Editing prefab causes references to it to become null until the object referencing it is reloaded

Hi there

I have been unable to reproduce this issue in a clean project with the 'exact same' setup.

In our project we have a monobehaviour, that monobehaviour references a scriptable object, and that scriptable object has a reference to a prefab.

On our monobehaviour, we have some editor functionality to instantiate that prefab at the position of the monobehaviour. This all works fine...

However, if I edit the prefab in any way (Turn Shadows off on the meshrenderer, turn on/off a component, anything), the reference to that prefab on the scriptable object becomes 'null' but ONLY as seen by my scripts. If I breakpoint my insantiation code, it will see that prefab reference as 'null'. But if I view the scriptableobject in the inspector, it is NOT null. It has a valid reference to the prefab. Despite 'viewing' the scriptableobject in the inspector and confirming that the reference is not null, my code still thinks it is. Any attempts made by the Monobehaviour to access myScriptableObject.PrefabReference will return null.

I can fix this problem in one of a few ways...

• I can clear the reference on the scriptableobject, and drag and drop the prefab back into the reference slot. This corrects the problem.
• I can reload/recompile assemblies. This fixes the problem.

Once I 'fix' the problem using any of the 2 options, if I edit the prefab again, it'll break again. It isn't a permanent fix.

The follow doesn't work:

• Right clicking and reimporting the scriptable object. This doesn't fix the problem.
• Saving and reloading the scene. The monobehaviour in the scene still sees the prefab reference on the scriptable object as null. This doesn't fix the problem.
• Remove the scriptable object reference on the monobehaviour and drag and dropping the scriptable object back into field on the monobehaviour. This doesn't fix the problem.
• Our prefabs were upgraded from 2018.2.. so to ensure the prefab itself wasn't the problem I created a new prefab from scratch, and set that prefab as the referenced prefab in the scriptable asset. When I make changes to the prefab, I get the same issue. This doesn't fix the problem.
• Our scriptable objects were upgraded from 2018.2..to to ensure the scriptable object itself wasn't the problem I created a new scriptable object from scratch and set that scriptableobject as the referenced scriptableobject on the monobehaviour. This doesn't fix the problem.
• Using both the scriptable object created from scratch, and making it reference the prefab that was also created from scratch doesn't fix the problem either. So it doesn't seem like there is an issue with the assets themselves.

When I breakpoint my code, and inspect the reference, it still shows me valid values. Note how the object is null in the second image, but we can still see my test variables 'ShouldBe5' and 'ShouldSayTest' reporting correct values. Also interesting to note is that the CachedPtr has become 0x0, though that doesn't mean anything to me..

'This' is the scriptable object.
'SpanPrefab' is the reference to the prefab.

Before Editing 'SpanPrefab' Prefab:


After editing 'SpanPrefab' Prefab:

 

No unfortunately. It's just a direct reference to script on another prefab. As you can see in the image above, there is a script called ShapeFenceGenerator which has a reference to a FencePost prefab and a FenceSpan prefab. If I edit either of these, that prefab reference suddenly becomes null.

@LeonhardP I can give you access to our repository if you would like to pull it down and try for yourself. We do not want to publish our project via the bugtracker, since it is a bit of a black box, we don't know who is going to have access and it'll be up there in the bugtracker forever.

 

Has this issue been submitted? It's super easy to reproduce.

 

Wondering this myself I came here because I have this same thing happening.

In my case I had a prefab on the scene that stored a list of other prefabs. When I edited the prefab from the project folder window, the prefab on the scene would get a null reference on the list and I'd have to slide the prefab back onto it.

This kept happening, until finally I "unpacked" the prefab that was holding the list script. Now this no longer is happening. I didn't really need that to be a "prefab" anyways but it does seem like it would be easy to re-produce.

I should say though my project migrated over from previous version of Unity. Also while not intuitive I am able to select prefabs and tell them to all update/override at once, but they don't all seem to update/override at the same time.

I kind of like the new system, but prefab references suddenly going null is a bit... scary=p

 

Yep we still have one stuburn prefab reference on one specific script that continues to go null. We just manually fix it whenever it happens. I can't reproduce it and we do not want to upload and give an unknown Unity dev/qa person access to our entire game, so we just put up with it for now. I've tried exporting the specific scripts and the specific prefabs in question into another project to see if it happens there but no luck. Can't reproduce.

 

We're also getting this issue. This is really very fundemental, and can be reproduced with just two scripts.

One default Monobehaviour
One with a serialized field and a context menu to Debug.Log the field.

Add the 2nd script component to an object in the scene. Drag in a prefab reference to your serialized field (of type script 1). Log it - It won't be null.

2) Edit the prefab, and save it.

3) Log it - Now it's null.

We've submitted a detailed bug report including a repro project. We'll need to delay releasing our next big asset until this is resolved

 

Thanks you, appreciated!

If you post the case number here (when you have it) we can make sure to have a look soon next week.

 

Sure thing

(Case 1116476) Prefab References are LOST when modifying prefab

I've also checked in the absolute latest official release and it's still occurring. Cheers!

 

I too have references in other scripts going missing when updating prefabs. Components randomly get new FileIDs for some reason according to my Git. This has happened since the beginning of new prefab workflows to the latest 2019 alpha13. Not sure if it's due to a faulty upgrade process but this has been project breaking for months and needs attention.

 

If it helps - AssetDatabase.ForceReserializeAssets seems to help, as does marking things as dirty then saving the asset database. Useful in small cases, but not sustainable obviously!

Our project is a clean 2018.3 we've only been using for a few weeks so it's not the upgrade process

 

Ahh afraid the use of those scripts was in a live project and has since been stripped out.

Broadly speaking, it looked like this

Code (CSharp):

1.  
2. PrefabStage.prefabSaved += PrefabStage_PrefabSaved;
3.  
4.     public static void PrefabStage_PrefabSaved(GameObject gameObject) {
5.             string[] allAssetPaths = AssetDatabase.GetAllAssetPaths();
6.             IEnumerable<string> paths = allAssetPaths.Where(p => p.EndsWith(".prefab")).Where(p => AssetDatabase.LoadAssetAtPath<Module>(p) != null);
7.             paths = paths.Concat(allAssetPaths.Where(p => p.EndsWith(".prefab")).Where(p => AssetDatabase.LoadAssetAtPath<Blueprint.Blueprint>(p) != null));
8.             paths = paths.Concat(allAssetPaths.Where(p => p.EndsWith(".asset")).Where(p => AssetDatabase.GetMainAssetTypeAtPath(p) == typeof(Theme)));
9.            
10.             foreach (string path in paths) {
11.                 Object loadedAsset = AssetDatabase.LoadMainAssetAtPath(path);
12.                 EditorUtility.SetDirty(loadedAsset);
13.             }
14.            
15.             AssetDatabase.SaveAssets();
16.         }
17.  

Or instead of a dirty/save, we had previously had some success with ForceReserializeAssets, though I believe that was used in an AssetPostprocessor, or the OnWillSaveAssets in an AssetModificationProcessor.

Sorry I can't be more specific - We tried many things, and hadn't clocked what was actually happening until we'd gone through a few 'fixes'.

 

For posterity - https://issuetracker.unity3d.com/issues/prefabs-references-are-lost-when-modifying-prefab

 

Any updates on this? Pretty project breaking and has prevented us moving to the new prefab workflow / 18.3

 

@SteenLund

1) When you say we should reference GameObject and it will work, you mean we shouldn't reference another component on the prefab, right?
2) For the issue mentioned above, can I somehow access attached project (PrefabReferenceLostRepro.zip) and not recreate everything myself for testing, or attachment is for the stuff only?

 

@SteenLund Cheers for keeping us in the loop.

Obviously if there is anything we can do to expedite the process, please reach out - I expect this is a fairly critical bug for many, many users, so I'm sure Unity is throwing some real weight behind getting a fix out asap!

 

Oh man, thank goodness. I've just spent a good few dev hours trying to figure out what's causing a very specific bunch of references to get lost under circumstances I can't quite nail down. Fingers crossed this is the issue and 2018.3.6 clears it up!

 

@SteenLund
I recently updated to 2018.3.6 and this problem still seems to be present (referencing a Game Object in a Prefab field allows me to reference it... but then reverts to None/Null after closing the prefab editor).

 

I appreciate the need for a consistent release cycle, but I think it's worth really making the point that this is a fundamental issue which I think we would all consider severe enough to merit an out-of-cycle patch fix.

Obviously if there is still work to be done, by all means I'm sure you guys are doing a stellar job - If it's all fixed and ready to go, who do we need to lean on to get this out there so people can start using Unity again?

 

Well, allow me to eat my words - You are correct, the issue that was submitted is fixed! Anyone experiencing a similar issue must be facing an unrelated problem, as the bug is fixed in the repro project in the bug report.

Thank you very much for your work, great stuff

 

@SteenLund
My apologies, not trying to incite the wrath of others... just still having the problem that seems to be mentioned here.
I have sent you a message with a link to my project and a description of the issue.

Thanks for all you do for the community

 

I might have a repro case of something similar still happening. I had a bunch of references get lost last night, but am not 100% sure that they got lost after updating to 2018.3.6. I've reverted so that they're back, and will see if they disappear again.

@SteenLund, If it does happen again then expect a multi-gigabyte repro project with unclear repro steps. With a full day of trying I couldn't lock down the circumstances under which things break.

 

@SteenLund, some issue very similar to this is still ocurring. I just saw a bunch of my references get dropped, and might even know steps to reproduce it.

Bug report incoming.

:-(

 

Yes, I'm still getting this issue with lost references when applying prefab changes in the scene in 2018.3.6. Component file IDs get changed for some reason and all references to them are FUBAR. gg

 

@SteenLund we still do not have a repo but in our project we have 4 specific prefab assets that, if referenced, the references become null/'missing' when the game is built. 2 of those prefabs are referenced by a script in our menu scene and one in our 'intro' scene (first scene in the game). There is nothing fancy or special about the reference. It is just a public GameObject field that references the asset in the project. It randomly goes null. There doesn't seem to be much of a pattern. Today, I checked the two scenes before I did my iOS build. We have our game set to run Fast with no Exceptions, so null exceptions causes crashes. Game ran fine in the editor - the prefabs were not null. Then I built the game, and the game crashed on the iOS device - null ref according to the xcode console. Checked Unity and sure enough the fields went 'missing' again. It's always the same prefabs, and we are convinced they are just forever corrupt in some way. Tomorrow I am going to try recreate the prefabs 'from scratch' to see if the error goes away, but with no reliable repro I can't even test if I fixed it properly. Just thought I'd give an update on our situation with this (?) bug.

 

Any ETA?

 

Did this make it into 2018.3.7? I'm not seeing it in the release notes, but will check anyway when I can.

 

I've only done a brief test... But, it seems that this issue is fixed for me in 2018.3.7. Thank you for all your efforts on this.
*****
EDIT: I spoke too soon... While I did have one set of fields on one prefab "remembered" by Unity (Easy1), another prefab still doesn't remember (Easy2) Getting close it seems like... but still not fixed.

 

... It's the same project I had sent you earlier. I'll see if I can cut down the project to be really small and provide a new link to the smaller project. I can attempt to file a bug report, though it's really not clear to me as to why one prefab works and the other two don't... and there are no errors being thrown. so I don't know how I'd differentiate between the working and broken prefab issues to provide good information on.

 

I've setup a rather basic project from scratch, not as big as the one I sent previously. I'll PM you the link if you'd like... Though if you have the original project, the same issues still happen.

 

Okay. I just PM'd you the small file.

 

Okay.
So after troubleshooting my issue w/ @SteenLund, my still occurring problem was not part of this issue... I have been put on the right path and everything seems to be working well now.

Thanks @SteenLund

 

@SteenLund Hi, is this bug fixed? I am using 18.3.8, and still got this issue.

 

Just thought I would chime in and say that our issues are resolved, haven't seen them crop up again.

 

Hello, found this thread after posting my own, I'm not sure if it's the same issue, but it looks like it. Im still having this nightmare on 2018.1.14 and even 2019.
https://forum.unity.com/threads/probably-serious-prefabs-bug-causing-losing-data-references.673318/
Bug 1152124