Deep clone a gameobject

Questions & Answers
1

I tried searching around for this, but I wasn’t able to find an answer.

I have a gameobject with a custom component attached (C# script). This script has several variables that have been set previously (Lists, booleans, etc). I need to make a clone of it.

Now, when I Instantiate a new object from this one, I have noticed that none of the variables from the original are copied over; the component is in a fresh state in the new one.

Is there a way to perform a deep clone of a gameobject? A clone where the state of every attached component is identical to the original, including members?

EDIT:

Here is some example code to demonstrate the issue (the original code is far too verbose)

public class FooBar : Monobehaviour {
    private HashSet<uint> hashSet;

    public void Awake() {
        hashSet = new HashSet<uint();
    }

    public void SomeMethod() {
        hashSet.Add(12345);
    }
}


// code in some other class
gameObjectWithFooBarComponent.SomeMethod();
GameObject go = Instantiate(gameObjectWithFooBarComponent);

If I set a breakpoint in the code in the Awake() method, hashSet is null before assigning it a new hashSet. I want it to have a single element “12345”, which is what the object I cloned from has.

2

are the variables set at runtime?
In the editor you have to assign gameobject itself rather than a prefab to the instantiating script…
this will copy the current variable values at runtime.

3

Awake gets called on an object as it is instantiated.

You’re calling SomeMethod on the original object modifying its data then proceeding to instantiate a copy of it. Then the newly instantiated copy is calling Awake and re-initializing the list, losing your values in the process.

Try this:

public class FooBar : Monobehaviour {
     public HashSet<uint> hashSet = new HashSet<uint();
 
     public void SomeMethod() {
         hashSet.Add(12345);
     }
 }

Update: Actually, aside from what I mentioned above, Unity will not copy over private or protected members when you create a new copy. It will only copy public members, which makes total sense. You might need to rethink what you are doing vs what you are trying to accomplish.