription();
FMOD_DSP_DESCRIPTION* F_CALL FMOD_SteamAudio_MixerReturn_GetDSPDescription();
FMOD_DSP_DESCRIPTION* F_CALL FMOD_SteamAudio_Reverb_GetDSPDescription();
}
#endif

Next, in the FFMODStudioModule::CreateStudioSystem function, add the following lines after the code for loading dynamic plugins:

#if PLATFORM_IOS
    unsigned int Handle = 0;
    lowLevelSystem->registerDSP(FMOD_SteamAudio_Spatialize_GetDSPDescription(), &Handle);
    lowLevelSystem->registerDSP(FMOD_SteamAudio_MixerReturn_GetDSPDescription(), &Handle);
    lowLevelSystem->registerDSP(FMOD_SteamAudio_Reverb_GetDSPDescription(), &Handle);
#endif

This issue may be fixed in a newer version of FMOD Studio.

Configure the Steam Audio Unreal Engine plugin to use FMOD Studio

In Unreal’s main menu, click Edit > Project Settings.
Under Plugins > Steam Audio, set Audio Engine to FMOD Studio.

These instructions assume that you have integrated Steam Audio with your game engine via the Steam Audio SDK.

Load the Steam Audio FMOD Studio integration

When initializing FMOD Studio in your game engine, call FMOD::System::loadPlugin to load the Steam Audio FMOD Studio integration. The plugin files can be found in the steamaudio_fmod.zip file you downloaded earlier. The file name of the plugin depends on the platform:

Windows 32-bit: lib/windows-x86/phonon_fmod.dll
Windows 64-bit: lib/windows-x64/phonon_fmod.dll
Linux 32-bit: lib/linux-x86/libphonon_fmod.so
Linux 64-bit: lib/linux-x64/libphonon_fmod.so
macOS: lib/osx/libphonon_fmod.dylib
Android ARMv7 (32-bit): lib/android-armv7/libphonon_fmod.so
Android ARMv8/AArch64 (64-bit): lib/android-armv8/libphonon_fmod.so
Android x86 (32-bit): lib/android-x86/libphonon_fmod.so

On iOS, instead of calling FMOD::System::loadPlugin, you will have to statically link to lib/ios/libphonon_fmod.a and use FMOD::System::registerDSP to register each of the Steam Audio DSP plugins. For example:

extern "C" {
FMOD_DSP_DESCRIPTION* F_CALL FMOD_SteamAudio_Spatialize_GetDSPDescription();
FMOD_DSP_DESCRIPTION* F_CALL FMOD_SteamAudio_MixerReturn_GetDSPDescription();
FMOD_DSP_DESCRIPTION* F_CALL FMOD_SteamAudio_Reverb_GetDSPDescription();
}

FMOD::System* system = ...; // initialized elsewhere

unsigned int handle = 0;
system->registerDSP(FMOD_SteamAudio_Spatialize_GetDSPDescription(), &handle);
system->registerDSP(FMOD_SteamAudio_MixerReturn_GetDSPDescription(), &handle);
system->registerDSP(FMOD_SteamAudio_Reverb_GetDSPDescription(), &handle);

Initialize the Steam Audio FMOD Studio integration

Call iplFMODInitialize after creating the Steam Audio context.
Create an HRTF (typically the default HRTF), and call iplFMODSetHRTF.
Determine the simulation settings to use for subsequent simulations, and call iplFMODSetSimulationSettings.