# FMOD Error 18

**URL:** <https://qa.fmod.com/t/fmod-error-18/23206>\
**Category:** FMOD Engine\
**Tags:** cpp\
**Created:** [July 30, 2025, 6:11pm UTC](https://qa.fmod.com/t/fmod-error-18/23206 "2025-07-30T18:11:36Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![tantrik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ac91a4/32.png) [@tantrik](https://qa.fmod.com/u/tantrik)\
**Post date:** [July 30, 2025, 6:11pm UTC](https://qa.fmod.com/t/fmod-error-18/23206/1 "2025-07-30T18:11:36Z")

</div>

```cpp
mpStudioSystem->initialize(32, FMOD_STUDIO_INIT_NORMAL, FMOD_INIT_NORMAL, NULL)
FMOD::Studio::Bank* pBank;
mpStudioSystem->loadBankFile("Sound/Master.bank", FMOD_STUDIO_LOAD_BANK_NORMAL, &pBank);
FMOD::Studio::Bank* pBankStrings;
mpStudioSystem->loadBankFile("Sound/Master.strings.bank",FMOD_STUDIO_LOAD_BANK_NORMAL, &pBankStrings)

```

```auto

```

I am constantly getting FMOD ERROR 18 while trying to load bank files. The Bank file is in the same location as a sample media file (Sound/bgmusic.ogg). I can load and play the background music just fine using LoadSound and path string “Sound/bgmusic.ogg”. However when I try to load the bank files in the same location it gives me this error. What am I missing?

I am working with Fmod engine without unity in a visual cpp game project.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Leah\_FMOD](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex036/user_avatar/qa.fmod.com/leah_fmod/32/3685_2.png) [@Leah\_FMOD](https://qa.fmod.com/u/Leah_FMOD)\
**Post date:** [August 4, 2025, 6:13am UTC](https://qa.fmod.com/t/fmod-error-18/23206/2 "2025-08-04T06:13:44Z")

</div>

Hi,

A few questions:

- What version of the FMOD Engine are you using? (i.e. 2.xx.yy)
- What version of FMOD Studio were the banks built with?
- If you provide an absolute path to `loadBankFile`, instead of what appears to be a relative one in the code snippet, does the issue still occur?