Sound Manager Plugin

Overview

The Sound Manager gives the users better control over the audio of their games. Using this plugin, it is possible to play every sound of the game using just simple method calls—no more long AudioStreamPlayer lists inside your scenes nor long methods to handle the audio inside every script.
This plugin is designed to facilitate the Sound Manager Module configuration process, by offering a UI in the editor that makes its configuration easier.

If you want more info on the Sound Manager Module, take a look at the README file inside the module directory.
You can also find this tool's source code on my GitLab.

This plugin was created to:

• Automatically set the Sound Manager module scene as an AutoLoad.
• Create a dock in the editor to make an easier configuration of the sound manager.

On this download page, you will find different files:

• Version 4.X: the latest version of the plugin. It has some tweaks and bug fixes, but most importantly it's compatible with Godot Engine 4. It's the new main version of the Sound Manager.
• Version 3.X: the previous version of the Sound Manager, compatible with Godot Engine 3. It's still unsure if it will still be maintained, but if you're using Godot 3 for your project, you may want to stick with this version.
• Sound Manager Demo: This is basically the project I made during the development of Version 3.0 for testing purposes. I have updated it to a new revamped version for Version 4.0. You can download it and run it in your Godot Engine editor to test the plugin and play with it to understand how it works. It requires Godot Engine 4.

Configuration

1. Copy & paste the content of the addons folder in the res://addons/ path from your project (this is the standard path for plugins in Godot).
2. To activate/deactivate the plugin, go to Project/Project Settings/Plugins, locate the plugin entry and change its status.
3. Once the plugin is activated, a dock called SoundManager will appear in the editor. Here you can change all the sound settings, from default properties (volume, pitch) to AudioBus ("Master" is the fallback").
4. Save the current scene (press the shortcut CTRL + S).

The UI consists of three sections to facilitate the configuration and use of the sound manager, this UI:

• Allows you to change the default sound properties (volume and pitch) for each type of sound
• Allows you to set the AudioBuses available in your project.
• Displays the sound files available in each path.
• Allows you to easily build and edit the Audio FIles Dictionary.

Once set up, you can play/stop the sound files in any scene. To play the sounds you can use the "Audio_Files_Dictionary", which allows you to use different strings (keys) for method calls and file names. This way, even if your audio file is called "*res://sfx_audio_jump.ogg*", you can set it in the dictionary to call it a simple "Jump", adding a simple entry "Jump" : "res://sfx_audio_jump.ogg". The dictionary is located inside the "SoundManager_config.gd" file, but you can just use the UI to edit it. You can place it wherever you want inside your project directory. Another way to play the sounds is to use the absolute path that leads to the file, like SoundManager.play_bgm("res://Audio/BGM/background_music.ogg").

The dock also comes with an additional button: Advanced Options to access some more options. The ones currently available are:
- Preload resources: setting this true will make the SoundManager load every audio file located on the given paths at its _ready(). Note that this may slow down game start, especially in projects with a long list of audio files, but will make sound playing faster.
- Preinstantiate nodes: you can tell the plugin to instantiate every node at startup. This will work in synergy with the "multiple sounds at once" feature for BGS, SFX, and MFX. Note that this will make playing multiple sounds faster but may slow down the game start and even the game itself, especially in bigger projects.

Credits

The plugin was developed by Simón Olivo (Sarturo) and Celeste Privitera (Xecestel) as a derivative work from the Sound Manager Module originally developed by Celeste Privitera.

Check out the Source Code here.

If you encounter issues, or bugs or just want to make contact with the authors, you can write a comment on this page, open an issue on the GitLab project page, or contact one of us on Twitter (@sarturoDev or @xecestel).

Licenses

Sound Manager Module

Copyright © 2019-2024  Celeste Privitera

The Sound Manager Module is subject to the terms of the MIT License. If a copy of the license was not distributed with this file, You can obtain one at https://mit-license.org/.

You can find more info in the LICENSE.txt file inside the repository.

Sound Manager Plugin

Copyright © 2019-2024 Simón Olivo & Celeste Privitera

The Sound Manager Plugin is subject to the terms of the MIT License. If a copy of the license was not distributed with this file, You can obtain one at https://mit-license.org/.

You can find more info in the LICENSE.txt file inside the repository.

Sound Manager Demo

Copyright © 2020-2024 Celeste Privitera

The Sound Manager Plugin is subject to the terms of the Mozilla Public License, v. 2.0. If a copy of the MPL was not distributed with this file, You can obtain one at https://mozilla.org/MPL/2.0/.

You can find more info in the LICENSE.txt file inside the repository.