Introduction

Within Valve Hammer Editor's .rmf- and .map-file formats, all keyvalues are saved as pairs of two strings - the key's name and the value - even if a value is a number. A string is a row/chain of chars, or simply, a piece of text if that is easier for you to grasp, which's end is defined by a byte with all bits set to zero, called the null-terminator. However, this is not continuously the case in game. When the map loads, known keyvalues are parsed into the entities' internal data structures of different types. If a keyvalue is not know, it will be discarded and then can no longer be read after the map has loaded.

Entity-specific Keyvalues

Entity-specific keyvalues are keyvalues which exist for specific entity classes only. They are the direct property of the respective entity and meddling with them from the outside can easily cause undefined behaviour. The entity might rely on an entity-specific keyvalue to manage its internal state, or it only parses it once when it spawns and does not care about it after that. It might also
be perfectly safe to change it and work without problems. In short: It depends. If you want to change an entity-specific keyvalue,
ask in the SC Forums whether your ambition is safe or not. Some entity-specific keyvalues can be read and written through trigger_changevalue, trigger_copyvalue and trigger_condition; for example, all keyvalues of trigger_entity_iterator are supported. The majority of entity-specific keyvalues is not supported, yet, and can only be replaced directly. I'll spare you from the technical details and let you know the range of supported entity-specific keyvalues is worked on being expanded. Entity-specific keyvalues can often (but not always) be identified through what they read, e.g. "m_isz*" (usually a string then), "m_i*" (integer), "m_f*" (float), and so forth. However, the underscore may be missing, or the keyvalue may not have any hints like that at all! There is one absolute method to figure out if a keyvalue from the FGD is an entity-specific keyvalue: If it is not a base keyvalue.

Base Keyvalues/Private Entity Variables

By base keyvalues, I am refering to private entity variables ("PEV") which are inherited by all entities from the entity base class. This means, that no matter what entity you are dealing with, it has the ability to store these basic keyvalues. There is a total of exactly 123 (what a nice number) private entity variables. These values are often kept up to date between server and client and are supposed to cover all sorts of generic information, like position in the map, velocity, visual appearance, health and armor. As a result, not all entities do require all their base keyvalues; not at all. A lot of them are unused for specific entities. Henceforth, despite making
no sense until now, a lot of base keyvalues are abused to store information which is unrelated to what they're called, because
of programming convenience. This is good for us, because base keyvalues can be read and written from the outside, while entity-specific keyvalues can only be overwritten, and we can easily tell which base keyvalues correspond to what data by switching Smart-Edit-mode in VHE off or by just checking the FGD. Many of these can be touched without second thought, while some will exact vengeance on you if you do.

Here is a list of all base keyvalues. All entities do have these, even if they do not show up in Valve Hammer Editor. Most of them have an expected functionality/original purpose. However, the exact ways they are used by the respective entities are all up to the game engine.

Key name	Val. type	Description	Example value
classname	String	Classname of that entity.	"func_train"
globalname	String	Global name used for level transitions.	"map02_scientist_003"
origin	3D-Vector	Position of the entity in world coordinates.	30 60 90
oldorigin	3D-Vector	Old position. Always 0 0 0 in engine.	0 0 0
velocity	3D-Vector	Direction and speed of the entity.	100 20 0
basevelocity	3D-Vector	Base direction and speed of the entity. (for example if standing on a train)	100 20 0
clbasevelocity	3D-Vector	Used by client.	100 20 0
movedir	3D-Vector	Movement direction used by trigger_push or func_rotating.	0.5 1 0
angles	3D-Vector	Angles of the entity. (pitch, yaw, roll)	0 90 0
avelocity	3D-Vector	Angular velocity. (rotational speed, degrees per second)	0 25 0
punchangle	3D-Vector	Auto-decaying view angle adjustment. (e.g. when an alien grunt punches you)	0 25 0
v_angle	3D-Vector	Viewing angle. (player only)	0 25 0
endpos	3D-Vector	End position; used by some moving entities.	500 100 0
startpos	3D-Vector	Start position, used by some moving entities	100 0 0
impacttime	Float	-	-
starttime	Float	-	-
fixangle	Integer	Value to tell the engine, what to do with the entity angles. 0: nothing; 1: force view angles; 2: add avelocity.	0
idealpitch	Float	-	-
pitch_speed	Float	-	-
ideal_yaw	Float	-	-
yaw_speed	Float	-	-
modelindex	Integer	Index of the entity model.	23
model	String	Name of the entity model.	"models/scientist.mdl"
viewmodel	Integer	Player's viewmodel. (what you see in first person)	23
weaponmodel	Integer	Player's weaponmodel. (what other players see when they look at you)	23
absmin	3D-Vector	Absolute mins; coordinates of the lower left back corner of the entity hull in world space.	100 100 0
absmax	3D-Vector	Absolute maxs; coordinates of the upper right front corner of the entity hull in world space.	132 132 32
mins	3D-Vector	Entity hull mins; coordinates of the lower left back corner of the entity hull.	-16 -16 -16
maxs	3D-Vector	Entity hull maxs; coordinates of the upper right front corner of the entity hull.	16 16 16
size	3D-Vector	Entity hull size.	32 32 32
ltime	Float	-	-
nextthink	Float	Time-value of the entity, telling the engine when to call the "think"-function of the entity next, which may compute and execute several entity functionalities. (e.g. train movement)	(depends on server time value)
movetype	Integer	Movetype-value, telling engine how this entity should behave physically. (see movetype value list below)	1
solid	Integer	Solid-value, telling engine how OTHER entities should behave physically when they touch this entity. (see solid value list below)	1
skin	Integer	Skin of this entity. (texture selection for studiomodels)	1
body	Integer	Body of this entity. (sub-model selection for studiomodels)	1
effects	Integer	Effects-flag, telling the engine how to render this entity. (see effects value list below)	1
gravity	Float	Percentage of "normal" gravity.	100
friction	Float	Used by engine when movetype is MOVETYPE_BOUNCE (inverse elasticity); used by several entities for friction. (e.g. func_pushable)	100
light_level	Integer	-	-
sequence	Integer	Current animation sequence.	3
gaitsequence	Integer	Movement animation sequence for player. (0 for none)	2
frame	Float	Percentage of playback position in animation sequences. (0 - 255)	102
animtime	Float	World time when frame was set.	(depends on server time value)
framerate	Float	Animation playback rate. (-8x to 8x)	3
controller	byte[4]	Bone controller setting. (0 - 255)	110 20 0 80
blending	byte[2]	Blending-amount between sub-sequences. (0 - 255)	200 120
scale	Float	Sprite rendering scale. (0 - 255)	0.25
rendermode	Integer	Render-mode.	(see list of rendermode modes below)
renderamt	Float	Render-amount.	255
rendercolor	3D-Vector	Render-color for color render-mode.	255 128 32
renderfx	Integer	Render-effect.	(see list of renderfx modes below)
health	Float	Health-points of the entity. Use it in trigger_camera to check if this camera is used (1 for camera is being used, 0 for not).	100
frags	Float	Frags of the entity.	100
weapons	Integer	Bit-mask for available weapons.	-
takedamage	Integer	Takedamage-value, telling the engine if and how this entity can take damage. (see list of takedamage values below)	0
deadflag	Integer	Deadflag-value, telling the engine what the life/death status of the entity is. (see list of deadflag values below)	0
view_ofs	3D-Vector	View offset vector.	8 0 32
button	Integer	Button-flags, sent from client telling the server, which buttons are pressed. (see list of button values below)	0
impulse	Integer	-	-
chain	Entity-reference	Entity-pointer when linked into a linked list.	Entity-pointer or NULL.
dmg_inflictor	Entity-reference	Entity-pointer to the entity that did damage to this entity.	Entity-pointer or NULL.
enemy	Entity-reference	Entity-pointer to the current enemy this entity is focusing on.	Entity-pointer or NULL.
aiment	Entity-reference	Entity-pointer when movetype is MOVETYPE_FOLLOW.	Entity-pointer or NULL.
owner	Entity-reference	Entity-pointer when this entity is owned by another entity. Examples: When a func_tank is being used by a player, the tank's owner is that player. An RPG fired by a player is owned by that player. Entities have no collision with their owner and vice versa.	Entity-pointer or NULL.
groundentity	Entity-reference	Entity-pointer to the entity where this entity is standing on. (includes "worldspawn" for map)	Entity-pointer or NULL.
spawnflags	Integer	Spawnflags, set by mapper.	0
flags	Integer	Flags, set by engine. (see list of flags below)	0
colormap	Integer	Low byte topcolor; high byte bottomcolor. This specifies model custom colors, as seen in use on player models.	57020
topcolor	Integer	Top color of player model.	225
bottomcolor	Integer	Bottom color of player model.	225
team	Integer	-	-
classify	Integer	Classification of this entity used in monsters relationship. Can be used with monsters, breakables (including doors) and any other targetable entity (in mean of attack).	(see list of classify values below)
max_health	Float	Maximum health this entity can have.	100
teleport_time	Float	-	-
armortype	Float	Maximum armor this entity can have.	100
armorvalue	Float	Armor points of this entity.	100
waterlevel	Integer	Value to tell the server if the entity is swimming, on dry ground or wading.	(see list of waterlevel values below)
watertype	Integer	Watertype. (slime, lava, water)	0
target	String	Name of the target of this entity.	"top_sprite"
targetname	String	Name of this entity.	"trigger_top_sprite_on"
netname	String	Used in several ways, see FGD or ask someone. For players, this contains their nickname.	"lalala"
message	String	Used in several ways, see FGD or ask someone.	"lalala"
dmg_take	Float	-	-
dmg_save	Float	-	-
dmg	Float	Amount of damage this entity will inflict on others if it deals damage.	10
dmgtime	Float	-	-
noise	String	-	-
noise1	String	-	-
noise2	String	-	-
noise3	String	-	-
speed	Float	Speed of this entity (not current speed; that's what velocity is!)	100
air_finished	Float	-	-
pain_finished	Float	-	-
radsuit_finished	Float	-	-
pContainingEntity	Entity-reference	Entity-pointer. (?)	Entity-pointer or NULL
playerclass	Integer	-	-
maxspeed	Float	Maximum speed of this entity.	200
fov	Float	Field of view	90
weaponanim	Integer	-	-
pushmsec	Integer	-	-
bInDuck	Integer	1 if crouching, 0 otherwise.	0
flTimeStepSound	Integer	Time-delay for step sounds. (?)	-
flSwimTime	Integer	-	-
flDuckTime	Integer	-	-
iStepLeft	Integer	-	-
flFallVelocity	Float	-	-
gamestate	Integer	-	-
oldbuttons	Integer	-	-
groupinfo	Integer	-	-
iuser1 - iuser4	Integer	User-defined integer-values, used by Sven Co-op on several entities in different ways.	-
fuser1 - fuser4	Float	User-defined float-values, used by Sven Co-op on several entities in different ways.	-
vuser1 - vuser4	3D-Vector	User-defined vectors, used by Sven Co-op on several entities in different ways.	-
euser1 - euser4	Entity-reference	User-defined entity-pointers, used by Sven Co-op on several entities in different ways.	-

What follows is several tables explaining what different values mean for various base keyvalues. Since SC 4.6, you can also write the value name instead of the numeric value, given that it fits the targeted keyvalue type. You then can also put a leading tilde ('~') to perform bitwise negation, which is useful for flags.

List of "flags"-flags

Flag Value	Flag Name	Description
1	FL_FLY	Entity can fly.
2	FL_SWIM	Entity can swim.
4	FL_CONVEYOR	Entity is a conveyor.
8	FL_CLIENT	Entity is a client/player.
16	FL_INWATER	Entity is in water.
32	FL_MONSTER	Entity is a monster.
64	FL_GODMODE	Entity is invincible.
128	FL_NOTARGET	Entity won't be attacked by enemies.
256	FL_SKIPLOCALHOST	Don't tell clients abouts this entity; they're predicting this entity by themselves.
512	FL_ONGROUND	Entity is on the ground.
1024	FL_PARTIALGROUND	At least one of the 4 corners of this entity's hull does not touch the ground.
2048	FL_WATERJUMP	Player jumping out of water.
4096	FL_FROZEN	Player is frozen. (Whilst a trigger_camera-sequence)
8192	FL_FAKECLIENT	Fake client, simulated server side; don't send network messages to them. (Used for bots)
16384	FL_DUCKING	Player is fully crouching.
32768	FL_FLOAT	Entity can float on water.
65536	FL_NOWEAPONS	Denies use of player weapon.

List of "button"-flags

Flag Value	Flag Name	Description
1	IN_ATTACK	Primary-button attack pressed.
2	IN_JUMP	Jump-button pressed.
4	IN_DUCK	Duck-button pressed.
8	IN_FORWARD	Forward-button pressed.
16	IN_BACK	Backward-button pressed.
32	IN_USE	Use-button pressed.
64	IN_CANCEL	<unknown>
128	IN_LEFT	Turn left-button pressed.
256	IN_RIGHT	Turn right-button pressed
512	IN_MOVELEFT	Strafe left-button pressed.
1024	IN_MOVERIGHT	Strafe right-button pressed.
2048	IN_ATTACK2	Secondary attack-button pressed.
4096	IN_RUN	Walk-button pressed.
8192	IN_RELOAD	Reload-button pressed.
16384	IN_ALT1	Left "Alt"-button pressed.
32768	IN_SCORE	Scoreboard-button pressed.

List of "deadflags"-states

State Value	State Name	Description
0	DEAD_NO	Alive.
1	DEAD_DYING	Playing death animation or corpse still falling off of a ledge waiting to hit the ground.
2	DEAD_DEAD	Dead; lying still.
3	DEAD_RESPAWNABLE	<unknown>
4	DEAD_DISCARDBODY	<unknown>

List of "takedamage"-states

State Value	State Name	Description
0	DAMAGE_NO	Does not take damage.
1	DAMAGE_YES	Does take damage.
2	DAMAGE_AIM	Does only take damage from aiming weapons.

List of "solid"-states

State Value	State Name	Description
0	SOLID_NOT	No interaction with other objects.
1	SOLID_TRIGGER	Notice touch, but don't block.
2	SOLID_BBOX	Touch on edge, block.
3	SOLID_SLIDEBOX	Touch on edge, but not if other is on ground.
4	SOLID_BSP	BSP clip, touch on edge, block.

List of "waterlevel"-states

State Value	State Name	Description
0	WATERLEVEL_DRY	Not in water.
1	WATERLEVEL_FEET	Feet underwater.
2	WATERLEVEL_WAIST	Waist underwater.
3	WATERLEVEL_HEAD	Head underwater.

List of "movetype"-states

State Value	State Name	Description
0	MOVETYPE_NONE	Never moves.
3	MOVETYPE_WALK	Player only; moving on the ground.
4	MOVETYPE_STEP	Gravity, special edge handling; monsters use this.
5	MOVETYPE_FLY	No gravity, but still collides with stuff.
6	MOVETYPE_TOSS	Receive gravity and collisions.
7	MOVETYPE_PUSH	No clip to world; push and crush. (e.g. func_train)
8	MOVETYPE_NOCLIP	No gravity; no collisions; still handle velocity and angular velocity.
9	MOVETYPE_FLYMISSILE	Handled as if was larger for monsters. (Collides more easily)
10	MOVETYPE_BOUNCE	Just like "Toss", but reflect velocity when contacting surfaces. (E.g. when dropping weapons/ammo)
11	MOVETYPE_ BOUNCEMISSILE	Like "Bounce", but without gravity.
12	MOVETYPE_FOLLOW	Track movement of aiming entity.
13	MOVETYPE_PUSHSTEP	BSP model that needs gravity and world collisions; uses nearest hull for world collision. (e.g. func_pushable)

List of "effects"-flags

Flag Value	Flag Name	Description
1	EF_BRIGHTFIELD	Swirling cloud of yellow particles. (Used when a monster is stuck in wall to receice the level designer's attention)
2	EF_MUZZLEFLASH	Single frame ELIGHT on entity attachment 0.
4	EF_BRIGHTLIGHT	DLIGHT centered at entity origin.
8	EF_DIMLIGHT	Player flashlight.
16	EF_INVLIGHT	Get model-lighting from ceiling. (Barnacles have this)
32	EF_NOINTERP	Don't interpolate the next frame.
64	EF_LIGHT	Rocket flare pulsing glow sprite.
128	EF_NODRAW	Don't draw entity. (Brush- basedtriggers have this)
256	EF_NOANIMTEXTURES	Never animate a texture on given brush.
512	EF_FRAMEANIMTEXTURES	Never animate a texture on given brush. but if the brush has a "frame" value, the corresponding animating texture is used.
1024	EF_SPRITE_CUSTOM_VP	Override sprite viewport draw mode with the type specified in key "sequence".
2048	EF_NODECALS	No decals will be drawn on this entity.

List of "renderfx" -modes

Value	State Name	Description
0	kRenderFxNone	Normal render mode.
1	kRenderFxPulseSlow	Slow pulse.
2	kRenderFxPulseFast	Fast pulse.
3	kRenderFxPulseSlowWide	Slow wide pulse.
4	kRenderFxPulseFastWide	Fast wide pulse.
5	kRenderFxFadeSlow	Slow fade away.
6	kRenderFxFadeFast	Fast fade away.
7	kRenderFxSolidSlow	Slow become solid.
8	kRenderFxSolidFast	Fast become solid.
9	kRenderFxStrobeSlow	Slow strobe.
10	kRenderFxStrobeFast	Fast strobe.
11	kRenderFxStrobeFaster	Faster strobe.
12	kRenderFxFlickerSlow	Slow flicker.
13	kRenderFxFlickerFast	Fast flicker.
14	kRenderFxNoDissipation	Constant glow.
15	kRenderFxDistort	Distort/scale/translate flicker.
16	kRenderFxHologram	kRenderFxDistort + distance fade
17	kRenderFxDeadPlayer	kRenderAmt is the player index
18	kRenderFxExplode	Scale up really big!
19	kRenderFxGlowShell	Glowing Shell
20	kRenderFxClampMinScale	Keep this sprite from getting very small. (sprites only!)

List of "rendermode"-modes

State Value	State Name	Description
0	kRenderNormal	Normal render mode.
1	kRenderTransColor	Color with transparency render mode.
2	kRenderTransTexture	Texture with transparency render mode.
3	kRenderGlow	Glow render mode.
4	kRenderTransAlpha	Texture with transparency and alpha render mode.
5	kRenderTransAdd	Additive render mode.

List of "classify" -states

Value	State Name	Description
-1	CLASS_FORCE_NONE	Forces class override to none.
0	CLASS_NONE	No classification.
1	CLASS_MACHINE	Is machine.
2	CLASS_PLAYER	Is player.
3	CLASS_HUMAN_PASSIVE	Is passive human.
4	CLASS_HUMAN_MILITARY	Is military human.
5	CLASS_ALIEN_MILITARY	Is military alien.
6	CLASS_ALIEN_PASSIVE	Is passive alien.
7	CLASS_ALIEN_MONSTER	Is monster alien.
8	CLASS_ALIEN_PREY	Is prey alien.
9	CLASS_ALIEN_PREDATOR	Is predator alien.
10	CLASS_INSECT	Is insect.
11	CLASS_PLAYER_ALLY	Is player ally.
12	CLASS_PLAYER_BIOWEAPON	Is player bioweapon.
13	CLASS_ALIEN_BIOWEAPON	Is alien bioweapon.
14	CLASS_XRACE_PITDRONE	Is X-Race pitdrone
15	CLASS_XRACE_SHOCK	Is X-Race shock trooper (also Voltigores)
16	CLASS_TEAM1	Is on Team 1 (used to put players into teams to enable special features)
17	CLASS_TEAM2	Is on Team 2 (used to put players into teams to enable special features)
18	CLASS_TEAM3	Is on Team 3 (used to put players into teams to enable special features)
19	CLASS_TEAM4	Is on Team 4 (used to put players into teams to enable special features)
99	CLASS_BARNACLE	Is Barnacle (used by xen trees/spores, Barnacle is Alien Predator)