Restarting unity breaks game (BUG?)

Hey,

This has been happening for a couple days now. I feel inclined to submit it as a bug, but want to ensure it is one first before I do so.

I will be adding stuff to my game, everything works and tests well, and then all of a sudden I get NullReferenceException errors:

Even though I haven't even touched those scripts. Occasionally, adding and modifying animations in the animation pane causes this to happen.

I just restarted unity after saving my code, scene, and everything while it was all WORKING. I re-loaded Unity and it froze upon trying to open VisStudio 3x. I had to restart my PC.

When I reloaded Unity, it was able to open VisStudio. I played my game and got the above two errors, even though they were not there prior to me closing unity.

I swear this happens every few hours. Unity picks a line in my code and throws a NullReferenceException. I have attached my code (a simplified form) so you can see that I'm indeed referencing an object.

Any ideas? Really frustrating.

     private CharacterController _charCont;    
     private Camera viewCamera;
 void Start()
     {
         _charCont = GetComponent<CharacterController>();
         viewCamera = Camera.main;
     }
 
 void Update()
 {
 movelisten();
 cameraFollow();
 }
 
     void moveListen()
     {
 
         //move code up here removed
         _charCont.Move(movement);  // *****ERROR THROWN HERE
 
     }
 
     void cameraFollow()
     {
         float charPosX = transform.position.x;
         float charPosZ = transform.position.z;
         float cameraOffset = 18.0f;
 
         viewCamera.transform.position = new Vector3(charPosX, cameraOffset, charPosZ);  // ****ERROR THROWN HERE AS WELL
 
     }

HERE IS THE FULL CODE, IN CASE IT HELPS.

 using UnityEngine;
 using System.Collections;
 
 public class TD_CharacterController : MonoBehaviour
 {
     public string charName;
     public int charLevel = 1;
     public int charExp = 0;
 
     public float moveSpeed = 10.75f;
     public float sprintSpeed = 12.5f;
     public float crouchSpeed = 5.0f;
     public float ms;
     public float shotAdd = 0.0f;
 
     public bool isRunning = false;
     public bool isSprinting = false;
     public bool isCrouching = false;
     public bool isShooting = false;
     public bool isIdle = true;
     public bool isKeypad = false;
 
     public float gravity = -20f;
     public GameObject bullet_std;
     public GameObject _charFace;
     public GameObject muzzleLight;
     public Vector3 aimDirection;
     public Vector3 animValues;
 
     public CharacterController _charCont;
     public Camera viewCamera;
 
     public float deltaX;
     public float deltaZ;
 
     public GameObject flashLight;
     private bool toggleLight;
 
     AudioManager audioManager;
     GunController gunController;
     SphereCollider aggroSphere;
     Animator anim;
     CanvasController __cc;
 
     // Use this for initialization
     void Start()
     {
         audioManager = GameObject.Find("AudioManager").GetComponent<AudioManager>();
         anim = GetComponent<Animator>();
         gunController = GetComponent<GunController>();
         __cc = GameObject.Find("UI Manager").GetComponent<CanvasController>();
         aggroSphere = GetComponent<SphereCollider>();
         _charCont = GetComponent<CharacterController>();
         viewCamera = Camera.main;
         muzzleLight.SetActive(false);
         flashLight.SetActive(false);
         animValues = new Vector3(0f, 0f, 0f);
 
     }
 
     // Update is called once per frame
     void Update()
     {
 
         //listen for movement
         moveListen();
 
         //listen for look rotation
         lookListen();
 
         //attack listen
         shootListen();
 
         //gun manager listener
         gunController.weaponSwitchListen();
 
         //listen for reloads
         reloadListen();
 
         //flashlight
         flashLightListen();
 
         //keypad input
         keyPadListen();
 
     }
 
     void LateUpdate()
     {
         //camera follow
         cameraFollow();
     }
 
     void moveListen()
     {
         ms = moveSpeed;
 
         deltaZ = Input.GetAxis("Vertical") * ms;
         deltaX = Input.GetAxis("Horizontal") * ms;
 
         if (Input.GetKey(KeyCode.LeftShift))
         {
             ms = sprintSpeed;
             isSprinting = true;
             isRunning = false;
             isCrouching = false;
             isIdle = false;
         }
         else if (Input.GetKey(KeyCode.LeftControl))
         {
             ms = crouchSpeed;
             isSprinting = false;
             isRunning = false;
             isCrouching = true;
             isIdle = false;
         }
         else if (Input.GetKey(KeyCode.W) || Input.GetKey(KeyCode.S) || Input.GetKey(KeyCode.A) || Input.GetKey(KeyCode.D)
              && !Input.GetKey(KeyCode.LeftShift) && !Input.GetKey(KeyCode.LeftControl))
         {
             ms = moveSpeed;
             isSprinting = false;
             isRunning = true;
             isCrouching = false;
             isIdle = false;
         }
         else
         {
             isSprinting = false;
             isRunning = false;
             isCrouching = false;
             isIdle = true;
         }
 
         Vector3 movement = new Vector3(deltaX, gravity, deltaZ);
         movement = Vector3.ClampMagnitude(movement, ms);
         movement = movement * Time.deltaTime;
 
         animValues.x = deltaX;
         animValues.z = deltaZ;
 
         animValues = Vector3.Scale(animValues, transform.forward);
 
         _charCont.Move(movement);
 
     }
 
     void lookListen()
     {
         Vector3 mousePos = viewCamera.ScreenToWorldPoint(new Vector3(Input.mousePosition.x, Input.mousePosition.y, viewCamera.transform.position.y));
 
         transform.LookAt(mousePos + Vector3.up * transform.position.y);
 
         aimDirection = (mousePos - transform.position);
         aimDirection = aimDirection.normalized;
         aimDirection.y = 0f;
 
     }
 
     void cameraFollow()
     {
         float charPosX = transform.position.x;
         float charPosZ = transform.position.z;
         float cameraOffset = 18.0f;
 
         viewCamera.transform.position = new Vector3(charPosX, cameraOffset, charPosZ);
 
     }
 
     void shootListen()
     {
         if (Input.GetKey(KeyCode.Mouse0) && !isKeypad)
         {
             isShooting = true;
             gunController.shoot();
         }
         else
         {
             isShooting = false;
         }
     }
 
     void reloadListen()
     {
         //print("FUNCTION WAS CALLED");
         if (Input.GetKeyDown(KeyCode.R))
         {
             //print("R KEY WAS PRESSED");
             gunController.clipReload(gunController.equippedWeapon);
         }
     }
 
     void flashLightListen()
     {
         if (Input.GetKeyDown(KeyCode.F))
         {
             toggleLight = !toggleLight;
             print(toggleLight);
             flashLight.SetActive(toggleLight);
 
         }
     }
 
     void keyPadListen()
     {
 
         if (!isKeypad)
         {
             __cc.codeDisplay(false);
         }
 
         if (Input.GetKeyDown(KeyCode.E))
             {
             if (isKeypad && isShooting == false)
                 {
                     __cc.codeDisplay(true);
                     isShooting = true;
                 }
             else if(isKeypad && isShooting == true)
             {
                 __cc.codeDisplay(false);
                 isShooting = false;
             }
             }
     }
 }