Particles

New particle system

The following variables use the new visually enhanced particles when set to 1 and use the old system when set to 0. All of them default to 0.

gl_part_explosions    used for explosions.
gl_part_trails        used for (rocket etc) trails.
gl_part_spikes        used for spikes (nailgun etc).
gl_part_gunshots      used for gunshot (etc) effects.
gl_part_blood         used for blood effects.
gl_part_telesplash    used for teleport splashes.
gl_part_blobs         used for blob explosions (EMP's).
gl_part_lavasplas     used for lava splashes (Spy Gren).
gl_part_inferno       used for pyro flames in TF.

The following variables control the behaviour of the new particle effects. They do not effect the old particle effects.

gl_bounceparticles    whether sparks rebound off walls. Bouncing particles look nicer, but may eat up CPU.
gl_clipparticles      setting this will limit the number of blended particles close to you (fps benefit)

The particle engine has evolved from the QMB particle engine. QMB was a quakenet (not quakeworld) quake engine developed by DrLabMan. (website no longer available)

FAQ

Q1. What are Blop Explosions and Lava Splash?

A1. These are really only used in teamfortress. Blob explosions are what happens when an EMP grenade explodes (and when a spy grenade first explodes). LavaSplash is the red stuff a spy's gas grenade creates. LavaSplash also happens sometimes in dm when the map ends.

Q2. I lose a lot of FPS with when using the new QMB effects. WTF?

A2. Tough. Good things come at a price.

Q3. The new effects don't look so good. WTF?

A3. Make sure you have ezquake/pak0.pak (should have been installed when you installed the .exe's).

Q4. What about axe effects ?

A4. There's a lot of effects in quakeworld, especially when you consider custom mods like teamfortress. Hence it is impossible to have a variable for every effect. Things which do not have variable (like axe effects) are controlled by the gl_part_gunshots variable.

Q5. I have set the gl_part_* variables to 1 but I still get the old particles. WTF?

A5. Make sure you've installed ezquake/pak0.pak from the zip file/installer you downloaded from the web. Inside that pak file are some particle textures that are important.