[TF2] Buildings don't emit any particles when getting upgraded or repaired.

[Churkinator]

Description

In the buildingdamage.pcf file there are 3 particle systems that are used for hitting buildings with the wrench: nutsnbolts_build - when you hit the building while it is being deployed. nutsnbolts_repair - when you repairing the building. nutsnbolts_upgrade - when you upgrade the building.

The thing here is that both nutsnbolts_repair and nutsnbolts_upgrade are blank particle systems (I don't know the exact term for such systems, so if you know the right one, please tell me about it). Usually, such systems are created when the parent particle system need to have a lot of children. Sometimes they contain only children and nothing more. There are some particle systems in the same file that are done in a similar way; for example, sentrydamage_ from 1 to 4.

In case of nutsnbolts_repair and nutsnbolts_upgrade they do not contain anything in them; with some testing I find out that they do get called, but because they are empty, they do not emit anything. This is clearly an oversight, because, again, some particle systems in the same file are done in a similar, if not in the same way as nutsnbolts particles, but have at least a child or children. Besides, if Valve really wanted to scrap them or keep particles only for the deploying, then they would probably just delete the calls for these 2 particle systems and delete them from the .pcf file or just create one empty particle system, which would replace both repairing and upgrading systems.

And so I create a fix and it is actually a pretty simple one; all that needs to be done is to add nutsnbolts_build as a child to nutsnbolts_repair and nutsnbolts_upgrade.

Demonstration

Before:

https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/05911bdb-5b72-4e70-a598-398fc7334f9e

After:

https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/9bc38110-f31e-43f2-9e4c-d4788cf5d664

I created a mod in case you want to see more closely how it looks in-game: Wrenching the buildings fix.zip

How to fix

1. Open buildingdamage.pcf in the Particle Editor.
2. Go to the Children section in the nutsnbolts_upgrade and nutsnbolts_repair particle systems.
3. Add nutsnbolts_build as a child to both nutsnbolts_repair and nutsnbolts_upgrade.