A Pd patch on Bela runs the same way as it would run on your computer when you close it and reopen it: messages sent via slider or other mouse actions won't persist, as they are not part of the pd file that is saved.
So, if your patch contains a [*~] without anything in the right outlet, only zeros will come out of it. If it has a slider into the right outlet and you don't somehow make the slider send out a message (e.g.: via a [loadbang]), then that also will only send out zeros. Btw, if you want to initialise a *~ and you are not sending a signal into the right inlet, it's best to use something like [*~ 0.6] .
Btw, what's the revision number of the Bela cape you are using for this project?