koobas.hobune.stream
Scriptable Objects, how to force Include in Compile / Build without referencing it in the scene?
Hi there, as the title states I'm trying to:
"Include a scriptable object in compiling / not lose it upon compiling without referencing it in the scene."
Here's my situation. I have an EventManager and an AchievementManager Singleton, in the form of Scriptable Objects. I use them in the scene with regular AgEventManager.Instance calls. However, if I do not have the object referenced in the scene, upon loading the project and playing for the first time or when testing a Build, I can't find the singletons.
If I do have them referenced in the scene, everything is fine, it's just that I'd rather not if possible. :)
If you have any idea, please let me know below, it'd be much appreciated!
Looks: 
Simple reference holder solution (that I don't want): 
Scriptable Object Singleton Code:
using UnityEngine;
// ===================================================================================
public class AgScriptableSingleton<T> : ScriptableObject where T : ScriptableObject
{
protected static T m_instance;
// ===============================================================================
public static T Instance
{
get
{
_fillInstance();
return m_instance;
}
}
// ===============================================================================
private static void _fillInstance()
{
if( !m_instance )
{
T[] instances = Resources.FindObjectsOfTypeAll<T>();
if( instances.Length > 0 )
{
m_instance = instances[ 0 ];
}
}
if( !m_instance )
{
#if UNITY_EDITOR
m_instance = AgScriptableObjectUtility.CreateAsset<T>();
#else
Debug.LogWarning( "[AgWarning] Cannot use scriptable objects outside of the editor, so the Instance MUST exist beforehand." );
#endif
}
}
}
Relative Posts:
http://answers.unity3d.com/questions/156124/are-all-scriptableobject-assets-included-in-the-bu.html
http://ivanozanchetta.com/gamedev/unity3d/unity-serialization-behind-scriptableobject/
https://www.reddit.com/r/Unity3D/comments/35kjr3/where_do_instances_of_scriptable_objects_go/
Anything included in a folder named Resources is included in your build. Otherwise, anything that is not referenced (even indirectly) by a scene in your build settings will be stripped from the build. You can read more here, but in general use of the Resources folder is discouraged.
I would recommend you continue to include a reference to your singleton (e.g. on some manager GameObject in your scene) and register the singleton in its OnEnable() callback rather than using Resources.FindObjectsOfTypeAll<T>().
protected virtual void OnEnable()
{
// maybe log a warning here if instance is not null
m_instance = this;
}
The scriptable objects are included in the resources folder. Although when not referenced by the scene, they aren't initially loaded / compiled regardless.
Thank you for the advice though, if no viable solution arises I'll try to avoid the scenario with resources altogether!
In that case, the standard approach is to use Resources.Load() to find it, rather than Resources.FindObjectsOfTypeAll<T>(), as the latter method only returns objects that have already been loaded (per the documentation), while the former will actually load something at the specified path. That said, using this method is still discouraged as noted above.
