Hello there!

I usually try my hardest to solve problems on my own or discretely seek who I've seen is willing to help, but this subject is not as common as HUDs-related to find threads and Google didn't help much.

Ever since I began using custom particles mods (e.g. Chaofanatic's) I started receiving a lot of errors text in the console saying it was unable to find such particle, or unable to precache it. I understood that from the vanilla TF2 there were some spots available that could be filled with a handful of mods before it eventually got full. Just had to select a few I really liked and stick to those and there would be no errors.

I can't pinpoint the turning point (maybe it was when the new taunts came along) but now it's pretty much full by default. Using a few mods already trigger the error messages.

I browsed a few Gamebanana topics and developer.valvesoftware on how to properly index the new strings but something isn't working.

The particles_manifest at the moment looks like:

[quote]
particles_manifest
{
file "!particles/bigboom.pcf"
file "!particles/bl_killtaunt.pcf"
file "!particles/blood_impact.pcf"
file "!particles/blood_trail.pcf"
file "!particles/bombinomicon.pcf"
file "!particles/buildingdamage.pcf"
file "!particles/bullet_pistol_tracer01_blue.pcf"
file "!particles/bullet_pistol_tracer01_red.pcf"
file "!particles/bullet_scattergun_tracer01_blue.pcf"
file "!particles/bullet_scattergun_tracer01_red.pcf"
file "!particles/bullet_shotgun_tracer01_blue.pcf"
file "!particles/bullet_shotgun_tracer01_red.pcf"
file "!particles/bullet_tracers.pcf"
file "!particles/burningplayer.pcf"
file "!particles/cig_smoke.pcf"
file "!particles/cinefx.pcf"
file "!particles/class_fx.pcf"
file "!particles/coin_spin.pcf"
file "!particles/conc_stars.pcf"
file "!particles/crit.pcf"
file "!particles/dirty_explode.pcf"
file "!particles/disguise.pcf"
file "!particles/doomsday_fx.pcf"
file "!particles/drg_bison.pcf"
file "!particles/drg_cowmangler.pcf"
file "!particles/drg_engineer.pcf"
file "!particles/drg_pyro.pcf"
file "!particles/dxhr_fx.pcf"
file "!particles/error.pcf"
file "!particles/explosion.pcf"
file "!particles/explosion_bubbles.pcf"
file "!particles/eye_powerup_green_lvl_4.pcf"
file "!particles/eyeboss.pcf"
file "!particles/fiery_death_smoke.pcf"
file "!particles/firstperson_weapon_fx.pcf"
file "!particles/flag_particles.pcf"
file "!particles/flamethrower.pcf"
file "!particles/flamethrower_mvm.pcf"
file "!particles/grenade_smoke_cycle.pcf"
file "!particles/halloween.pcf"
file "!particles/harbor_fx.pcf"
file "!particles/impact_fx.pcf"
file "!particles/items_demo.pcf"
file "!particles/items_engineer.pcf"
file "!particles/item_fx.pcf"
file "!particles/killstreak.pcf"
file "!particles/killstreak_t0_lvl1_flash.pcf"
file "!particles/killstreak_t0_lvl1_flash2.pcf"
file "!particles/killstreak_t0_lvl1_flash3.pcf"
file "!particles/killstreak_t1_lvl1.pcf"
file "!particles/killstreak_t1_lvl1_glow.pcf"
file "!particles/killstreak_t1_lvl1_sparks.pcf"
file "!particles/killstreak_t1_lvl2.pcf"
file "!particles/killstreak_t1_lvl2_glow.pcf"
file "!particles/killstreak_t2_lvl1.pcf"
file "!particles/killstreak_t2_lvl2.pcf"
file "!particles/killstreak_t2_lvl2_glow.pcf"
file "!particles/killstreak_t3_lvl1.pcf"
file "!particles/killstreak_t3_lvl1_smoke.pcf"
file "!particles/killstreak_t3_lvl2.pcf"
file "!particles/killstreak_t3_lvl2_smoke.pcf"
file "!particles/killstreak_t4_lvl2.pcf"
file "!particles/killstreak_t5_lvl1.pcf"
file "!particles/killstreak_t5_lvl1_glow.pcf"
file "!particles/killstreak_t5_lvl2.pcf"
file "!particles/killstreak_t5_lvl2_glow.pcf"
file "!particles/killstreak_t6_lvl1.pcf"
file "!particles/killstreak_t6_lvl1_smoke.pcf"
file "!particles/killstreak_t6_lvl2.pcf"
file "!particles/killstreak_t6_lvl2_smoke.pcf"
file "!particles/killstreak_t6_lvl2_sparks.pcf"
file "!particles/killstreak_t6_lvl2_sparks2.pcf"
file "!particles/killstreak_t7_lvl1.pcf"
file "!particles/killstreak_t7_lvl2.pcf"
file "particles/level_fx.pcf"
file "!particles/medicgun_attrib.pcf"
file "!particles/medicgun_beam.pcf"
file "!particles/merasmus_tp_bits.pcf"
file "!particles/muzzle_flash.pcf"
file "!particles/mvm.pcf"
file "!particles/nailtrails.pcf"
file "!particles/nemesis.pcf"
file "!particles/npc_fx.pcf"
file "!particles/phlo_stream_glow_unlocked.pcf"
file "!particles/phlo_stream_noise_unlocked.pcf"
file "!particles/player_recent_teleport.pcf"
file "!particles/rain_custom.pcf"
file "!particles/rocketbackblast.pcf"
file "!particles/rocketjumptrail.pcf"
file "!particles/rockettrail.pcf"
file "!particles/rps.pcf"
file "!particles/scary_ghost.pcf"
file "!particles/shellejection.pcf"
file "particles/smoke_blackbillow.pcf"
file "particles/smoke_blackbillow_hoodoo.pcf"
file "!particles/soldierbuff.pcf"
file "!particles/sparks.pcf"
file "!particles/speechbubbles.pcf"
file "!particles/stamp_spin.pcf"
file "!particles/stickybomb.pcf"
file "!particles/stormfront.pcf"
file "!particles/taunt_fx.pcf"
file "!particles/teleport_status.pcf"
file "!particles/teleported_fx.pcf"
file "!particles/training.pcf"
file "!particles/urban_fx.pcf"
file "!particles/water.pcf"
file "!particles/water_splash01.pcf"
file "!particles/xms.pcf"
}
[/quote]

I tried adding just the new particles as .txt, adding vanilla + new as .vpk, leaving everything to be precached on-demand as well (no exclamations marks). Nothing worked.

If you're wondering why the trouble on fixing this is that many particles don't show up because they're pushed off the table and aren't loaded, e.g. unusuals and killstreaks effects.

If someone would be so kind to shed some light into the matter, that'd be great.