Custom particles & info_particle_system

xomp

L1: Registered
Jun 28, 2008
33
8
Custom particles & tf_point_weapon_mimic

Trying to make a custom particle play each time a rocket is spawned from a tf_point_weapon_mimic using the "Particle Effect" attribute, but it doesn't seem to be working. I cannot see any particles being fired off and in my console I have this error:

Code:
Attemped to precache unknown particle system "tower_shot"!
Attemped to precache unknown particle system "star_explosion"!
Attemped to precache unknown particle system "blue_glow"!
Attemped to precache unknown particle system "cloud"!
Attemped to precache unknown particle system "star"!
Attemped to precache unknown particle system "hit"!
Attemped to precache unknown particle system "hit_add"!
Attemped to precache unknown particle system "wave"!

The .pcf I'm using has several particles listed within it. I am using a particle manifest "map_name_particles.txt" in my /maps directory with the map. The contents of this manifest is:

Code:
particles_manifest
{
	file	"particles/lol_tower.pcf"
}

The particle I'm trying to conjure from the .pcf is "blue_glow" in the Particle Effect attribute in Hammer.

I do have the "lol_tower.pcf" stored in /tf/particles. Not sure why this isn't working. Any help is appreciated as always.
 
Last edited:

xzzy

aa
Jan 30, 2010
815
531
That error is normal, even if the particle is working just fine.

Only gotcha I know of is that if your pcf is the same name as a particle system that is stored inside the pcf, that particle system will never work.

This may have been fixed, I noticed the problem years ago and never went back to check it again.


I haven't had good luck using custom particle systems with tf_point_weapon_mimic.. I only tried for like 15 minutes so I'm no expert but I couldn't get it to work even with a known good particle system, so I just gave up.
 

FissionMetroid101

L2: Junior Member
Jan 27, 2010
65
118
Try changing "particles/lol_tower.pcf" to "!particles/lol_tower.pcf". The exclamation point allows it to be precached (which to my knowledge loads it with the map). Similar to what Xzzy said though, you should always give a unique prefix before your actual particle effects. For example, try changing "hit" to "lol_hit" just to make sure they don't conflict with other existing particles. The particles not appearing could be from them lacking a "Position within Sphere/Cube" initializer, since if they aren't told to spawn like that, they'll default to the center of the map.