Particle effects

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

Main article: Overheal

When a player is overhealed by a 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.

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  In-game screenshot

• 

  The healing particle emitted for RED players.

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  The healing particle emitted for BLU players.

Critical spark

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.

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

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  In-game screenshot of a fully charged Medi Gun.

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  Spark sprite

Weapons missing

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:

List of weapons with missing critical glow effect
Class	Slot	Item	Notes
Scout	Secondary		The glass.
		Mad Milk
	Melee		The baseball.
		Sandman
			The bauble.
		Wrap Assassin
Soldier	Primary		The entire item.
		Cow Mangler 5000
	Secondary		The backpack and flag.
		Battalion's Backup
		Buff Banner
		Concheror
		Festive Buff Banner
			The entire item.
		Gunboats
		Mantreads
Pyro	Primary		The nose.
		Festive Backburner
			The entire item.
		Rainblower
	Secondary
		Thermal Thruster
	Melee
		Festive Axtinguisher
		Lollichop
Demoman	Primary
		Ali Baba's Wee Booties
		Bootlegger
			The grenades.
		Iron Bomber
			The cannonballs.
		Loose Cannon
	Secondary		The shield, in third person.
		Chargin' Targe
			The entire item, apart from the cables.
		Festive Chargin' Targe
			The shield, in third person.
		Splendid Screen
		Tide Turner
	Melee		The ice.
		Festive Eyelander
Heavy	Secondary		The entire item, apart from the attached star.
		Festive Sandvich
	Melee		The diamonds.
		Apoco-Fists
			The entire item.
		Fists
		Holiday Punch
Engineer	Melee		The entire item, in third person.
		Golden Wrench
			The entire item.
		Gunslinger
	PDA 1
		Construction PDA
Medic	Primary		The glass.
		Syringe Gun
	Secondary		The backpack.
		Kritzkrieg
		Medi Gun
		Quick-Fix
		Vaccinator
	Melee		The bells on the side and the bow.
		Festive Bonesaw
Sniper	Secondary		The entire item.
		Cozy Camper
		Darwin's Danger Shield
			The glass and liquid.
		Festive Jarate
		Jarate
			The entire item.
		Razorback
Spy	Building
		Ap-Sap
		Red-Tape Recorder
	PDA 2
		Enthusiast's Timepiece
		Invis Watch
	PDA 1		The entire item, in third person.
		Disguise Kit
Multiple classes	Secondary		The entire item.
		B.A.S.E. Jumper
	Melee		The eagle.
		Freedom Staff
All classes	Melee		The entire item.
		Saxxy
	N/A		The heads, and parts that attach the heads to weapons.
		Botkiller weapons
			The lights and cables.
		Festive weapons

Burning player

The burning player effect is used during the burning of players. When viewed in Pyroland, the flames are replaced with multi-colored sparkles.

• 

  A burning Heavy.

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  A burning Heavy in Pyroland.

Marked For Death

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.

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  Icon displayed above a marked target.

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  HUD Icon displayed when the player is 'marked for death'.

Weapon effects

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

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  The Flamethrower fire effect sprite sheet.

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  The Rocket trail effect sprites.

Gameplay effects

Particles are used to indicate gameplay events.

Intelligence paper trail

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

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  In-game screenshot.

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  The papers emitted from the Intelligence carrier.

Australium laundry trail

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

• In-game screenshot of Australium carrier particles.png

  In-game screenshot.

• Particle Boxers animated.png

  Boxer shorts with a heart motif emitted from the Australium carrier

• Particle Socks animated.png

  Socks with a checkered pattern emitted from the Australium carrier.

Balloon

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

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  Birthday mode gibs

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  The balloon sprite emitted.

Dollar sign

When playing Mann vs. Machine, dropped credits 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.

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  Green Dollar Sign Effect

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  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

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

• Selfmadedalokohs.png

  In-game screenshot

• Sparkle sprite.png

  Sparkle particle sprite

• Sparkle sprite2.png

  Sparkle particle sprite

Treasure Hat

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.

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  In-game screenshot

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

Genteel Smoke effect

The Genteel Smoke effect is attached to a variety items. An undisguised Spy, and the item El Patron, also have thinner versions of this.

• Genteel Pipe Smoke.png

  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.

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  In-game screenshot

• Stamp sprites.png

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

Musical notes

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

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  In-game screenshot

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  The music note sprite.

Noise Maker

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.

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  "Noise" particle effect.

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  "Noise" particle effect.

Flying Bits

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

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  In-game screenshot

Nemesis Burst

• 

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.

Standard Series

Standard Unusual effects can be found in specific crate series.

Gen 1

The first generation of standard Unusual effects was added in the Mann-Conomy Update. They can be obtained in crates Series #1 onward.

Series 1 Unusual effects
Cosmetic 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	Circling Heart

Gen 2

The second generation of standard Unusual effects was added in the August 18, 2011 Patch. They can be obtained in crates Series #26 onward.

Series 2 Unusual effects
Cosmetic effects
	Stormy Storm	Blizzardy Storm	Nuts n' Bolts	Orbiting Planets	Orbiting Fire	Bubbling
	Smoking	Steaming

Gen 3

The third and current generation of standard Unusual effects was added in the June 19, 2013 Patch. They can be obtained in crates and cases Series #59 onward.

Series 3 Unusual effects
Cosmetic effects
	Kill-a-Watt	Terror-Watt	Cloud 9	RED	BLU	Dead Presidents
				Aces High
	Miami Nights	Disco Beat Down

Community Sparkle

An exclusive Unusual effect was added in the First Community Contribution Update. It is automatically applied to Community and Self-Made items.

List of Community Sparkle effects
Cosmetic items	Taunt	Weapon

Scream Fortress Series

Scream Fortress Unusual effects can be found in specific Scream Fortress crates. During Scream Fortress events, they're available in all other crate series.

Very Scary Halloween Special

The first Scream Fortress generation of Unusual Effects was added in the Very Scary Halloween Special. They could be obtained in any crate during the event.

List of Very Scary Halloween Special Unusual effects
Cauldron Bubbles	Cloudy Moon	Eerie Orbiting Fire	Flaming Lantern

Spectral Halloween Special

The second Scream Fortress generation of Unusual Effects was added in the Spectral Halloween Special. They could be obtained in any crate during the event.

List of Spectral Halloween Special Unusual effects
Harvest Moon	It's A Secret To Everybody	Knifestorm	Misty Skull	Stormy 13th Hour

Scream Fortress V

The third Scream Fortress generation of Unusual effects was added in the Scream Fortress V update. They could be obtained in any crate during the event.

List of Scream Fortress V Unusual effects
Arcana	Chiroptera Venenata	Darkblaze	Demonflame	Hellfire	Poisoned Shadows	Something Burning This Way Comes	Spellbound

Scream Fortress VI

The fourth Scream Fortress generation of Unusual effects was added in the Scream Fortress VI update. They could be obtained in any crate during the event.

List of Scream Fortress VI Unusual effects
Cosmetic items
	Amaranthine	Bonzo The All-Gnawing	Ghastly Ghosts Jr	Haunted Phantasm Jr	Stare From Beyond	The Ooze
Taunts
	Ghastly Ghosts	Haunted Phantasm

Scream Fortress VII

The fifth Scream Fortress generation of Unusual effects was added in the Scream Fortress VII update. They could only be obtained by opening a Gargoyle Case during the event. They can still be obtained by opening a Gargoyle Case.

List of Scream Fortress VII Unusual effects
Ancient Eldritch	Death by Disco	Eldritch Flame	Ether Trail	It's a mystery to everyone	It's a puzzle to me	Nether Trail

Scream Fortress VIII

The sixth Scream Fortress generation of Unusual effects was added in the Scream Fortress VIII update. They could be obtained in any crate during the event. They can still be obtained by opening a Creepy Crawly Case.

List of Scream Fortress VIII Unusual effects
Cosmetic items
	Neutron Star	Starstorm Insomnia	Starstorm Slumber	Tesla Coil
Taunts
	Hellish Inferno	Infernal Flames	Infernal Smoke	Spectral Swirl

Scream Fortress X

The seventh Scream Fortress generation of Unusual effects was added in the Scream Fortress X update. They could be obtained in any crate during the event. They can still be obtained by opening a Violet Vermin Case.

List of Scream Fortress X Unusual effects
Cosmetic items
	Brain Drain	Clairvoyance	Galactic Gateway	Head of Steam	Omniscient Orb	Open Mind	Ring of Fire	The Dark Doorway
	The Eldritch Opening	Vicious Circle	White Lightning
Taunts
	Acidic Bubbles of Envy	Flammable Bubbles of Attraction	Ominous Night	Poisonous Bubbles of Regret	Roaring Rockets	Spooky Night

Scream Fortress XI

The eighth Scream Fortress generation of Unusual effects was added in the Scream Fortress XI update. They could be obtained in any crate during the event. They can still be obtained by opening a Spooky Spoils Case.

List of Scream Fortress XI Unusual effects
Cosmetic items
	Abyssal Aura	Ethereal Essence	Fifth Dimension	Ghastly Grove	Menacing Miasma	Mystical Medley	Twisted Radiance	Valiant Vortex
	Verdant Vortex	Vicious Vortex	Violet Vortex	Wicked Wood
Taunts
	Accursed	Bewitched	Eerie Lightning	Enchanted	Jarate Shock	Nether Void	Static Mist	Terrifying Thunder

Smissmas Series

Smissmas Unusual effects can be found in specific Smissmas crates. During Smissmas events, they're available in all other crate series.

Smissmas 2019

The first and current Smissmas generation of Unusual effects was added in the Smissmas 2019 update. Currently, they can be obtained in any crate.

List of Smissmas 2019 Unusual effects
Cosmetic items
	RED	BLU	Fragmented Gluons	Fragmented Photons	Fragmented Quarks	Fragmenting Reality	Frozen Icefall	RED
	Defragmenting Reality							Pyroland Daydream
	BLU	Refragmenting Reality	Snowblinded	Snowfallen	Sparkling Lights
	Pyroland Daydream
Taunts
	Arctic Aurora	Festive Spirit	Good-Hearted Goodies	Magical Spirit	Winter Spirit	Wintery Wisp

Robotic Boogaloo

An exclusive generation of Unusual effects was added in the Robotic Boogaloo update. They could be obtained in any crate during the event. They can still be obtained by opening a Robo Community Crate.

List of Robotic Boogaloo Unusual effects
Anti-Freeze	Electrostatic	Green Black Hole	Memory Leak	Overclocked	Phosphorous	Power Surge	Roboactive
Sulphurous	Time Warp

Love & War Update

An exclusive generation of Unusual effects was added in the Love & War Update. They can be obtained through Taunt Unusualifiers.

List of Love & War Update Unusual effects
'72	Fountain of Delight	Holy Grail	Mega Strike	Midnight Whirlwind	Screaming Tiger	RED	BLU
						Showstopper
Silver Cyclone	Skill Gotten Gains

End of the Line Update

An exclusive generation of Unusual effects was added in the End of the Line Update. They could be obtained in any crate during the event. They can still be obtained by opening an End of the Line Community Crate.

List of End of the Line Update Unusual effects
Death at Dusk	Frostbite	Molten Mallard	Morning Glory

Gun Mettle Update

An exclusive generation of Unusual effects was added in the Gun Mettle Update. They can be obtained through Decorated cases.

With the introduction of the Jungle Inferno Update, the Energy Orb effect has been removed from the Unusual effect pool due to issues with it disappearing and/or not fitting some weapons properly. Only the three remaining effects can be obtained now.

List of Gun Mettle Update Unusual effects
Cool	Energy Orb	Hot	Isotope

Invasion Community Update

An exclusive generation of Unusual effects was added in the Invasion Community Update. They could be obtained in any crate during the event. They can still be obtained by opening a Confidential Collection Case or a Quarantined Collection Case.

List of Invasion Community Update Unusual effects
Abduction	Ancient Codex	Atomic	Electric Hat Protector	Galactic Codex	Magnetic Hat Protector	Nebula	Subatomic
Voltaic Hat Protector

Unused effects

Unused Unusual effects

Currently unused Unusual effects
Cosmetic effects
	AAA_AAA	balloon	beams1_newstyle	beany_green	beany_hearts	beany_target
	beany_tf	circling_glow	circling_skull	crisp_spotlights_cones03	halo	orbit
	orbit_fullmoon_cloudy	sparkler_green	sparkler_orange	sparkles1	sparkles2	sparkles3
	spray_confetti	storm_blood	stormcloud	symbols_parents_ice	test

G.R.U. skull effect

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

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  In-game screenshot

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  Particle effects for teams RED and BLU.

Rotating Birthday Cake

Currently Unused

• 

Self-Illumination

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

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

• Particle System