I need to know if there’s a performance efficient way to switch from one mesh in a particle emitter to a different one at runtime, preferably in blueprint, but I can arrange something with one of our programmers if C++ is needed.
Basically, I’m looking to create a bunch of “slicing” effects with similar directions and movement using different meshes. Right now all of the slices have their own particle system, but we’re having some serious issues with the weight of pre-loaded assets and I need a way to reduce the total amount of particle systems in the game. Being able to use a single asset with a mesh “parameter” I could switch depending on its use in blueprint would be excellent, but I haven’t found a way to do this easily.
I have found this workaround In Cascade how do I parameterize the mesh used for mesh emitting particles? - FX - Unreal Engine Forums , but I feel like it would significantly increase the weight of the particle system asset by forcing it to load all of those meshes in memory even if they are not being currently used. (correct me if I’m wrong)
If what I want to do is not possible in the current version of unreal, I’d be happy with any kind of alternate way to do this that would allow me not to have dozens of different emitters. (even non-particle based solutions would be good, but as I’d like to keep a range of variation to each slice while also having a relatively good amount of control on where the pieces are going. (so basically, preferably no pre-baked animation or destructible mesh.)