AU update and legacy Particular

[polieman]

After Effects just auto updated to 25.3 last night and I had all my settings migrate over. However now Particular isn't showing up in the Trapcode menu with the rest of the suite's plugins. All the Trapcode plugins including Particular are where they should be in the correct plugins folder but even thought the rest of the Trapcode plugins are showing in After Effects, Particular is somehow missing.

For context I am using a Legacy installer that I purchased in 2017. It has worked for me all these years with updated versions of After Effects and I never moved to the Red Giant subscription plan.

Has this happened to anyone else?

[Kevin-Monahan]

Hi @polieman,

Have you contacted Red Giant Support yet? What did they say? Let us know.

Thanks,
Kevin

[polieman]

Thanks for reaching out. I'll see if I can get in touch with them but I have to say I've tested this on 3 computers today. The issue cropped up on my main computer (1) with version 25.3 so I tried Particular on my laptop (2) with 25.3 and had the same issue. Then I tried on my old desktop (3) with 25.2.2 where Particular showed up in the Trapcode menu and worked properly. So the outlier seems to be version 25.3 across the board, and just with Particular. The rest of my Trapcode installs still show up.

[nishu_kush]

Please let us know how it goes. Do you mind letting us know the OS or all three computers you tested on? There is not much that we can do in this case, but I will try to investigate what's happening. 

Thanks,
Nishu

[polieman]

I reached out to Maxon, just waiting to hear back.

Comp 1 (Desktop AE 25.3) is Windows 11

Comp 2 (Laptop AE 25.3) is Windows 11

Comp 3 (Old Desktop 25.2.2) is Windows 10. Unable to upgrade to 11

[polieman]

Maxon responded and was of no help. The response appeared to be AI generated and lengthy-for-no-reason but as expected, they don't offer support for any legacy Trapcode plugins and want to roll me into their $600+/yr Red Giant subscribtion for the one plugin of theirs that I use.

I did some more troubleshooting on my end. Installed AE 24.6.5 on both WIndows 11 machines, and the full Trapcode Suite functions properly on both. So this has to be something with the 25.3 build.

Does Maxon contribute code or whatever to aide in this After Effects updates?

[ahrenb76834656]

This makes me sooo livid.  I own a liscense to use this plugin.  I have NEVER had it be unstable.  And now Adobe is blocking it because they have a handshake with Maxon to try and sell more subscriptions.  Absolute BS.  Fix this Adobe.  Fix it now.

[Joy Raisinghani]

Hello @polieman 

Thank you for reporting the issue, and we sincerely apologize for the inconvenience you're experiencing.

Maxon Trapcode Particular version 4.x was known to be highly unstable on Windows, leading to frequent crashes and a poor user experience. These issues have since been addressed in the latest versions of the plugin. To ensure better overall stability, Maxon and Adobe made the decision to block the unstable 4.x version of Trapcode Particular in After Effects 25.3. 

Thank you for your understanding.

[polieman]

You get no understanding from me. I never had it crash.

[polieman]

I don't understand the grift. Give me my one stupid plugin.

[polieman]

Make it work again. This tactic will not make my buy more subscriptions.

[polieman]

Definitely not going to do that. I'm just not going to use it anymore. Out of all the old Trapcode plugins, this is the one I use the most but I rarely use it at all anymore for the jobs I currently work on. I JUST SO HAPPENED TO BE WORKING ON THAT RARE PARTICULAR JOB JUST AS ADOBE/MAXON DECIDED TO MAKE MY PERPETUALLY LICENSED PLUGIN NOT WORK ANYMORE! So I caught them AND THEY ADMITTED TO MAKING IT NOT WORK so they can easily switch it back.

[MickSyl]

This is apalling. My legacy version of Trapcode Particular has NEVER been unstable in any version of After Effects since I installed it in 2020.  Why on earth would you block it? Maxon haven't supported it for years, which is fair enough. But why is Adobe blocking a plugin that works fine? if people are having problems, they don't have to use it. But to block something that works fine, which I have paid,  for because somebody at Adobe thinks it is unstable is ridiculous! FYI, I am in the middle of a project that makes heavy use of Particular and I have wasted the whole of today trying to figure out why it dissappeared from my FX list. This is costing me money! Are you saying that I will have to stick with AE 25.2 for ever, or never use my perpetual licenceagain???

[polieman]

I haven't received a correct answer to my answer yet. I can't check off a correct answer unless Adobe makes Particular function for me again.

[lizenz 01a19815092]

No understanding here. Blocking a plugin without any information for the user or option to re-enable it.

[ahrenb76834656]

You shall receive ZERO understanding.  This plugin works- and you are trying to sell Maxons subscriptions.  Disgusting Adobe.

[Flix_799]

This is one of the biggest lies. Shame on you both from Adobe and Maxon.

Maybe this is another case for the court.

[Flix_799]

If a plugin like Trapcode Particular worked fine with a legally purchased perpetual license, but was intentionally blocked via a software update (eg After Effects or the plugin itself), it crosses the line into technical incompatibility. This is an active disable. Rather than a plugin being “naturally deprecated” due to API changes, new standards, or new OSes, we're talking about a programmatic decision to prevent the plugin from loading — which has all the characteristics of forcing a user to switch to a subscription.

:balance_scale: Why is it problematic:

This ignores the contractual relationship with the user who purchased the perpetual license.

Trust in buying "once and for all" is being eroded.

This opens the door to legal and reputational consequences, especially if the software is used in professional work and affects the delivery of projects.

💬 Honestly? Users don't ask for the software to work forever — just to not have the rug pulled out from under their feet for no technical reason. If the old Particular was running, leave it running as long as the OS and host application allow it. If one day it stops working due to actual incompatibility, that's fine. But inserting a "kill switch" is a completely different story.

[lizenz 01a19815092 · Accepted solution]

I found a way, but it's quite hacky. This one works on Windows:

• Close After Effects
• Find the file "c:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe After Effects 2025\Support Files\FLT.dll"
• Make a backup copy!
• Open "FLT.dll" in a Hex-Editor (I used HxD, you might need administrator privileges)
• Search for "Particular", change to "_articular" (do not insert/delete any characters!)
• Save the file

We might have to redo this after each update or until somebody decides to encrypt the file 😕

[MickSyl]

Hey lizenz, BRILLIANT!

[Todd_Morgan]

❤️

[roguemonkey]

Just faced with this now after getting round to updating After Effects.

Firstly, absolutely appalled that this has been done, shameful from Adobe and Maxon.

From working on a project with no issues yesterday, to being blocked today mid project.  Disgraceful!

Got to be some sort of Trading Standards route for complaint there.

Thanks for posting this, I've tried searching for Particular but the seasrch doesn't find it.  Anyone else having the same issues?

If I can't resolve, I'll have to roll back the latest Ae update and work out wher to go from there.

[roguemonkey]

It's fine!  Got it!  Although still shame on Adobe and Maxon!

[Dave Bode]

Brilliant! Thanks so much for this!

[Min_Kim]

this doesn't work for me.

It’s really disappointing to see how Adobe and Maxon are handling this.

Customers who paid for perpetual licenses are now locked out, and it honestly feels like Adobe and Maxon are working hand in hand to push everyone into subscriptions.

This is misleading to long-time users and erodes trust.