Damager Powerup issue - NullReferenceException: Object reference not set to an instance of an object

Questions & Answers
1

Hi all, I am currently creating a damage powerup, so when my player collides with an object it will increase the damage essentially. I have used this method for other powerups but for some reason it is not linking this one.

My powerup code is

using System.Collections;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using UnityEngine;

public class damagePowerup : MonoBehaviour {

	public int damageIncrease = 10;

	void Update () {
		gameObject.transform.Rotate (new Vector3(0, 30, 0) * Time.deltaTime);
	}

	public void OnTriggerEnter(Collider other) {

		if (other.tag == "Player") {
			Debug.Log("Damage Powerup");
			PlayerShooting NewDamage = other.gameObject.GetComponent<PlayerShooting> ();
			NewDamage.damagePerShot = damageIncrease;
			transform.position = new Vector3(10000, 10000, 100000);
			StartCoroutine ("WaitTime", NewDamage);
		}
	}

	public IEnumerator WaitTime(PlayerShooting playerDamage) {
		yield return new WaitForSeconds (5);
		playerDamage.damagePerShot = 100;
		Destroy (gameObject);
	}
}

and my PlayerShooting script that I am accessing is

using UnityEngine;

public class PlayerShooting : MonoBehaviour
{
	public int damagePerShot = 20;
	public float timeBetweenBullets = 0.15f;
	public float range = 100f;


	float timer;
	Ray shootRay;
	RaycastHit shootHit;
	int shootableMask;
	ParticleSystem gunParticles;
	LineRenderer gunLine;
	AudioSource gunAudio;
	Light gunLight;
	float effectsDisplayTime = 0.2f;


	void Awake ()
	{
		shootableMask = LayerMask.GetMask ("Shootable");
		gunParticles = GetComponent<ParticleSystem> ();
		gunLine = GetComponent <LineRenderer> ();
//		gunAudio = GetComponent<AudioSource> ();
	}


	void Update ()
	{
		timer += Time.deltaTime;

		if(Input.GetButton ("Fire1") && timer >= timeBetweenBullets && Time.timeScale != 0)
		{
			Shoot ();
		}

		if(timer >= timeBetweenBullets * effectsDisplayTime)
		{
			DisableEffects ();
		}
	}


	public void DisableEffects ()
	{
		gunLine.enabled = false;
	}


	public void Shoot ()
	{
		timer = 0f;

//		gunAudio.Play ();
		gunParticles.Play ();


		gunLine.enabled = true;
		gunLine.SetPosition (0, transform.position);

		shootRay.origin = transform.position;
		shootRay.direction = transform.forward;

		if(Physics.Raycast (shootRay, out shootHit, range, shootableMask))
		{
			EnemyHealth enemyHealth = shootHit.collider.GetComponent <EnemyHealth> ();
			if(enemyHealth != null)
			{
				enemyHealth.TakeDamage (damagePerShot, shootHit.point);
			}
			gunLine.SetPosition (1, shootHit.point);
		}
		else
		{
			gunLine.SetPosition (1, shootRay.origin + shootRay.direction * range);
		}
	}

}

The error I am getting when playing the game is
NullReferenceException: Object reference not set to an instance of an object
damagePowerup.OnTriggerEnter (UnityEngine.Collider other) (at Assets/Scripts/damagePowerup.cs:18)

I do not understand why it doesn’t like this line of code as I am accessing the script, getting the variable I want and added a new value?

If someone could help me out that would be great!

2

It’s actually telling you what the error is! All you need to do is look what those variables are at that line. What I can tell from here is that your “NewDamage” variable is null. And the reason it’s being null is, the other object you are getting from trigger does not have “PlayerShooting” component.

3

PlayerShooting NewDamage = other.gameObject.GetComponentInChildren ();

Was needed, due to the script being on a child element of the player