How do you use AssetBundles in a Windows compiled build?

Hello,

Unity and also AssetBundle newbie here

Perhaps I don't understand AssetBundles correctly but I'm having trouble using them in Windows after I have compiled a build.

I've placed the assets in either Assets/AssetBundle directory or Assets/StreamingAssets and they work fine in the Unity Editor.
But when built nothing happens. I can only assume I haven't included the assetbundles in the build, or something like that.
Whenever I search about assetbundles it always explains downloading the assets from some website somewhere.
All I want to do is use AssetBundles offline in the build I've just created. Likely I am missing something very simple since I'm still a newbie.

If anyone can see what I am doing wrong, it would be greatly appreciated

I'm using the "PC, Mac & Linux Standalone" setting and encoding my assets and loading them using the following code (which I will say again, work ok in the Unity Editor, just not when I make a build)

Code (CSharp):

1.     static void BuildAllAssetBundles()
2.     {
3.         string assetBundleDirectory = "Assets/AssetBundles";
4.         if(!Directory.Exists(assetBundleDirectory))
5.         {
6.             Directory.CreateDirectory(assetBundleDirectory);
7.         }
8.         BuildPipeline.BuildAssetBundles(assetBundleDirectory, BuildAssetBundleOptions.None, BuildTarget.StandaloneWindows);
9.     }

Code (CSharp):

1. var bundleLoadRequest = AssetBundle.LoadFromFileAsync(Application.streamingAssetsPath + "/" + _assetBundleName);
2.             yield return bundleLoadRequest;
3.             Debug.Log("bundleLoadRequest finished");
4.             var myLoadedAssetBundle = bundleLoadRequest.assetBundle;
5.             if (myLoadedAssetBundle == null)
6.             {
7.                 Debug.Log("Failed to load AssetBundle!");
8.                 yield break;
9.             }
10.  
11.             var assetLoadRequest = myLoadedAssetBundle.LoadAssetAsync<AudioClip>(_fileName);
12.             yield return assetLoadRequest;

Many thanks for reading my post.

 

I store asset bundles in "Assets/StreamingAssets", because:

https://docs.unity3d.com/Manual/StreamingAssets.html

... and then use AssetBundle.LoadFromFile.

Here is an example how to load an asset bundle file from StreamingAssets:
https://docs.unity3d.com/ScriptReference/AssetBundle.LoadFromFile.html

Here is a link to the "A guide to AssetBundles" document:
https://unity3d.com/learn/tutorials/topics/best-practices/guide-assetbundles-and-resources

If your bundles have dependencies, like BundleB depends on content of BundleA, then you need to load its dependencies first.

Update: Unity Addressables makes working with Asset Bundles easier, see https://docs.unity3d.com/Manual/com.unity.addressables.html

 

Hi Peter, many thanks for your detailed post.

I checked the link for Streaming Assets and noticed

path = Application.dataPath + "/StreamingAssets";

which I replaced as mine was

path =Application.streamingAssetsPath + "/"

I find it very odd that the official Unity docs regarding StreamingAssets don't even use the

.streamingAssetsPath tag

At any rate, through random stabs in the dark, everything is now magically working.

Again, many thanks.

 

Hey Peter77, just wanted to quickly thank you again for your post, I've achieved what I set out to do and learned how StreamingAssets work.

 

i keep getting this error when i try instantiating the my assetbundle
here is my code

using System.Collections;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using UnityEngine;
using System.IO;

public class GunWeaponModel : MonoBehaviour
{
public GameObject GFX;

void Start()
{
var myLoadedAssetBundle = AssetBundle.LoadFromFile(Path.Combine(Application.streamingAssetsPath, "Mods/Windows/testgun"));
if (myLoadedAssetBundle == null)
{
Debug.Log("Failed to load AssetBundle!");
return;
}

var prefab = myLoadedAssetBundle.LoadAsset<GameObject>("testgun");
Instantiate(prefab);
prefab.transform.parent = GFX.transform;

myLoadedAssetBundle.Unload(false);
}
}