If I start another looping ambient_generic (background music), does it replace the previous ambient_generic music that is already playing? Or does it simply add to the existing music (i.e. playing both music at the same time)?

If the effect is additive, how can I do it so that one music replaces the other? Apparently, fading out is buggy and does not work well.

I'm fairly certain that simultaneously playing ambient_generics do not override one another.

I don't know what the Valve programmers were on when they made that entity, but it is quite possibly the most broken entity in the SDK. And that's kind of pathetic considering how important sounds are in a game. Its VDC page has 11 bugs listed on it! What I've noticed is that individual sound files will each behave slightly differently when playing out of an ambient_generic. Some sounds will stop when you tell them to stop, others will keep going on like it's nobody's business. At any rate, play around with the different key values and flags and see what you can get to work.

ag's are sorta buggy. But they are not broken. If you spend a minute mucking around with them, getting them just the way you like, it can turn out really nice and atmospheric.

Indeed. What I found last night was that most ambient_generic sounds refuse to stop once it starts playing, no matter what you tell it to stop or fade out.

Quite annoying.

I found that also. But if you have the right sound file it works for some reason all of a sudden. Lol

satchmo wrote:
Indeed. What I found last night was that most ambient_generic sounds refuse to stop once it starts playing, no matter what you tell it to stop or fade out.

Quite annoying.

I had that problem, so I just changed the volume to 0 and then to whatever you want. Like on my new may I wanted a fire sound to play when you go in the little triangle room, so I started the fire sound at the start of the game, but made its sound 0, and then when the fire goes on it changes to 10, then back to 0. works for me.

How would I get a custom WAV file to play? I can't find an import sound button or something similar.

Well first you need to put your sound file to portal 2/portal2/sound folder. Then just search your .wav file like you would any other sound.

You also need to pack that .wav to your .bsp to get the sound working. (With packrat for example)

Thanks, the volume trick worked!

BOB74j wrote:
I don't know what the Valve programmers were on when they made that entity, but it is quite possibly the most broken entity in the SDK. And that's kind of pathetic considering how important sounds are in a game. Its VDC page has 11 bugs listed on it! What I've noticed is that individual sound files will each behave slightly differently when playing out of an ambient_generic. Some sounds will stop when you tell them to stop, others will keep going on like it's nobody's business. At any rate, play around with the different key values and flags and see what you can get to work.

how odd, i have never had any problems with the ambient_generic.

baca25 wrote:
I had that problem, so I just changed the volume to 0 and then to whatever you want. Like on my new may I wanted a fire sound to play when you go in the little triangle room, so I started the fire sound at the start of the game, but made its sound 0, and then when the fire goes on it changes to 10, then back to 0. works for me.

Well, it worked for me as well until I recently added another ambient_generic for an additional chamber and it sre...d up everything! No idea why.
I've always built my own fade-in/fade-out logic_relays by increasing the volume over time per output but in this case it doesn't work. auto_logic-->>>volume=0-->>can't stop the sound??? The same goes for triggers. This definitely has to be solved in a future release. Properly working ambient_generics are a must. Any reliable workarounds???