UE 5.7 - Set Niagara Vector4 Array only works during Simulate?

I’m using a GPU Niagara Grid2D Simulation Stage to write to a Render Target.

The system works perfectly during PIE/Simulate, but not while evaluating in the editor or during Movie Render Queue.

What I’ve verified:

  • UE 5.7
  • GPU Compute Sim
  • Grid2D Collection
  • Simulation Stage = Always
  • Niagara Component active
  • Niagara Life Cycle Track added
  • Blueprint updates every Sequencer frame using a Repeater Event
  • Niagara Set Vector4 Array (User.LocationsAndSizes) is called every frame

Observed behaviour:

  • Simulate: Grid2D updates, Render Target updates, grass bends.
  • Outside Simulate: Render Target never updates.

I also tested:

  • Niagara Set Vector4 Array
  • immediately followed by
  • Niagara Get Vector4 Array

Inside Simulate this behaves as expected.

Outside Simulate it appears the array never becomes available.

Is UNiagaraDataInterfaceArrayFunctionLibrary::SetNiagaraArrayVector4 expected to work outside a simulated world, or are Array Data Interface updates only propagated while the Niagara Component is actively simulating?