Particles Not Showing
The effect plays but nothing appears
Also known as: Niagara not showing · Niagara system invisible · Unity particle system not visible · Particles invisible · Particle effect not working · Niagara no particles
Quick answer
When particles do not appear, check the basics in this order: the system is active and playing, the spawn rate and lifetime are above zero, the emitter has a renderer, and the renderer has a working material. In Niagara, the Sprite or Mesh renderer needs a material and the emitter needs a spawn module. In Unity, the Particle System Renderer needs a material, and a pink one means the shader does not match the render pipeline.
How to fix it
Next look at culling and scale: bounds that are too small, a distance cull setting, a size that is zero or very small, or a camera that is too close. Check the material's blend mode and opacity, since fully transparent output is invisible. Test with a simple default material and a visible color to separate the effect logic from the material. In Unreal, also check scalability settings that disable effects on low quality levels.
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See also
Niagara
UE5 particle and VFX system
VFX Graph
Unity's GPU node-based particle system
Pink Materials in Unity
Magenta objects after switching render pipeline
Particles Disappear When the Camera Turns
Effects vanish at the edge of the screen
Blend Mode
How a material combines with what is behind it
Particle System
Spawns and animates many small elements