[TF2] Laser Weapons (Righteous Bison & Pomson 6000) unimplemented critical projectile effects

[MeatwadMeatwad]

The Pomson 6000 & Righteous Bison have unused critical effects which are present alongside the regular particles' in their respective particle files (drg_bison.pcf & drg_engineer.pcf), but are unused in-game and appear as the standard projectile particles regardless of if the projectile is crit boosted. This should be addressed for the sake of readability, especially in situations when a particular shot is a random crit; it is impossible to visually determine whether or not it's crit boosted. The unused effects are flawed as they are a bit difficult to differentiate from standard particles, so if functionality for crit effects is implemented improvements to those effects would be recommended. Attached are screenshots demonstrating the crit particle effects modded to replace the normal effects.

[kisak-valve]

[TF2] Pomson - Missing Crit Particles + Fix

Issue transferred from https://github.com/ValveSoftware/Source-1-Games/issues/7704. @CipherlockYT posted on 2025-11-22T03:09:01:

Video Showcase: https://youtu.be/TPmK86sLwgo

Currently, the game does not pull from the correct system "drg_pomson_projectile_crit" when the Pomson 6000 is critted, instead always using "drg_pomson_projectile". In addition, even if this is corrected, the in-file "drg_pomson_projectile_crit" system is not sufficiently noticable as a crit particle, appearing almost like the original.

I have created a community fix for this issue. It simply creates two new particle parents, "drg_pomson_projectile_crit_blue" and "drg_pomson_projectile_crit_red" for Valve to path to. No custom sprites or coding used.

Here are all the fixes I made:

• Created 2 new particle system parents (drg_pomson_projectile_crit_blue and drg_pomson_projectile_crit_red) for the game to pull from when the Pomson is critted.

• These new systems are split for teamcoloring so that exact colors can be chosen, the same colors as other critical hit particles in the game.

• New systems include particles commonly found with critical hits, translated for the Pomson projectile.

The only actions Valve needs to do is to import the new systems and tell the game to refer to them when the Pomson 6000 is critted.

Note: The thermal thruster ALSO pulls from the Heavy's ring of fire. Valve can either have the game reference the old ring of fire, or this new one, up to Valve.

ZIP File (Includes a particle .pcf and README): pomson_crit_fix.zip

Also available on the Steam Workshop for Valve download: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3609997063