I’m trying to create a gameobject with some setup parameters. For a normal c# class you would set them as the arguments in the constructor. But that can’t be done with the instatiate method for a game object. So I’m trying somthing like this:
public void CreateSettlement(int x, int y)
{
Settlement newSettlement = Instantiate(settlement);
newSettlement.SetPosition(x, y);
}
The problem (I think) is that the game component with the SetPosition method isn’t created in the Instantiate method fast enough, so I get a NullRef error when newSettlement.SetPosition(x, y); is called.
Any ideas on how to fix this? It seems like a somewhat typical problem.
For starters, ensure your settlement variable is set.
Next I would check to see if you get anything out of the instantiate by assigning it to a more generic gameobject type. I usually assign to gameobjects myself then get the component I want from that.
If SetPosition is referencing a component on the GameObject you’re instantiating, have the GameObject get the component in Awake instead of Start.
Generally, it’s a good idea to have GameObjects initialize all of their own components in Awake, and reference components from other GameObjects in Start, because Awake runs before Start. This way, you avoid the conflict of referencing components from other GameObjects before they’ve been assigned.
I hope Unity adds this somewhere in their documentation at some point, because it’s a common use-case, and it’s pretty misleading for new users when they create new MonoBehaviour scripts for the first time and are told to initialize everything in Start, which inevitably leads to this issue.