diff --git a/MUNGA_L4/L4PARTICLES.cpp b/MUNGA_L4/L4PARTICLES.cpp
index 234905d..dc22eec 100644
--- a/MUNGA_L4/L4PARTICLES.cpp
+++ b/MUNGA_L4/L4PARTICLES.cpp
@@ -249,14 +249,51 @@ void ParticleEmitter::Execute()
 	}
 }
 
+//
+// Drop everything bound to the device we were last given.
+//
+// Null-safe, and it clears what it drops. Neither was true before: this
+// runs on the device-lost path ahead of a Reset, where a texture that
+// never loaded (a missing VIDEO\particles.png is enough) left one of
+// these NULL and took the Reset down with it, and a released pointer
+// left in place is a dangling one the moment anything looks again.
+//
 void ParticleEngine::Destroy()
 {
-	mVertBuffer->Release();
-	mParticleTexture->Release();
+	if (mVertBuffer != NULL)
+	{
+		mVertBuffer->Release();
+		mVertBuffer = NULL;
+	}
+	if (mParticleTexture != NULL)
+	{
+		mParticleTexture->Release();
+		mParticleTexture = NULL;
+	}
+	//
+	// The paint paths test this before touching anything, so clearing it
+	// makes the gap between a Destroy and the next Initialize safe.
+	//
+	mDevice = NULL;
 }
 
 void ParticleEngine::Initialize(LPDIRECT3DDEVICE9 device)
 {
+	//
+	// Whatever is still held belongs to the PREVIOUS device, and holding
+	// it kept that device alive. A fresh renderer is built per mission,
+	// so a new device used to arrive here while the old one's vertex
+	// buffer (D3DPOOL_DEFAULT) and texture still referenced it -
+	// ~DPLRenderer's release never reached zero and the whole device
+	// survived the race that made it, back buffer and depth buffer and
+	// all. That is one leaked render target per race.
+	//
+	// The device-lost path already released before re-initialising; this
+	// is the same contract for the case where the device is not lost but
+	// replaced.
+	//
+	Destroy();
+
 	mDevice = device;
 	memset(mInstalledEffects, 0, sizeof(mInstalledEffects));
 
diff --git a/MUNGA_L4/L4VIDEO.cpp b/MUNGA_L4/L4VIDEO.cpp
index 03aee1a..c340e9d 100644
--- a/MUNGA_L4/L4VIDEO.cpp
+++ b/MUNGA_L4/L4VIDEO.cpp
@@ -3605,6 +3605,16 @@ DPLRenderer::~DPLRenderer()
 	// the next race of the single-binary loop - drop them with the device
 	d3d_OBJECT::FlushTextureCache();
 
+	//
+	// The particle engine is one of those caches and was missed. Its
+	// vertex buffer is D3DPOOL_DEFAULT and its texture belongs to this
+	// device, so while they were held the release below never reached
+	// zero: every race left a whole live device behind it, and the next
+	// race's Initialize was the only thing that ever let one go. Drop
+	// them here and the device dies with the mission that made it.
+	//
+	ParticleEngine::Destroy();
+
 	SAFE_RELEASE(mDevice);
 	SAFE_RELEASE(gD3D);
 	//STUBBED: DPL RB 1/14/07