Good thinking, and yes, it does have a parent, but no, I never free the parent during the game, and I free the particle system completely before freeing the parent.
Maybe Particle Candy just plain doesn't like you using parents? I can't see why it would matter providing you don't parent the emitter to something and then free the parent, but I'll try just adding a little function that repositions the emitter at the position and rotation of the parent instead of actually parenting it. Worth a try, I suppose, though I haven't managed to find a way to provoke the error again and I've been trying everything.
Maybe Particle Candy just plain doesn't like you using parents? I can't see why it would matter providing you don't parent the emitter to something and then free the parent, but I'll try just adding a little function that repositions the emitter at the position and rotation of the parent instead of actually parenting it. Worth a try, I suppose, though I haven't managed to find a way to provoke the error again and I've been trying everything.