RS-fx, check out the possible solution I posted in Bailknight's thread.

ToJka, sounds like a missing texture. I found it and you can get a fixed archive from here. It was a last minute addition so unfortunately I forgot to copy it to the mod folder. If you see any more of those, do tell!

The new fixed archive also has renamed folders for a more self-explanatory install, without the ubiquitous version numbers. Now, the Entrenchment version is labeled as such as is the vanilla one. I have also removed all but the entity.manifest file from the mod folder for Entrenchment, to avoid hidden conflicts (thanks to Ryat for spotting that one).

For those of you who are having dissapearing particles issue, this is likely caused late game by the engine consistently hitting the particle count cap, especially in large battles. This problem may especially affect those using the versions of the mod rolled together with Bailknight's particle effects, as some of his particles, according to my dev version counters are quite heavy handed. Needless to say, the Volumetric mod IS a little more resource intensive than vanilla Sins, but what you can try, if your machine can handle it, is to increase the particle count cap in the user.setting by adjusting the MaxParticleCount to something higher than what it is.

Next version of the Volumetric mod will see some optimization done to further reduce the load on the system without reducing the visual quality of the effects.

I advise you to purchase Entrenchment only if you are interested in the features it brings - spending money for a possible fix to your issue might not be that wise.

I have one more suggestion for you: download the Forge Tools 3 and use the developer .exe which you can find in there. Put the developer exe to the root folder of your Sins installation (where the vanilla exe is situated) and then try to load the mod using the dev. exe.

It should bring up a more specific error message prior to mini-dump. You should see a bunch of error messages stating that some particle simulations need infiite lifetimes but have finite - those are irrelevant, they do not cause minidumps. Anything other than that, you can screenshot and post it either here or send it to me directly at mansh00ter@yahoo.com

I downloaded galaxy forge. The only .exe i found into it was the galaxyforge.exe so i supposed it is what you call the dev.exe. I copied it into the /programs/stardock games/sins of a solar empire folder. Then i tried to launch it, it failed (the program stop to run, according to vista), so i went back to the galaxy forge folder, try to run it and it doesn't work either but i don't think i have been doing anything wrong.

oups, i saw forge and immediatly think galaxy forge.

ok, i have that error message :

Failed to Create D3DX Effect 'C:\Users\François-Xavier\AppData\Local\Ironclad Games\Sins of a Solar Empire\Mods-v1.15\Volumetric1.12a\PipelineEffect\SetupDefaultStates.fx'...
(1,1): error X1507: failed to open source file: 'C:\Users\François-Xavier\AppData\Local\Ironclad Games\Sins of a Solar Empire\Mods-v1.15\Volumetric1.12a\PipelineEffect\SetupDefaultStates.fx'

then after i clicked on skip :

Failed to Create D3DX Effect 'C:\Users\François-Xavier\AppData\Local\Ironclad Games\Sins of a Solar Empire\Mods-v1.15\Volumetric1.12a\PipelineEffect\Error.fx'...
(1,1): error X1507: failed to open source file: 'C:\Users\François-Xavier\AppData\Local\Ironclad Games\Sins of a Solar Empire\Mods-v1.15\Volumetric1.12a\PipelineEffect\Error.fx'

and it continues with the same message but with another name files and it continues with a lot of name of files in pipeline effects, maybe all of these, i didn't check all names.

and then hat one, once the programm has crashed :

Particle Effect CapitalBuff_AntiMatterDetonate used for PlayPersistantAttachedEffect has finite lifetime but requires infinite lifetime

which continue with all the name of the files of the particule/buff folder

It ends with that one :

Assert @ c:\gs\main\CodeSource\GS/Render/Particle/ParticleEmitter.cpp(487)

m_ParticleMinStartLinearSpeed <= m_ParticleMaxStartLinearSpeed

and then my old frien minidump come and shot Sins.

I hope it would make you tell me "Ah, THATS problem, it is easy to fix !" but i suppose i shouldn't being too hopeful or i would be punish by the little devil hidden under my keyboard. 

The particle errors are tied to the Bailknight's Effects mod, however they do not cause minidumps nor, as far as I was able to ascertain during some more extansive gameplay sessions, performance issues. I plan to fix all of those with the next update of Volumatric which will also see some of those optimized for better overall performance.

The error RS-fx is having seems to be a rare issue some other people have been encountering, and is not tied to the mod as such, but (at least it seems that way) to the uncommon characters in the username (in Rs-fx's case "François-Xavier") which are not interpreted correctly. Check this thread for more info.

Suggested solutions in that thread are shortening the name of the mod folder and changing the username to something which uses common characters only. Excersize caution when changing your computer settings, though.

I checked the shader folder and all shaders are present, so that means the game has trouble finding them, probably because it can't read the folder and filename path correctly.

Failing everything, you can finally try to simply erase the "PipelineEffect" folder from the mod entirely. The mod should still be able to play, you will simply not see the enhanced shield effects (that's the only shader effect change Bailknight made as far as I know).

Let me know how it worked out!

SlugwormX, those errors are probably related to the Mad Scientist mod.

Tomorrow, maybe. I'm working on various puppet poses and textures right now.

Glad to have helped.

Update coming soon! I had to do some emergency maintenance on my computer, so it caused a slight delay.

Sorry, forgot to reply to this - theoretically you could have ships break up to individual and easily recognizable pieces, but that would require each and every ship to have its own explosion. Maybe best left for Volumetric 2.0

I am still hampered by not owning 3DSMax - I work in XSI - and there is no way to export game meshes, otherwise it would be a piece of cake to do some serious texture scorching in Z-Brush. Ah well.

On to the update - grab the Volumetric v1.13 here!

Changes include the new a and optimized flotsam system which greatly reduced the number of polygons and look better than the old one, Dynamic Battle System optimized particle effects for smoke trails (in vanilla only noticeable when ships move as usual) and Carnage in Space! Get your spacesuits on boys and girls, because that hole in the bulkhead doesn't look pre... oops, too late! Hehehe.

Glad you like it.

Actually, in preparation for the release of the Last Stand, I plan to revisit all of the Bailknight's original effects and tone them down a little bit. I think they do add a lot to the "shinyness" of the game because the vanilla effects look just too weak to me, and with all the shrapnel flying from impacts in the Volumetric, vanilla effects seem even weaker. But yeah, sometimes Bailknight's effects are a bit over the top, especially when you can't see the ship from all the explosions.

Also a note on Carnage in Space - currently all body models are the same, but future versions will likely see separate models for all races, because I can't have humanoids spilling out of the Xin ships instead of space squids, can I.

Does this latest work with Entrenchment v. 1,02?

Good Stuff A++  would download again.  Especially loving the Carnage™.