How to Fix GameMaker Particles Drawing Over or Under the Wrong Instances

Legacy particle systems use a separate depth value that does not follow instance depth, causing wrong layering. Setting the system depth or using layers fixes the order. Here is how.

How to fix it

1. Set the system depth

Call part_system_depth(sys, depth) with a value that places the effect correctly relative to your instances; lower depth draws on top, matching GameMaker's depth rules.

2. Prefer layer-based systems

In modern GameMaker use part_system_create_layer(layer, ...) so the system lives on a named layer and sorts with everything else on that layer automatically.

3. Keep depth updated for followers

If the system follows an instance whose depth changes (e.g. a y-sorted character), update the system depth each step so the effect keeps tracking the right layer.

Catching the ones you can't reproduce

The hardest version of this to fix is the one you can't reproduce — it only happens on a player's hardware, OS, driver, or save state, under conditions that simply aren't present on your machine. A report that says “it crashed” or “it froze” gives you nothing to act on, so the bug survives release after release while quietly costing you players.

Automatic error capture closes that gap. Each failure arrives with its full stack trace, the device and OS, the build number, and a breadcrumb trail of what the player did right before it broke, so even a failure you have never seen becomes a specific, reproducible issue. Fold identical failures into one signature ranked by how many players each hits, and your worklist sorts itself worst-first instead of arriving as a stream of vague complaints.

This is where a tool like Bugnet earns its place. Its SDK captures every GameMaker error automatically with the full stack trace plus device, OS, memory, build, and game-state context, folds duplicates into one grouped issue with an occurrence count, and ties each to the build it first appeared on — so you fix the problem that hurts the most players first and confirm it is gone when its signature disappears from the next release.