Timer going below 0 but nothing happens. PLS HELP [SOLVED]

So I have this game where enemy units can get dots. (sofar only damage dots exist)
Those dots have a tickrate and a dotTimer float variable that counts down.

public interface IDot
{
    public void DotEffect(Unit unit);
}

this is the interface so i can cicle through all dots in the unit and use DotEffect(Unit unit)

public class Dot : MonoBehaviour, IDot
{
    public Element element;
    public float dotTimer;
    public float tickrate;
    public float tickrateResetValue;

    public virtual void DotEffect(Unit unit)
    {
       
    }

    private void Update()
    {
        //Debug.Log("Update");
        dotTimer -= Time.deltaTime;
        //Debug.Log(timer);
        tickrate -= Time.deltaTime;
    }
}

this is the basic dot class that implements the interface
it also inherits from MonoBehaviour so i can use the update function and decrease the value of all the timers

public class DamageDot : Dot
{
    public int damage;

    public override void DotEffect(Unit unit)
    {
        //Debug.Log(timer);
        if (tickrate <= 0)
        {
            //Debug.Log("TICK");
            tickrate = tickrateResetValue;
            DamageCalculator.DamageCalculationForDot(unit, this);
        }
        //Debug.Log(dotTimer);
        if (dotTimer <= 0)
        {
            Debug.Log("timer <= 0");
            unit.dots.Remove(this);
            Destroy(this.gameObject);
        }
    }
}

this is the damagedot class… the section of → if(tickrate <= 0) works and the unit takes dot damage.
but the if(dotTimer <= 0) just doesent get executed. Im about to burst into tears. I have wasted all night on this and cant get it to work.

8534867--1139711--upload_2022-10-24_5-8-48.png
Some dots get the value below 0 and delete themselfs as expected… but some just go below 0 and keep going.

Pls help

Welcome to debugging! Here’s a super-easy way to get started:

You must find a way to get the information you need in order to reason about what the problem is.

Once you understand what the problem is, you may begin to reason about a solution to the problem.

What is often happening in these cases is one of the following:

  • the code you think is executing is not actually executing at all
  • the code is executing far EARLIER or LATER than you think
  • the code is executing far LESS OFTEN than you think
  • the code is executing far MORE OFTEN than you think
  • the code is executing on another GameObject than you think it is
  • you’re getting an error or warning and you haven’t noticed it in the console window

To help gain more insight into your problem, I recommend liberally sprinkling Debug.Log() statements through your code to display information in realtime.

Doing this should help you answer these types of questions:

  • is this code even running? which parts are running? how often does it run? what order does it run in?
  • what are the values of the variables involved? Are they initialized? Are the values reasonable?
  • are you meeting ALL the requirements to receive callbacks such as triggers / colliders (review the documentation)

Knowing this information will help you reason about the behavior you are seeing.

You can also supply a second argument to Debug.Log() and when you click the message, it will highlight the object in scene, such as Debug.Log("Problem!",this);

If your problem would benefit from in-scene or in-game visualization, Debug.DrawRay() or Debug.DrawLine() can help you visualize things like rays (used in raycasting) or distances.

You can also call Debug.Break() to pause the Editor when certain interesting pieces of code run, and then study the scene manually, looking for all the parts, where they are, what scripts are on them, etc.

You can also call GameObject.CreatePrimitive() to emplace debug-marker-ish objects in the scene at runtime.

You could also just display various important quantities in UI Text elements to watch them change as you play the game.

If you are running a mobile device you can also view the console output. Google for how on your particular mobile target, such as this answer or iOS: How To - Capturing Device Logs on iOS or this answer for Android: How To - Capturing Device Logs on Android

Another useful approach is to temporarily strip out everything besides what is necessary to prove your issue. This can simplify and isolate compounding effects of other items in your scene or prefab.

Here’s an example of putting in a laser-focused Debug.Log() and how that can save you a TON of time wallowing around speculating what might be going wrong:

When in doubt, print it out!™

Note: the print() function is an alias for Debug.Log() provided by the MonoBehaviour class.

Ty for answering quickly. I am already debugging for 5 hours now. As u can see from my codesnippets i have used Debug.logs everywhere but still cant find the bug.
Great post anyway. just read through it and will continue to find the bug with even more debugging stuff

OK, after lots of debugging and a sleepless night i found multiple bugs and the game works again

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