Ambient generic

A simple sound source, able to play both looping and non-looping sounds from a position within the world.

Use it to play and control a soundscript sound, a raw .wav sample or a single scripted sentence. In case of a scripted sentence you have to replace the path and filename with "!", followed by the sentence name.

Bug:Ambient_generic entities used to play looping ambient noise in Counter-Strike Source must be activated with a logic_auto or they will stop playing once the first round starts.  [todo tested in ?]

Note:This entity is no longer intended to be used to generate environmental sounds. Use the (new to Source) env_soundscape for this purpose. Ambient_generic is largely retained for playing music or other one-shot sounds.

See also

• env_soundscape - an entity used for changing DSP settings and ambient soundscapes.

External links

• Setting up ambient_generics in Counter-Strike: Source using logic_auto - a substitute for creating a proper env_soundscape.

Details

Keyvalues

Template:Kv targetname

message

<sound> Name of the GameSound entry for the sound to play. Also supports raw .wav filenames and sentence scripts.

health

<integer> Sound volume, expressed as a range from 0 to 10, where 10 is the loudest. Defaults to 10.

preset

Literal Value	Dynamic Preset
0	None
1	Huge Machine
2	Big Machine
3	Machine
4	Slow Fade in
5	Fade in
6	Quick Fade in
7	Slow Pulse
8	Pulse
9	Quick pulse
10	Slow Oscillator
11	Oscillator
12	Quick Oscillator
13	Grunge pitch
14	Very low pitch
15	Low pitch
16	High pitch
17	Very high pitch
18	Screaming pitch
19	Oscillate spinup/down
20	Pulse spinup/down
21	Random pitch
22	Random pitch fast
23	Incremental Spinup
24	Alien
25	Bizzare
26	Planet X
27	Haunted

volstart

<integer> Volume to start fading in at.

fadein [deprecated]

<integer> Fade in time (0-100)

fadeout [deprecated]

<integer> Fade out time (0-100)

Template:Ep1 add

<integer> Fade in time (0-100).

Template:Ep1 add

<integer> Fade out time (0-100).

pitch

<integer> Sound pitch, expressed as a range from 1 to 255, where 100 is the sound's default pitch.

pitchstart

<integer> Pitch to begin spinning up at.

spinup

<integer> Spin up time (0-100). Analogous to fadeinsecs.

spindown

<integer> Spin down time (0-100). Analogous to fadeoutsecs.

lfotype

<integer> LFO type

Literal Value	LFO type
0	Off
1	Square Wave (alternate between low and high)
2	Triangle Wave (sharper transitions)
3	Random

lforate

<integer> LFO rate (0-1000), how frequently the LFO effect repeats itself.

lfomodpitch

<integer> LFO modulation pitch (0-100), affects the sound pitch or "vibrato". Higher numbers change the pitch more - singers use little, police sirens use a lot.

lfomodvol

<integer> LFO modulation volume (0-100), affects the volume of the sound, causing it to "pulse." Similar to "tremolo".

cspinup (Incremental Spinup Count)

<integer> Appears to be a method for increasing pitch in time with ToggleSound inputs, but:

Bug:Non-functional.  [todo tested in ?]

radius (Max Audible Distance)

<string> Maximum distance at which this sound is audible.

Bug:Non-functional.  [todo tested in ?]

SourceEntityName

<target_destination> If an entity is specified, sound will come from this named entity instead of the location of ambient_generic. If the target is an NPC capable of lipsynching, and a lipsynch exists for the sound, the target will lipsynch to it.

Flags

1 - Play everywhere

The sound will play as if inside the players head, not depending on distance or direction to the playing entity.

Bug:This flag is broken at engine level for Soundscripts. It will only work when a sound is played with its raw filename.  [todo tested in ?]

16 - Start Silent

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

Bug:Looping sounds that start enabled cannot be controlled!  [todo tested in ?]

32 - Is NOT Looped

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

Inputs

• Template:I targetname

Pitch <integer>

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

Bug:Pitch will play the sound without informing the rest of the entity. This makes looping sounds unstoppable! It is speculated that the input is supposed to change the pitch at which the ambient_generic plays its sound when prompted by other inputs, not play it by itself.  [todo tested in ?]

PlaySound

Starts the sound.

StopSound

Stops a looping sound.

Note:Does not stop a non-looping sound. This is intentional, and can be changed with C++.

ToggleSound

Toggles a looping sound between playing and stopped. Behaves like PlaySound if the sound is unlooped.

Volume <integer>

Plays the sound at a volume from 0 to 10, where 10 is the loudest.

Bug:Volume will play the sound without informing the rest of the entity. This makes looping sounds unstoppable! It is speculated that the input is supposed to change the volume at which the ambient_generic plays its sound when prompted by other inputs, not play it by itself.  [todo tested in ?]

Template:Ep1 add

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

Bug:Non-functional.  [todo tested in ?]

Template:Ep1 add

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

Bug:Will bring the sound up to full volume (i.e. 10) before beginning to fade it.  [todo tested in ?]

Outputs

• Template:O targetname