Stars for scrolling shooter with CCParticleSystemQuad?

Question

My code for init function:

NSArray *starsArray = [NSArray arrayWithObjects:@"Stars1.plist", @"Stars2.plist", @"Stars3.plist", nil];
    for(NSString *stars in starsArray) {
        CCParticleSystemQuad *starsEffect = [CCParticleSystemQuad particleWithFile:stars];
        [self addChild:starsEffect z:-1];
    }

The problem is that these particles appear and fully fill the screen rectangle during few seconds. But I need the sky full of stars from the beginning.

Answer 1

According to the answer at cocos2d starting particles from a specific time in the future , you can manually update the particle system. Example in cocos2d-x:

CCParticleSystemQuad *particle = CCParticleSystemQuad::create("res/Particles/Stars1.plist");
for (int i = 0; i < 10; ++i) {
    particle->update(.1);
}

You may need to change the interval to suit the particles.