why do particle effects often keep going in the background when you pause a game while everything else is frozen in place?

Question

why do particle effects often keep going in the background when you pause a game while everything else is frozen in place?

In: 315

Answer 1

Particles kinda exist separate from the rest of game objects. Like you couldn’t have Skyrim render 1000 rocks without the game slowing down, but if you want 1000 sparkles on screen that’s fine, because they cheat to be their own thing with way simpler rules, even if they seem like they interact with things. Starting and stopping the system tends to look messed up, because they cheat by using formulas based on time passing and what the last particles did and if you stop that and have to restart it it gets all weird. So things just keep them running