particleSystem.Play works when playing the game within unity but not when i build a windows exe or html?

I have a generic function that I use to play most particles in my game, and it works everytime, except for with this one effect :(

The only truly notable thing with this effect is that it has the highest particle count and emission rate out of all my effects. Anyway, when I run my game in unity, it works on every playthrough, and I don't mean in scene view. However it never works in exe or html builds of the gam :(

Are there limitations to shuriken particle system, I'm not suffering any performance hits when its working within unity.

Its not set to play on wake, and its not looping, but the same can be said for all my effects. I get no errors in console and my debug log returns name of particleSystem being played.