Particle effects

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Particle effects are used frequently in Team Fortress 2 to serve as decorations or visual cues for both various in-game events and cosmetic purposes. Any particle effect can be attached to any item or model theoretically, however, some effects appear exclusively on items of a particular quality; for example, the Unusual effects only appear on items with the Unusual quality.

Status effects

Status effects are used to indicate a change in player state to other players. A common example would be the overheal particles emitted from an overhealed player or one that recently picked up a health kit.

Overheal effect

Main article: Overheal

When a player is overhealed by the Medic, the player will emit medical crosses. The Overheal effect is also emitted when injured players pick up Health kits. It is also used on the Medi Gun beam itself, as well as the trail of the Crusader's Crossbow.

  • In-game screenshot

  • The healing particle emitted for RED players.

  • The healing particle emitted for BLU players.

Critical spark effect

Main articles: Critical hits, ÜberCharge

The Critical spark effect is used to indicate that a player's weapon will deal critical damage. This is accompanied by a team-colored tint on the weapon itself. It is also used on the Medi Gun, Kritzkrieg and Quick-Fix to indicate that a charge is ready to be deployed.

  • In-game screenshot of a weapon charged with critical hits.

  • In-game screenshot of a fully charged Medi Gun.

  • Spark sprite

Weapons missing effect

Currently these weapons are missing the critical glow effect. This means the effect is either purely cosmetic, or it hides the visibility of the weapon being boosted, often confusing the weapon holder and enemies. As of now, the following weapons do not glow while crit boosted:



Burning Player effects

The Burning Player effects is used during the burning of players.

  • In-game screenshot

Marked For Death effects

The Marked For Death effects are used to indicate that the player is marked for death. A player that is marked for death receives Mini-Crits from all oncoming damage.

  • Icon displayed above a marked player.

  • HUD Icon displayed when 'marked for death'.

Weapon effects

Most non-hitscan weapons have particle effects. These include the Rocket Launcher and Flamethrower.

  • The Flamethrower fire effect sprite sheet.

  • The Rocket trail effect sprites.

Gameplay effects

Particles are used to indicate gameplay events.

Intelligence paper trail effect

While the Intelligence is being carried, it emits a stream of papers.

  • In-game screenshot.

  • The papers emitted from the Intelligence carrier.

Australium laundry trail effect

While the Australium is being carried, it emits a stream of boxer shorts and socks.

  • In-game screenshot.

  • Boxer shorts with a heart motif emitted from the Australium carrier

  • Socks with a checkered pattern emitted from the Australium carrier.

Balloon effect

While birthday mode is activated, players will spurt balloons instead of blood.

  • Birthday mode gibs

  • The balloon sprite emitted.

Dollar Sign effect

When playing MvM, the dropped cash will a emit green dollar sign particle, if the robot was killed normally, and a red particle if it was killed by a Headshot, or through the Explosive Headshot upgrade.

  • Green Dollar Sign Effect

  • Red Dollar Sign Effect from headshot-related kills.

Decorative effects

Decorative effects are not used to indicate any gameplay changes and are used purely for aesthetics.

Holy glow effect

The holy glow effect is attached to the Cheater's Lament.

  • In-game screenshot

Community sparkle effect

The Community sparkle effect is attached to Community or Self-Made items.

  • In-game screenshot

  • Sparkle particle sprite

  • Sparkle particle sprite

Treasure Hat effect

Main article: Treasure Hat

There is no known localized name for the Treasure Hat effect, but it is attached as a new particle system defined as "coin_spin". The particles from this effect are influenced by the movement of the wearer and will only be emitted when the player's model is in motion: even moving on the spot with a taunt will cause coins to fall.

  • In-game screenshot

  • The sprite sheet used in the effect's spinning animation.

Genteel Smoke effect

The Genteel Smoke effect is attached to the Lord Cockswain's Novelty Mutton Chops and Pipe, Soldier's Sparkplug, Soldier's Stogie, Backpack Broiler, Bubble Pipe, Waxy Wayfinder, Aladdin's Private Reserve, Bearded Bombardier, Nine-Pipe Problem, Steam Pipe, Outback Intellectual and the Gentle Munitionne of Leisure. An undisguised Spy, and the item El Patron, also have thinner versions of this.

  • In-game screenshot

Map Stamps effect

Main article: Map Stamps

The map stamps effect is attached to the World Traveler's Hat. These render similarly to the purple and green Unusual confetti effects, but use stamp sprites instead. Like the Treasure Hat, the effect is influenced by the movement of the wearer and will only be emitted when the player is in motion.

  • In-game screenshot

  • The sprite sheet used for the effect's spinning animation.

Musical notes effect

The musical notes effect is attached to the Earbuds and Noise Maker (see below section).

  • In-game screenshot

  • The music note sprite.

Noise Maker effect

Main article: Noise Maker

The Noise Maker effect emits musical notes or ghost particles when used. Noise maker particles are colored to distinguish them from Earbuds.

  • "Noise" particle effect.

  • "Noise" particle effect.

Flying bits effect

Intended to be used for rendering flames on gibs, the flying bits effect is also attached to certain Valve weapons.

  • In-game screenshot

Nemesis burst effect

  • Nemesis burst effect

Unusual effects

See also: Unusual

Unusual effects are attached to Unusual quality items. The first fourteen effects ("1st generation") were added to the game with the Mann-Conomy Update in 2010. Eight more unusual effects ("2nd generation") were added with the August 18, 2011 Patch, and seven more ("3rd generation") were later added with the June 19, 2013 Patch. Ten more unusual effects were added with the Robotic Boogaloo update in 2013, these effects can only be obtained through opening a RoboCrate. Four unusual taunt effects were released with the Love & War Update in June 2014, prompting the first series of Taunt effects, available only from the Mann Co. Director's Cut Reel and Mann Co. Audition Reel. Four more unusual effects were later added with the End of the Line Update in 2014, these effects can only be obtained through opening an End of the Line Community Crate. The Invasion Community Update introduced nine more unusual effects, obtainable from the Confidential Collection Case and Quarantined Collection Case, but are only able to be attributed to cosmetic items within the case collections themselves.

Four Halloween-only unusual effects were added with the Very Scary Halloween Special in 2011, another five with the Spectral Halloween Special in 2012, another eight as part of the Scream Fortress 2013 (as an undocumented change in the October 29, 2013 Patch) update, and another eight (two of which are Taunt effects) as part of the Scream Fortress 2014 update. Those can only be obtained during Halloween events, but from any crate that can be opened (including RoboCrates during that time window). A further seven were added as part of the Scream Fortress 2015 event, but these were not subject to the same yearly restrictions. Items with the particle effects introduced in the Scream Fortress 2015 event attached to them can be obtained throughout the year, from the Gargoyle Case.

The different particle effects are viewable in this animation, as well as in this video.


The first 14 effects were added to the game with the Mann-Conomy Update, 8 more unusual effects were added with the August 18, 2011 Patch, and 7 additional effects were added with the June 19, 2013 Patch. The unusual effect pool used by any given series of crate is listed in its potential uncrate results list.
The first 14 effects can be obtained from any crate of Series #1 to Series #25.

  • Burning Flames

  • Circling Heart

  • Circling Peace Sign

  • Circling TF Logo

  • Green Confetti

  • Green Energy

  • Haunted Ghosts

  • Massed Flies

  • Purple Confetti

  • Purple Energy

  • Scorching Flames

  • Searing Plasma

  • Sunbeams

  • Vivid Plasma

The next 8 effects can be obtained from any crate of Series #26 to Series #57.

  • Blizzardy Storm

  • Bubbling

  • Nuts n' Bolts

  • Orbiting Fire

  • Orbiting Planets

  • Smoking

  • Steaming

  • Stormy Storm

The final 7 effects can be obtained from any Series #59 crate onwards.

  • Aces High (RED)

  • Aces High (BLU)

  • Cloud 9

  • Dead Presidents

  • Disco Beat Down

  • Kill-a-Watt

  • Miami Nights

  • Terror-Watt

Halloween Special

There were 4 more Halloween-exclusive effects added with the Very Scary Halloween Special, 5 with the Spectral Halloween Special, 8 with Scream Fortress 2013, 6 with Scream Fortress 2014, 7 with Scream Fortress 2015, and 4 more with Scream Fortress 2016. 2 Halloween-only taunt effects were added in with Scream Fortress 2014, and an additional 4 were added with Scream Fortress 2016. Unlike other effects, these could only be obtained during Halloween season, from any openable crate. The Halloween effects from Scream Fortress 2015 and Scream Fortress 2016 are only found in special, limited edition crates which released with those updates: The Gargoyle Case, and the Creepy Crawly Case.

The first 4 Halloween-only effects, introduced in the Very Scary Halloween Special.

  • Cauldron Bubbles

  • Cloudy Moon

  • Eerie Orbiting Fire

  • Flaming Lantern

The next 5 Halloween-only effects, introduced in the Spectral Halloween Special.

  • Harvest Moon

  • It's A Secret To Everybody

  • Knifestorm

  • Misty Skull

  • Stormy 13th Hour

The next 8 Halloween-only effects, introduced in Scream Fortress 2013.

  • Arcana

  • Chiroptera Venenata

  • Darkblaze

  • Demonflame

  • Hellfire

  • Poisoned Shadows

  • Something Burning This Way Comes

  • Spellbound

The next 6 Halloween-only effects, introduced in Scream Fortress 2014.

  • Amaranthine

  • Bonzo The All-Gnawing

  • Ghastly Ghosts Jr.

  • Haunted Phantasm Jr

  • Stare From Beyond

  • Ooze

The 2 Halloween-only taunt effects, introduced in Scream Fortress 2014.

  • Ghastly Ghosts

  • Haunted Phantasm

Scream Fortress 2015 added 7 unusual effects. Items with these effects can only be obtained by unlocking the Gargoyle Case.

  • Death by Disco

  • It's a mystery to everyone

  • It's a puzzle to me

  • Ether Trail

  • Nether Trail

  • Ancient Eldritch

  • Eldritch Flame

Scream Fortress 2016 added 4 unusual effects. Items with these effects can only be obtained by unlocking the Creepy Crawly Case.

  • Neutron Star

  • Starstorm Slumber

  • Starstorm Insomnia

  • Tesla Coil

The 4 Halloween-only taunt effects, introduced in Scream Fortress 2016.

  • Spectral Swirl

  • Hellish Inferno

  • Infernal Smoke

  • Infernal Flames

Robotic Boogaloo

The Robotic Boogaloo Update added 10 Community-created unusual effects. Items with these effects can only be obtained by unlocking the RoboCrate.

  • Anti-Freeze

  • Electrostatic

  • Green Black Hole

  • Memory Leak

  • Overclocked

  • Phosphorous

  • Power Surge

  • Roboactive

  • Sulphurous

  • Time Warp

Love & War

The Love & War Update added 9 unusual taunt effects.

  • '72

  • Fountain of Delight

  • Holy Grail

  • Mega Strike

  • Midnight Whirlwind

  • Screaming Tiger

  • Showstopper (RED)

  • Showstopper (BLU)

  • Silver Cyclone

  • Skill Gotten Gains

End of the Line

The End of the Line Update added 4 unusual effects. Items with these effects can only be obtained by unlocking the End of the Line Community Crate.

  • Death at Dusk

  • Frostbite

  • Molten Mallard

  • Morning Glory

Gun Mettle Update

The Gun Mettle Update added 4 unusual effects exclusively for Decorated weapons. Items with these effects can only be obtained by unlocking the Powerhouse Case, Concealed Killer Case, Pyroland Weapons Case, or the Warbird Weapons Case.

  • Isotope

  • Hot

  • Cool

  • Energy Orb

Invasion Community Update

The Invasion Community Update added 9 unusual effects. Items with these effects can only be obtained by unlocking the Confidential Collection Case and Quarantined Collection Case.

  • Abduction

  • Atomic

  • Subatomic

  • Electric Hat Protector

  • Magnetic Hat Protector

  • Voltaic Hat Protector

  • Galactic Codex

  • Ancient Codex

  • Nebula


Unused effects

Unused Unusual effects

These effects were added to the game, but are currently unused.

Some effects have been slightly modified to be displayed correctly.

  • 'balloon'

  • 'beams1_newstyle'

  • 'beany green'

  • 'beany hearts'

  • 'beany target'

  • 'beany tf'

  • 'circling glow'

  • 'circling skull'

  • 'halo'

  • 'orbit'

  • 'sparkles1'

  • 'sparkles2'

  • 'sparkles3'

  • 'stormcloud'

  • 'test'

  • 'aaa aaa'

  • 'crisp spotlights cones03'

  • 'orbit fullmoon cloudy'

  • 'sparkler green'

  • 'sparkler orange'

  • 'spray confetti'

  • 'storm blood'

Removed content

These effects were unused in the game files, but have since been removed.

  • Orbiting Shells

  • Zap


G.R.U. skull effect

The G.R.U. skull effect was emitted when the Gloves of Running Urgently were wielded by the player.

  • In-game screenshot

  • Particle effects for teams RED and BLU.

Rotating Birthday Cake

Currently Unused

  • Orbiting cake.PNG

Self-Illumination

Related to particle effects, some items create a glowing effect called Self-illumination.

Demonstration

Update history

July 13, 2010 Patch
  • Improved the performance of the critboost particle effect.

September 30, 2010 Patch (Mann-Conomy Update)

  • Added effects: Green Confetti, Purple Confetti, Haunted Ghosts, Green Energy, Purple Energy, Circling TF Logo, Massed Flies, Burning Flames, Scorching Flames, Searing Plasma, Vivid Plasma, Sunbeams, Circling Peace Sign, and Circling Heart.
  • [Undocumented] Added effect: G.R.U. skull.

December 7, 2010 Patch

  • Added effect: Treasure Hat particle effect.

October 27, 2010 Patch (Scream Fortress Update)

  • [Undocumented] Added effect: Marked For Death.

December 17, 2010 Patch (Australian Christmas)

  • Added effect: Map Stamps particle effect.

August 18, 2011 Patch (Manno-Technology Bundle)

  • [Undocumented] Added effects: Stormy Storm, Blizzardy Storm, Nuts n' Bolts, Orbiting Planets, Orbiting Fire, Bubbling, Smoking, and Steaming.

August 23, 2011 Patch

  • Fixed the Sunbeams effect.

October 27, 2011 Patch (Very Scary Halloween Special)

  • [Undocumented] Added effects: Cloudy Moon, Orbiting Cloudy Full Moon, Eerie Orbiting Fire, Flaming Lantern, Orbiting Shells, and Cauldron Bubbles.

June 11, 2012 Patch

  • Fixed a rare case where the offensive/defensive buff particle effects could get stuck on players.

June 27, 2012 Patch

  • Fixed cases where some clients didn't receive broadcasts about long continuous particle effects being started or stopped.

June 28, 2012 Patch

  • Fixed missing DX8 particle effects.

October 26, 2012 Patch (Spectral Halloween Special)

  • [Undocumented] Added effects: Knifestorm, Misty Skull, Harvest Moon, It's A Secret To Everybody, and Stormy 13th Hour.

February 14, 2013 Patch

  • Increased the particle limit.

May 17, 2013 Patch (Robotic Boogaloo)

  • [Undocumented] Added effects: Anti-Freeze, Electrostatic, Green Black Hole, Memory Leak, Overclocked, Phosphorous, Power Surge, Roboactive, Suplurous, and Time Warp.

June 5, 2013 Patch

  • Attachment point and offset for particle effects on unusual hats can now be adjusted from the character loadout screen.
  • Fixed a bug that would cause unusual effects to float in the air over dead players.
  • Fixed a bug that would cause unusual effects to show incorrectly sometimes when spectating other players.

June 19, 2013 Patch

  • [Undocumented] Added effects: Aces High, Cloud 9, Dead Presidents, Disco Beatdown, Kill-a-Watt, Miami Nights, and Terror-Watt.

July 11, 2013 Patch

  • Fixed Disco Beat Down unusual effect showing through walls.

September 3, 2013 Patch

  • Removed showing the Marked For Death icon over the head of the local player.

October 29, 2013 Patch (Scream Fortress 2013)

  • [Undocumented] Added effects: Arcana, Spellbound, Poisoned Shadows, Chiroptera Venenata, Hellfire, Something Burning This Way Comes, Darkblaze, and Demonflame.

July 30, 2014 Patch

  • Fixed a bug related to orphaned marked for death particles.

June 18, 2014 Patch (Love & War Update)

  • [Undocumented] Added Taunt effects: '72, Fountain of Delight, Holy Grail, Mega Strike, Midnight Whirlwind, Screaming Tiger, Showstopper, Skill Gotten Gains.

October 29, 2014 Patch (Scream Fortress 2014)

  • [Undocumented] Added Amaranthine, Bonzo The All-Gnawing, Ghastly Ghosts, Ghastly Ghosts Jr., Haunted Phantasm, Haunted Phantasm Jr., Stare From Beyond, and The Ooze unusual effects.

December 8, 2014 Patch (End of the Line Update)

  • [Undocumented] Added Death at Dusk, Frostbite, Molten Mallard and Morning Glory unusual effects.

January 9, 2015 Patch

  • Fixed the Mega Strike unusual taunt effect showing through walls

January 30, 2015 Patch

  • Fixed a client crash related to the particle system.

January 9, 2015 Patch

  • Fixed the Mega Strike unusual taunt effect showing through walls

February 11, 2015 Patch #1

  • Added convar r_drawtracers_firstperson to disable the drawing of first person bullet tracer particles.

February 18, 2015 Patch

  • Fixed a client crash related to disappearing particles, props, and players.
  • Fixed some Unusual particle effects not drawing correctly

March 12, 2015 Patch

  • Fixed a bug that caused some particles to not draw correctly.

July 2, 2015 Patch (Gun Mettle Update)

  • [Undocumented] Added Isotope, Hot, Cool, and Energy Orb unusual effects.

July 8, 2015 Patch #1

  • Fixed cosmetic items with an ambient particle effect (i.e. Soldier's Stogie, Nine-Pipe Problem) erroneously reporting that they had the Genteel Smoke unusual effect.

August 18, 2015 Patch

  • Fixed character loadout menus so they display the particle effects for all equipped Unusual items.

October 6, 2015 Patch (Invasion Update)

  • [Undocumented] Added Abduction, Atomic, Subatomic, Electric Hat Protector, Magnetic Hat Protector, Voltaic Hat Protector, Galactic Codex, Ancient Codex, and Nebula unusual effects.

October 12, 2015 Patch

  • Fixed Unusual versions of the Taunt: Burstchester not displaying their Unusual effects.

October 28, 2015 Patch (Scream Fortress 2015)

  • [Undocumented] Added Death by Disco, It's a mystery to everyone, It's a puzzle to me, Ether Trail, Nether Trail, Ancient Eldritch, and Eldritch Flame unusual effects.

October 29, 2015 Patch

  • Fixed the Invasion Unusual effect "Subatomic" being off-center.

October 21, 2016 Patch (Scream Fortress 2016)

  • Added 8 new community-created Unusual effects.
    • 4 new effects for Unusual hats.
    • 4 new effects for Unusual taunts.

[Unknown Date]

  • Added effect: Rotating Birthday Cake.

Bugs

  • The Nuts n' Bolts particle effect has a visual problem. When circle strafing around a player, the Nuts n' Bolts appear to slow right down or even stop moving. This is much easier to detect if crouched.
  • One end of the particle effect on Kill-a-Watt and Terror-Watt may randomly attach to temporarily random areas of a map, causing the effect to stretch from the point through any walls to the wearer's head.
  • On certain graphics drivers, particles no longer appear to have a distinct bright glow. This applies on the medibeam, unusual effects and energy based weapons. It has also has been reported by DirectX 11 users.
  • Upon death or disconnect, particle effects often stay in the spot the player was, fully animated.
  • The 'Marked for Death' particle effect sometimes appears when the user is not marked for death.
  • Particle effects of cosmetic items may appear in First Person view.
    • The particle effects of the player and their cosmetic items does also appear while spectating someone.
  • Effects which have been adjusted may not appear.

Notes

  • Particle effects that are attached to an item will not be visible to the player wielding it in first-person view, unless the player is using the cl_first_person_uses_world_model console variable.
  • Cosmetic items with particle effects can create multiple effect combinations.
  • Particle effects get hidden by Wheel of Fate big heads effect. However, if being watched as the head expands, the effect will be repositioned and be visually correct.

External links

Retrieved from "https://wiki.teamfortress.com/w/index.php?title=Particle_effects&oldid=2217899"