For the past 6 months I’ve been working on a project in 4.10 and recently decided to convert the project to 4.11. for multiple reasons.
I Launched 4.11, opened a copy of my project and now have a copy of my original project in 4.11. Everything seemed to transfer over just fine.
Then I noticed that some of my particle effects were not rendering correctly. For example, a “Fuel Trail” on a UFO pawn would literally freeze and stop trailing …and just render the frozen trail permanently… as the attached picture displays. The fuel trail should be constant and follow the pawn as in the 4.10 original version
Also, the “Engine” particle effect appeared to render stiff & pixelated as well…
I realized this only happens when entering “Immersive mode” (after pressing F11) These conflicts do not occur when the “Immersive mode” is not enabled. I can’t understand this behavior?
I understand that other people have experienced similar issues, but I couldn’t find an official resolve.
What can I do to recover the original functionality of my 4.10 project - in my new 4.11 Copy Project?
Recreating the project from scratch at this point would be an incredible undertaking …any help to save my project would be greatly appreciated…
Hi vicecore,
In order to reproduce your issue I need a few things. Could you upload a screen shot of your UFO particle system open in cascade. I’d like to get some information on what modules you used and how the effect is put together. Also is the particle system a component of the UFO or is it a separate actor?
Ed, really appreciate your assistance with this.
The particle system is a component of the UFO Pawn (Class BP) Both initially were migrated into my 4.10 project straight from the 4.10 “Content Examples” (UE4’s tutorial project)
The particle system has not been altered in any way - as I’m still a noob and haven’t experimented with Cascade as of yet. None the less, attached are the screen shots you have asked for.
Again this glitch only occurs in “Immersive Mode” (after pressing F11)
There are two things I have tried to resolve this issue:
- Migrated new 4.11 Content Example into the project, and deleted & replaced old particle systems. The problem Still persisted
2)Then I started a brand new 4.11 project and tried to just migrate in some important assets from the 4.11 copy project. This did not work either.
Hey Vicecore,
After going through our logs I found this bug report that sounds very similar to your issue. Unreal Engine Issues and Bug Tracker (UE-32522)
Unfortunately, this issue has been reviewed and is now backlogged. However, if you feel it is pressing enough you can up vote so that it may get attention in the future. You can also look at the Answer Hub post just to verify this is the same issue.GPU Particle System freezes in full screen in PIE - FX - Epic Developer Community Forums
I’m marking this Post as resolved but if this isn’t the same issue let me know by posting a comment!
Ed, this is exactly the issue I’ve encountered! UE-32522
I’m curious as to how the gentleman displayed in game (in Immersive Mode) the GPU & CPU effects. I would use the CPU rendering if I knew how, as a temporary resolve?
There is certainly a connection between the widget and this particle rendering issue - as I can see in by rebuild attempt in 4.11, when migrating my Class BP Assets from 4.10. But I can assure you & your staff it’s not just the “Text Block”. It’s the widget itself.
Once I add the widget, the problem occurs. Even when I remake a new widget from scratch right there in the 4.11 rebuild, the problem still happens - so long as my assets from 4.10 are involved in any rebuild attempt.
A fix would definitely be required - uncertain about continuing in this project (the 4.11 Conversion) until that happens.
For the record then, the only known resolve at this time - is completely rebuilding the project again in 4.11 or 4.12 …without migrating any Class BP assets from earlier versions of the engine. None the less, really appreciate your time helping me to identify this problem - hope you guys can fix it.
Report for this issue, UE-32522
Changing the Particle type from GPU to CPU is really easy! All you have to do is right click “GPU Sprites” and Delete Module. (See Screenshot)
NOTE: This may remove some module functionality but I doubt you will need any GPU specific functions. Actually I was going to recommend deleting the Global Vector Field module since you aren’t using it.
Also keep in mind that CPU particles are a little more costly so you may have to reduce the spawn rate but only if you notice a performance hit
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Great Info Ed, much appreciated …however I realized this is actually more serious than I thought. This conflict happens to me for any 4.11 / 4.12 project.
Initially I thought it was just because of the conversion - but I was wrong! If I use a widget in a 4.11 or 4.12 project - I’ll encounter this problem.
That leads me to slew of questions: A friend of mine started in 4.11 he doesn’t have this issue. I have one of his projects running on my PC and this does not occur. Could it be plug ins? unfortunately more confused than before…
Hi Vicecore,
EDIT
After doing a lot of testing I found that the substance plugin caused this issue. I was only able to consistently reproduce this issue when I created a project with substance (could be any plug-in I just didn’t test others) then disabled substance and restarted the project. Enabling substance and restarting a project will break particles as well.
I was able to fix this issue simply by making any change to the particle effect regarding the modules. Either add a new module or emitter. You can then keep/delete the module and the particle effect should be fixed. Until you enable or disable a plug in(substance) again.
Let me know if that helps,
Hey Ed, I did everything you said to do. I saw your earlier answer as well - I removed the substance plugin (I have no other plugins) and uninstalled 4.11.
Then I reinstalled 4.11 and recreated the “Content Example 4.11” (so that substance would not be required for it)
Then I launched a brand new 4.11 template and added particle effect migrated from the new content examples 4.11 “P_vectorfieldglobal” to my players head inside his BP.
I then created a new widget (added a progress bar and text) no binding or anything - and in level bp, EventBeginPlay - create widget - add to viewport.
I got the same result particles freeze up - also corners & top of the screen were distorted (which I’ve also read about before)
This time around - substance was completely disabled, and still the same issue - as soon as that widget becomes visible on screen
I also did what you said - open Cascade - added new module. Tested it - same problem. Then deleted the module - tested it - same problem
Your time and help with is appreciated greatly - but I can’t seem to launch any project in 4.11 without this happening - and I don’t know what to do about it
Ed - just wanted to confirm a few things with you as I spent all night testing…
I’ve eliminated “substance” from the equation completely by removing it and then uninstalling & reinstalling 4.11
I then started a new 4.11 template, created a widget with progress bar only - and in the level BP EventBeginPlay - Create Widget - Add to Viewport. Didn’t bind anything yet - no interface, etc
Then I added a particle as a component of the player character inside it’s BP. The particle system is straight from the starter content “P_sparks”
When I press F11 to enter “Immersive Mode” the same problems persisted. Substance can’t be the reason why this happening - I can confidently tell you.
When I open Cascade - and add/delete/alter a module …even though this eliminates the problem for you - it doesn’t for me! …not sure why
Bottom line is - I can’t use 4.11 or 4.12 until this issue is resolved.
I appreciate all your time and testing looking into this matter for me, so I just wanted to get back to you with my outcome on this… any other suggestions?
I’d like to report an update in regard to this issue: UE-32522
Anyone who may be experiencing this should know - that today I learned that when you cook the game and run it, all particle effects render perfectly fine in full screen!!
The Bottom Line: If you experience this glitch, you can rest easy knowing that it’s just an in-engine glitch and it won’t affect the final product.
Hope this helps others experiencing this problem - and staff can use this info to reassure them.
