[NPCs] Stunstick spark plays when an NPC with a stunstick leaves PVS

[GoreTechGit]

Describe the bug

When an NPC is equipped with a stunstick, a stunstick spark will play whenever the NPC leaves the PVS, regardless if it's a metrocop or a citizen with a stunstick. Whether you noclip outside the map or walk in a visleaf where you're not supposed to see the NPC, the spark will play all the same.

The spark doesn't play when the NPC re-enters the PVS though, only when he leaves it. The joined footage will show this.

It only happens to NPCs equipped with a stunstick. Metrocops with guns don't trigger the bug.

This bug is exclusive to mapbase as the HL2 anniversary doesn't have this issue.

This is where I tested the bug:

• (BUG) My mapbase mod, which uses the default binaries, mounted 7.2 and later 7.3.1
• (BUG) The generic mapbase 7.3.1 mods, both HL2 and Episodic
• (NO BUG) The current post-anniversary Half-Life 2 on Steam, in both the HL2 and Episode 2 environments.

Steps to reproduce

Steps to reproduce the behavior:

1. Compile the joined VMF map (remove the .txt extension) and play it in the generic mapbase HL2 or Episodic mods, or whatever mod that uses mapbase, it makes no difference either way.
2. Noclip in and out of the map, noclip through the orange walls or simply walk to spots where the PVS will hide the NPCs (set notarget to keep the metrocops where they are).
3. A stunstick spark will play whenever an NPC with a stunstick stops being visible to the player.

Expected behavior

No spark, or any sound for that matter, is supposed to play whenever the NPC leaves the PVS as not even the HL2 anniversary does this.

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bugreport_stunsticksfx.vmf.txt

https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/5fe8c44e-1d4e-4f57-bc44-f86ecac0c9b6
https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/692a3b06-c1ef-48a7-9f09-e5d400354b72