diff --git a/content/VIDEO/particles.png b/content/VIDEO/particles.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a3c401c
Binary files /dev/null and b/content/VIDEO/particles.png differ
diff --git a/engine/MUNGA_L4/L4PARTICLES.cpp b/engine/MUNGA_L4/L4PARTICLES.cpp
index 3cdd4fc..4421e48 100644
--- a/engine/MUNGA_L4/L4PARTICLES.cpp
+++ b/engine/MUNGA_L4/L4PARTICLES.cpp
@@ -320,10 +320,11 @@ void ParticleEngine::CreateDeviceObjects(LPDIRECT3DDEVICE9 device)
 			<< std::endl << std::flush;
 	}
 
-	// NB: VIDEO\particles.png has never shipped (verified 2026-07-29: absent
-	// from the tree, the RES, and all of git history), so this load has
-	// failed on every machine since the engine was written and particles
-	// draw untextured.  The failure is expected + logged once; rendering
+	// NB: VIDEO\particles.png SHIPS as of 2026-07-29 (recovered by cyd,
+	// issue #79 -- 128x128 RGBA).  Before that it had never shipped (absent
+	// from the tree, the RES, and all of git history), so this load failed
+	// on every machine since the engine was written and particles drew
+	// untextured -- which is therefore what the 1995 pods displayed.  The failure is expected + logged once; rendering
 	// proceeds without the texture (SetTexture(0, NULL) = the shipped look).
 	hr = D3DXCreateTextureFromFile(mDevice, L"VIDEO\\particles.png", &mParticleTexture);
 	if (FAILED(hr))
@@ -556,10 +557,10 @@ void ParticleEngine::RenderParticles(const D3DXMATRIX *view_matrix, Scalar timeS
 	ExecuteParticles(view_matrix, timeSlice);
 
 	// (#35: the buffer is legitimately NULL while the device is lost.  The
-	// TEXTURE is deliberately NOT part of this gate: VIDEO\particles.png has
-	// never existed -- not in the tree, the RES, or git history -- so
-	// mParticleTexture has been NULL on every machine since the engine was
-	// written, and SetTexture(0, NULL) drawing untextured quads IS the
+	// TEXTURE is deliberately NOT part of this gate: VIDEO\particles.png was
+	// recovered only in 2026 (issue #79) -- before that mParticleTexture was
+	// NULL on every machine since the engine was written, and
+	// SetTexture(0, NULL) drawing untextured quads WAS the
 	// shipped look.  Gating on it would silently disable all billboard
 	// particles everywhere.)
 	if (!mDevice || mVertBuffer == NULL || mTotalParticleCount <= 0)