Particles In Code

Precaching Effects

Before dispatching effects, you should precache them first. This can be done by listing them in your particles_manifest.txt file, or with this code:

PrecacheParticleSystem( "your_particle_effect_name" );

Dispatching Effects

At the very simplest you can just kick off an effect with the Dispatch function:

void DispatchParticleEffect( const char *pszParticleName, Vector vecOrigin, QAngle vecAngles, 
				CBaseEntity *pEntity )
void DispatchParticleEffect( const char *pszParticleName, ParticleAttachment_t iAttachType, 
				CBaseEntity *pEntity, int iAttachmentPoint, 
				bool bResetAllParticlesOnEntity  )

The former signature lets you just place it arbitrarily in world coordinates. The latter permits you to attach it to an entity. You may then stop effects on an entity with this function:

StopParticleEffects( CBaseEntity *pEntity )

You cannot specify a lifetime on a particle system from code. The system will self-terminate after the lifespan specified in the particle definition.

DispatchParticleEffect particles is only visible to you if run from client-side.

SDK Bug

There is a bug in the SDK that prevents the server from dispatching attached particle effects. The fix is detailed here