Start/Stop Emitting Particle System Component

I have a UParticleSystemComponent attached to my main actor which leaves behind a trail. I’ve gotten it working, but I haven’t been able to figure out how to make it emit/stop emitting on command, so I can have the trail only show when the character is moving above a certain speed, or when they use their dash.

UParticleSystemComponent.DeactivateSystem() and ActivateSystem() don’t work in this regard, as far as I can tell. Pausing my game after DeactivateSystem() has been called and looking at my actor shows the particle system component gone.

Nevermind. Turned out I needed to use ActivateSystem(true) to make it work, where the default value when calling ActivateSystem() is false.

Edit: I ran into some issues with activate/deactivate methods when I would call activate() when the system was already active. Doing so would deactivate the system. I’ve since starting using the public variable “bSupressSpawning” and it’s been working much better.

Could you clarify exactly what you did to get this to work. I’m trying to create the exact same effect where I have a particle emitter activate when the player is moving and deactivate when they’re stopped. I looked under the Required node on the particle system and couldn’t find anything about ActivateSystem

For those who want to spawn a particle, check: UParticleSystemComponent | Unreal Engine Documentation

I was trying to spawn a UParticleSystem, but i wanted a UParticleSystemComponent.