# Line trace is inconsistent and doesn't work randomly

**URL:** <https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/line-trace-is-inconsistent-and-doesnt-work-randomly/2692497>\
**Category:** Blueprint\
**Tags:** Trace, line-trace, unreal-engine, question\
**Created:** [January 16, 2026, 2:22am UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/line-trace-is-inconsistent-and-doesnt-work-randomly/2692497 "2026-01-16T02:22:04Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![KMzuru](https://d1ap1mz92jnks1.cloudfront.net/user_avatar/forums.unrealengine.com/kmzuru/32/88707_2.png) [@KMzuru](https://forums.unrealengine.com/u/KMzuru)\
**Post date:** [January 16, 2026, 2:22am UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/line-trace-is-inconsistent-and-doesnt-work-randomly/2692497/1 "2026-01-16T02:22:04Z")

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I have an incredibly headache inducing, strange issue where a line trace that works most of the time, is very inconsistent and doesn’t work for seemingly no sound reason. It might be distance based but I can’t consistently replicate it from the same distance, as far as I can tell it doesn’t happen at further distances though. Don’t think it’s a framerate issue as it’s running well, I’ve tried to use different channels to no avail. Just not sure. Here’s an image of the trace below which ends at the actor you’re shooting’s location and starts from your position, and a video showing the issue, you can see when it goes green it has hit and when it doesn’t work it’s not like it’s hitting anything else, it returns negative. I’m using a notify to initiate the trace.

(edit, after more testing, it can also happen at further distances.)

 ![image](https://d3kjluh73b9h9o.cloudfront.net/original/4X/8/6/8/868c1fb1aeaabf036743a0245e1a9bb4be9807eb.png)

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![ClockworkOcean](https://d1ap1mz92jnks1.cloudfront.net/user_avatar/forums.unrealengine.com/clockworkocean/32/1169999_2.png) [@ClockworkOcean](https://forums.unrealengine.com/u/ClockworkOcean)\
**Post date:** [January 16, 2026, 8:26am UTC](https://forums.unrealengine.com/t/line-trace-is-inconsistent-and-doesnt-work-randomly/2692497/2 "2026-01-16T08:26:27Z")

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I’m guessing you’re trying to trace from the head there?

Notice that you’re always tracing to one location.

It’s much better to trace to a fixed distance in front of the head

 ![image](https://d3kjluh73b9h9o.cloudfront.net/original/4X/3/0/c/30c49811833b9340c7d5baf3e76f7e19135c9bbb.png)