How should I place the DLLs?

Hi everyone, I’m considering FMOD for my game.
Due to the nature of the programming language I’m using to develop,
I must directly access the DLLs to reach FMOD functions.
How should I include the library into my game when I release it?
For example,

  • Can I pick a DLL needed (looks like my game requires only fmod.dll, which is in \api\lowlevel\lib in the FMOD Studio API)
    and place them into a directory of my preference?

  • Or should I include the whole FMOD Studio API into the game folder, even if the game doesn’t necessarily need all of them?

There are two main DLLs that are part of our API:

  • fmod.dll which represents the low level FMOD 5 API
  • fmodstudio.dll which represents the FMOD Studio API (for use with banks produced in FMOD Studio).

If you’ve used FMOD Studio to produce banks you’ll need both DLLs shipped with your game. If you only use the low level API (no FMOD Studio tool) then you only require fmod.dll.

The DLLs with an ‘L’ in the name are logging versions used for debug only and do no need to ship with your final game.

If you are explicitly loading the DLL yourself, you can place it where ever you like, however implicit loading will usually require the DLL is next to your executable.

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Thanks for the reply - so it’s safe (in terms of license or such) to place fmod.dll into the game directory by copy & pasting it from the FMOD Studio API directory I just downloaded?

Yes, you may ship the game with the FMOD DLL provided you have followed the licensing relevant to your game budget: http://www.fmod.org/sales

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