Debug key event triggers node but custom event does not??

Hello, im really trying to solve this bizarre problem but nothing so far has worked.

In my hud widget i have a custom event that fires when my vehicle’s gear changes. The node it triggers is a play animation node for a widget animation.

This worked fine before and stopped randomly.

The play animation node successfully receives execution but no longer plays the animation.

When i use a debug key event the animation plays successfully. So this is impossible.

I put a print string after the play node, and for the custom event, sometimes the print string node fires, and sometimes it doesnt.

In the image, the custom event node (top) is the thing that won’t successfully trigger the animstion node, and the debug key event (bottom) successfully plays the animstion every time.

Im at my witts end. None of this makes sense.

I should also say that the debug key mskes the print string node after the play animstion node fire twice. I highly doubt thats the reason it works, but i tried using a DoN node set to 2 and yet it only sends one execution trigger.

Guys i really hope you can help because im out of forums to post on and experts to ask.

Very much thanks to all in advance