Creating and Editing Particle Systems
Hey guys, for those having issues packing them into a level because of the manifest. Here is what I'd suggest. Simple make your particles in an existing stock PCF file, then pack that. Because it's already in the manifest, when called on loading a BSP it should load the packed PCF.
http://www.tophattwaffle.com/ - My site for Source Engine Level Design
http://therewillbescience.com/ - Portal 2, Lab Rat
http://www.moddb.com/mods/portal-2-lab-rat - Portal 2, Lab Rat (MODDB)
Doug, isn't that what I was saying? 
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[/spoiler]Did you know, I'm stupid and should read! 
http://www.tophattwaffle.com/ - My site for Source Engine Level Design
http://therewillbescience.com/ - Portal 2, Lab Rat
http://www.moddb.com/mods/portal-2-lab-rat - Portal 2, Lab Rat (MODDB)
But remember, VPK'd files are loaded before BSP'd ones. That's why custom skins are so much harder to use now.
Well, I've been trying, and so far no luck 
Even though I'm using the same name than an already existing particle and packing the pcf file inside the bsp, it seems to be using the stocked particle (inside the vpk) instead... Ofc I used the path-fixup...
I'll continue figuring out a way though...
useful tools and stuff here on TWP [spoiler]
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Even though I'm using the same name than an already existing particle and packing the pcf file inside the bsp, it seems to be using the stocked particle (inside the vpk) instead... Ofc I used the path-fixup...
I'll continue figuring out a way though...
Try a custom DLC folder? That seems to be the only way I get stuff to work...
What you can also do is copy the PCF, rename that, and have your edits of the particle(s) in there. This way, it reads a "new" PCF instead of one that shipped with the game.
Again, never tried to ship a map with particles, all I ever did was make edits to particles in DLC folders...
The more you give, the less appreciated it will be received.
No no no, what I was trying is right that I did extract all partciles from the vpk to local folders, editted some particles and packed them into the bsp... In game I could only see the usual particle, not the editted one. It doesn't seem to work like sounds, scripts and the rest of stuff that's "packable". My final conclusion is that Valve, when they updated the game engine and established the searching/precaching priority, apart from loading the VPKs on atartup (and getting rid of the addons folder and VPKs inside them), they only left out some exceptions, like for materials, sounds or the scripts, for which the game can load both inside the VPK and outside and if you pack them inside the bsp, they acquire priotity over the VPK...
About a DLC folder, yeah I know that will works, same as a sourcemod, but my interest is to make a standalone map, in order to distribute that only file.
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[/spoiler]Make sure the actual particle name is not the same as an existing one. rename the PCF AND the actual particle.
For Example: portal_projectile.pcf would be portal_projectile_myedit.pcf ; and portal_1_projectile_3rdperson would be portal_3_projectile_3rdperson.
Have the map load portal_3_projectile_3rdperson and the manifest portal_projectile_myedit.pcf.Never override with Portal 2, you can only 'hex' it. If that is your goal, maybe a vscript can swap out the stock with yours. (Like if you were actually wanting to replace the projectile ball.)
The more you give, the less appreciated it will be received.
Thanks Reep, I just tried. What you describe only allows me to use the newly created particles in the map. But they only appear if the particle plus the particle_manifest files are in the /particles folder; I tried to pack both into the bsp and remove both files locally, and then they don't appear anymore.
Haha yeah! I was searching for some script functions to achieve it right a moment ago I think this would be the only way 
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I know this thread is nearly a year old, but I've been looking into it recently for source mods and am just beginning to understand why it's going to be so bloody hard to pull this off.
First of course, as mentioned, the manifest is loaded at runtime (not when the map's loaded) so even if you'd hexed a .pcf to point at a different texture you're screwed.
But even if you were trying to rename one, say paint_bomb_fx.pcf, and you renamed it to paint_bomb_fx_hexed.pcf, and added that to the manifest, and then made a sourcemod to load it, hexed the name of the particle emitters inside to make new ones, or hexed the texture names inside, there's an issue with the file format that's going to just cause the game to crash.
Every table element has a globally unique ID, 16 bytes long and apparently random. Thus if you try and load what is essentially the same .PCF with two different file names there will be a conflict and p2 will crash.
Few options here:
1- Override+hex an existing one in a pak01_dir.vpk inside a higher priority folder.
2- Override+hex an existing one in a sourcemod (also must be in a pak01_dir.vpk )
3- Rename one + Manually alter all the IDs. Which sounds fairly easy and laborious, but remember, table elements can reference eachother by their indexes internally. So good luck with that.
4- Bit of a cheat... there are tons of particles already there which have missing textures, you can just add those manually and pack them into your map
Unfortunately, it doesn't look terribly likely that you'd be able to pack a new one into a map :