Yet Another Eye-Straining Muzzle Flash and Explosion Particle Remover

--- About ---

!! NO AI WAS USED IN MAKING THIS MOD !!

!! THIS MOD PREDATES THE BINGUS LOADER AND DOES NOT USE ANY LUA SCRIPTING !!

!! I now keep a detailed google sheet to keep track of everything: Link !!

Welcome to my first ever mod upload! I've attempted to make a sort of one-stop-shop for removing particle effects, as turning them off can help reduce eye-strain and give you a better sight picture, particularly when aiming down sights of automatic weapons. Feedback and suggestions are greatly appreciated! I only ask that you bear with me as I'm still very new to this, so updates may take longer than for other more skilled and knowledgeable people.

I've attempted to be as surgical as possible, only changing particles that need to be changed for the effect I am going for. Helldivers 2 likes to reuse a lot of the same assets for different things as much as possible, so I have taken the time to try and list as many known co-dependencies within the mod itself so you know what you are changing when you switch any given part of my mod on or off. If you find anything that this mod affects that I have not accounted for, please do not hesitate to let me know and I'll look into it (if I add anything to the mod I'll be sure to credit you!). This mod should be compatible with any mods that do not change the particle data of the weapons.

1. Download and install Arsenal if you haven't yet. It also has an extension for better integration with Nexusmods. Follow all the instructions on the Arsenal mod's page to get it set up properly for use with Nexusmods for a seamless experience.

2. Once you have installed the extension and have connected your Nexusmods account to Arsenal, refresh this page and there should be a button in the upper right that says "Arsenal." Click that. You can also navigate to the Files tab on this page, where you have another chance to click a second Arsenal button.

3. Once the file finishes downloading in Arsenal, open the downloads panel (top right) within Arsenal and install the mod to your desired profile.

4. Ensure the mod is activated in Arsenal by ticking it's toggle slider to the right "green" state

5. Click "Deploy active mods" to activate the mod. Enjoy!

This mod completely removes certain particle effects from appearing visibly in the game, by setting their opacity to zero. The most common effects of this type that you benefit from removing are ones that generate a bright explosion and/or smoke effect, like muzzle flashes when firing a gun, but also bigger explosions you get from grenades and bombs going off. By making these effects invisible, you get a much clearer sight picture when aiming down the sights of a weapon, and aren't dazzled by the bright explosions the game has to offer. You also have options where it is applicable to choose between removing everything, or just certain parts of the particle, such as just the smoke or flash of the muzzle flashes. I consider this mod to be fair and balanced as while you do get better clarity, you will also be subjected to very confusing deaths when a big but invisible explosion goes off near you.

One thing I consider to be outside the scope of this mod is adding more toggle-able options for the individual effects, such as 50% opacity or color changes, stuff like that. Every individual edit to the same particle takes up the same amount of space, so just having the options to toggle between both, just smoke, and just flash is already tripling the size of the mod compared to just having a single on/off switch for each particle. I'd prefer to prevent bloat as much as I can.

You will also not see any significant performance increases due to this mod as I believe the game is still rendering the invisible particles. Removing them on that level is not possible with my current understanding of how all of this works. This is my first foray into modding a game of any kind.

I'm also not likely going to be editing fire generally (I will edit the Napalm Barrage's explosive flashes, just not the flames it leaves behind), or smoke that is meant to obscure the battlefield as part of it's effect (like from smoke grenades or the smoke strikes), since I think that goes against the intent of tho