Assets

• If the bank references non-streamed sample data, call Bank_LoadSampleData(bank)  to request that sample data be loaded into memory.

• If assets are marked as streaming, they are streamed from disk and Bank_LoadSampleData  won’t pull them fully into RAM; streaming behavior is separate.

• Whether sample data is streamed or not is set by the sound designer in FMOD Studio, and cannot be changed at runtime

Non-Streaming Assets (embedded)

• loaded into RAM when you call Bank_LoadSampleData .

• Non-streamed = audio IS stored in the .bank (or in an assets bank)

• .fsb  file = FMOD Sample Bank

  • They store raw/compressed audio data when FMOD decides to externalize samples instead of embedding them into .bank  files.

  • Old FMOD workflows → .bank  + .fsb

  • New FMOD Studio workflows → .bank  + .assets.bank  OR embedded data.

  • Today, .fsb  files appear only in specific build configurations.

  • They store:

    • PCM / ADPCM / Vorbis / Opus / etc audio data

    • Used for streaming or shared sample pools

    • Not event graphs, not metadata

• Usual file system:

  • Inside the my_project/Build/Desktop/

  Master.bank
  Master.strings.bank
  Master.assets.bank
  Music.fsb
  SFX.fsb
  

• Why the .bank  can be smaller than the original MP3s :

  • FMOD re-encodes audio during build

    • FMOD does NOT embed your MP3 as-is.

    • During bank build it usually:

      • Decodes MP3 → PCM

      • Re-encodes into FMOD’s chosen codec (often Vorbis or ADPCM)

      • Applies mono conversion / resampling / trimming

      • Removes MP3 container overhead

    • So the final encoded data can be smaller than the original MP3.

    • MP3 has container + metadata overhead.

    • Vorbis often compresses short SFX better than MP3.

  • Multiple sounds share compression efficiency

    • If you have multiple short sounds, FMOD may pack them efficiently into one binary block.

• If the data is actually inside the .bank file, why does the sound play without calling Bank_LoadSampleData? :

  • Because System_LoadBankFile  loads the compressed audio bytes, and FMOD is allowed to decode/load samples lazily when an event is first played.

  • Bank_LoadSampleData  does not load the bank file — it only prepares sample data in advance.

Streaming Assets

• Streaming .

• read from disk at runtime, not loaded into RAM by Bank_LoadSampleData .

• Stream = audio is NOT stored in the .bank