Request: LoadAssetAsync using a 'Type t' instead of generic parameter.

Unity Engine
,
1

Apologies if this has been requested or discussed before.
I would like to see the addition of an overload to the LoadAsset family of methods, that adds a Type parameter rather than just the generic versions we have now.
For example, the new signature would be:

AsyncOperationHandle LoadAssetAsync(object key, Type type)

The reason why I would find this useful is when using addressables to load assets based on a kind of config file, where I specify the addressable path and also it’s C# type, something like

{
    name = Soldier
    hitpoints = 100
    icon = sprites/my_sprite.png
}

Yes, I know this is quite niche and yes, I know that there are quite a few workarounds. I could use reflection to invoke the generic method, I could get a list of all resource locations and select the right one… But I feel like I shouldn’t have to, especially since internally the generic method just does this:

var t = typeof(TObject);
if (t.IsArray)
    t = t.GetElementType();
// ...

And no, I can’t just do:

(Sprite)Addressables.LoadAssetAsync<UnityEngine.Object>("sprites/my_sprite.png")

because using Object as the parameter will cause it to be loaded as a Texture2D, which can’t be cast to a Sprite. There are other instances where an asset can exist as multiple types, so this is not a solution unfortunately.

I feel like this change to the API would bring it in line with other Unity generic methods, such as GetComponent<T>()
which has the equivalent

GetComponent(Type t)

Thanks for the consideration.

If anyone knows of a workaround that avoids reflection, or having to load all addresses, and only loads the exact asset of the exact type I want, please let me know.

2

It seems that I can use LoadResourceLocations to achieve my intended goal. It does still feel a little unnecessary, however, and makes me have to wait on two operations rather than one (not that it’s any slower, the code just doesn’t look as clean).

I still think that an overload to the LoadAssetAsync method would be a helpful and easy change to make.

3

How can LoadResourceLocations solve this problem? I can’t pass ResourceLocation.
ResourceType to generic method Addressables.LoadAssetAsync.