Instantiating a prefab - need help :(

I have a working game but realized that instead of actually using a prefab, I've been doing everything by code (adding components via C#) and would like to simply load a prefab...

but for the life of me I cannot figure out how to do it. All examples I've found either reference some outdated 'Resources' folder or they don't seem to reference a prefab filename.

In my case I have a prefab (in my prefab folder) called 'Player'. It has a script component (also called Player) that has a public gameobject variable called NameObj that I've made point to another prefab called 'Name'.

Without loading the Player prefab I can (via script) create a new game object and add the 'Player' component to it, but when I do that NameObj is null. So loading the actual prefab would be better.

How the heck does one load a prefab?

 

The Resources folder is not outdated. And you don't load prefabs by filename.

You have two choices: either load by name from the Resources folder, or instantiate a prefab that you already have a reference to (in a public property of type GameObject, for example). I'm pretty sure this is exactly what the manual tells you.

So whatever code you want to load the Player prefab, give it a playerPrefab property, and drag your prefab in, then pass it to Instantiate. Or, move your prefab into the Resources folder and load it by name.

 

Thank you!