Ambient generic

Class hierarchy
CAmbientGeneric ↳CPointEntity ↳CBaseEntity
sound.cpp

This entity plays a sound, either once or on loop and either from a location in the world or globally. Use it to play and control a soundscript sound, a raw WAV or MP3 sample, or a scripted_sentence.

Bugs/Limitations

Code Fix:Problems with sounds being unstoppable can be avoided by adding this C++ code to your mod.

Bug:Changing the volume while playing a looping sound will not work.

Confirm:This has only been tested in and , need testing in Source 2013, Left 4 Dead engine branch, and Alien Swarm engine branch

  [todo tested in ?]

Keyvalues

Sound Name (message) <string>

The soundscript name of, or direct path to, the sound to play. For scripted_sentences, type "!" followed by the sentence name. (Example: !COMBINE_THROW_GRENADE4)Template:ModernNoteTemplate:ModernNote

Max Audible Distance (radius) <float>

Maximum distance in units at which the sound plays for a client.Template:ModernBugTemplate:ModernBugTemplate:ModernNote

SourceEntityName (SourceEntityName) <targetname>

If specified, the sound will play from this entity instead of the ambient_generic. If the target is an NPC capable of lipsynching, and phoneme data is found within the sound, the target will lip-sync to it.Template:ModernBugTemplate:ModernBugTemplate:ModernBugTemplate:ModernBugTemplate:ModernNote

Volume (health) <integer 0–10>

How loud to play the sound. 0 is silent and 10 is normal. Default is 10.

Start Volume (volstart) <integer 0–10>

Fade in time in seconds (fadeinsecs) <integer 0–100>

Fade out time in seconds (fadeoutsecs) <integer 0–100>

How long to spend fading in and out, and what volume to start at. Default is no fading.

Pitch (pitch) <integer 0–255>

Pitch, where 1 is low, 100 is normal, and 255 is high.Template:ModernBug

Start pitch (pitchstart) <integer 0–255>

Spin up time (spinup) <integer 0–100>

Spin down time (spindown) <integer 0–100>

How long to spend spinning pitch up/down at the start/end of playback, and what pitch to start at. Default is no spinning.

Dynamic Presets (preset) <choices>

Various DSP effects that can be applied.

LFO type (lfotype) <integer>

Type of Low Frequency Oscillation to employ.

0. Off (default)

1. Square Wave (alternate between low and high)

2. Triangle Wave (crossfade between high and low)

3. Random

LFO rate (lforate) <integer 0–1000>

How frequently the LFO effect repeats itself.

LFO modulation - pitch (lfomodpitch) <integer 0–100>

Affects the sound pitch or vibrato. Higher numbers change the pitch more; warbling singers use little, police sirens use a lot.

LFO modulation - volume (lfomodvol) <integer 0–100>

Affects the volume of the sound, causing it to "pulse." Similar to tremolo. At a really high rate, this can make the same effect as talking through fan blades.

Incremental Spinup Count (cspinup) <integer>

Appears to be a intended to increase pitch in time with ToggleSound inputs. Template:ModernBug

Name (targetname) <string>[ Edit ]

The name that other entities refer to this entity by, via Inputs/Outputs or other keyvalues (e.g. parentname or target).
Also displayed in Hammer's 2D views and Entity Report.

See also:  Generic Keyvalues, Inputs and Outputs available to all entities

Inputs

Pitch <integerRedirectInput/integer>

Sets the sound pitch, expressed as a range from 1 to 255, where 100 is the sound's original pitch.Template:ModernBug

PlaySound

Starts the sound.

StopSound

Stops a looping sound. Does not stop a non-looping sound; however, a non-looping sound can be stopped by using the Volume input with a value of 0.

Code Fix:If necessary, you can allow this input to stop a non-looping sound via C++.

ToggleSound

Toggles a looping sound between playing and stopped. Behaves like PlaySound if the sound doesn't loop.

Volume <floatRedirectInput/float>

Plays the sound at a volume from 0 to 10, where 10 is the loudest.Template:ModernBugTemplate:ModernNote

FadeIn <integerRedirectInput/integer>

Fades the sound up to full volume over a specified number of seconds, with a range from 0 to 100 seconds.Template:ModernBug

FadeOut <integerRedirectInput/integer>

Fades the sound to silence over a specified number of seconds, with a range from 0 to 100 seconds.Template:ModernBug

Flags

Play everywhere : [1]

Sound plays at a constant volume, no matter how far away the listener is from the sound source.

Todo: How does this interact with env_microphone sound detection?

Template:ModernBug

Start Silent : [16]

The map will start without this sound playing. Enabled by default.Template:ModernBug

Is NOT Looped : [32]

Changes how the ambient_generic handles stopping and starting playback. It won't stop a sound that loops from looping, but it is still very important to set it to the right value. You might not be able to stop and/or start the sound if it isn't!Template:ModernBug

See Also

• Adjust ambient_generic volume higher than 10 (Advanced Mapping Tutorial)
• env_soundscape - used to play many ambient/background sounds from a single entity via a script
• Looping a Sound - which requires modifying the actual .wav file
• Setting up ambient_generics in Counter-Strike: Source using logic_auto - a substitute for creating a proper env_soundscape.