FAQ

[runevision]

Note: We moved the FAQ to this thread:
** Improved Prefabs Introduction & FAQ **

[laurentlavigne]

@runevision

Can we get back the ability to edit Prefabs directly in the Project Browser?

Yes - https://forum.unity.com/threads/improved-prefabs-workflow-critique.560539/#post-3763303

[TJHeuvel-net]

@runevision

Can we get back the ability to edit Prefabs directly in the Project Browser?
No, this is not viable. Some technical changes were needed in the Prefabs back-end in order to be able to robustly support nesting. These changes mean that Prefabs are technically imported assets, and this in turn means that they can’t be edited directly. Prefab Mode is the new way to edit Prefab Assets. Compared to the old workflow of editing directly in the Project Browser, Prefab Mode lets you edit objects at any depth, and lets you visually see what you’re doing in the Scene View too.

That is a big regression in my opinion , and others seem to agree. In short; you hardly ever want to edit a prefab in isolation, being able to quickly peek at values is a must and we cannot do without multi-edit. I do hope Unity solves this hard problem in the future and restores old functionality that we rely on.

Would it at least be possible to allow us to override the Prefab Importer Drawer, as we can do with many others? I’ve tried this already but couldnt get it to work, it would alow us to bring back some functionality that we need for our project.

[Baste]

I’m working on an override for the PrefabImporterDrawer. It’s a bit of a hack - since PrefabImporter is private, I have to reflect in and insert a type into the list of valid inspectors for types. Yesterday I managed to replace the inspector you get when you select a prefab with a new inspector containing a label saying “lololol”, next step is to apply @hunterofakara 's solution to that inspector.

This is a big regression, and as we’re discovering, and it seems like

@runevision

No, this is not viable.

simply isn’t the case? Like right now it seems to be pretty easy to implement, though there could of course be something strange we’re not noticing.

[chrisk]

There two big issues I’m having.

1. As many mentioned, peeking prefab is impossible and I must take a screenshot to compare two prefabs. Is this a joke?
2. I don’t want to save the scene in order to peek prefab. I may be testing something temporarily and I don’t want to save the scene. Why do I have to save the scene just to peek at the prefab parameters?? I’m just speechless how they ever thought of this horrible workflow.

To me, above regressions feel like a joke. Is this what we waited many many years? If Unity told us this was what Unity envisioned, we would probably never wanted Unity to touch the prefab.

[quote]
No, this is not viable.
[/quote] Are you sure? It feels like Unity just slapping our faces and saying “Stop crying and eat this!”

I don’t know if Unity has any UX guy/team internally. I think not! otherwise, it’s impossible to have the editor works and feels the same for 10 years with many functional workflow flaws. If there is, Unity need to fire him/team immediately and find someone professional. He/they are trying to ruin Unity.

What I want is simple. There should be a custom prefab editor instead sharing the scene view. You should be able to edit the prefab from the sceneview or from the custom editor. Why is Unity always against having more custom editors? Multi-monitor is now pretty much the standard and we have much larger screen estate than 10 years ago.
Is it because Unity employees all work on a MacBook with small screens? thus, trying to keep the number of viewers to the minimum? Regardless, the current workflow is not very user friendly.

I don’t care what it takes to make it work but please make it work. When you start a project as important as this, you should always have the workflow streamed out first and figure out the implementation details, but it seems you are working backwards; figure out what is possible and not possible currently and then work around it. If there really is no way to fix it, it’s probably time to start Unity v.Next. no joke.

I would feel very ashamed if I were them. Some fundamental design flows overshadow all the good work they have done. And I’m sorry but I had to say it for a better future.

Thanks.

[Mads-Nyholm]

FYI: We are currently investigating different options for showing the root GameObject in the Inspector for Prefab Assets.

[Mads-Nyholm]

@chrisk

I don’t want to save the scene in order to peek prefab.

You do not need to save the main scene(s) when entering Prefab Mode. The main scenes stay in memory with whatever state they have when opening a Prefab, so when you exit Prefab Mode the main scenes should have the same state.
Otherwise please elaborate on your setup.