Question need a little help figuring out object not found error ( although it's assigned in the inspector)

I set up a canvas, "pauseCanvasBG" as a child of my in game GUI/HUD. Here's the code I'm working with:

Code (CSharp):

1. using System;
2. using System.Collections;
3. using System.Collections.Generic;
4. using UnityEngine.SceneManagement;
5. using UnityEngine.InputSystem;
6. using UnityEngine.UI;
7. using UnityEngine;
8. using TMPro;
9.  
10. public class GUI_Input : MonoBehaviour
11. {
12.     [HideInInspector] public bool menuMode = false;
13.     [HideInInspector] public bool gamePaused = false;
14.     public Canvas pauseMenuCanvasBG;
15.  
16.     public void PauseGame()
17.     {
18.         if (Keyboard.current.escapeKey.wasPressedThisFrame || Gamepad.current.startButton.wasPressedThisFrame)
19.         {
20.             if (!gamePaused)
21.             {
22.                 // Pause game
23.                 Debug.Log("pause");
24.                 gamePaused = true;
25.                 menuMode = true;
26.                 pauseMenuCanvasBG.enabled = true;
27.                 Debug.Log("Menu mode: " + menuMode);
28.             }
29.             else
30.             {
31.                 // Resume game
32.                 Debug.Log("resume");
33.                 gamePaused = false;
34.                 menuMode = false;
35.                 pauseMenuCanvasBG.enabled = false;
36.                 Debug.Log("Menu mode: "+ menuMode);
37.             }
38.         }
39.     }
40. }

pauseMenuCanvasBG in inspector



What am I missing?

 

Well, what is the error and what line does it happen on?

And have you made sure you don't have another instance of this component somewhere else in the scene?

 

error:
GUI_Input.PauseGame () (at Assets/_06Scripts/GUI_Input.cs:41)

there's no other instance in the scene.
PauseGame() is called in the Update() in my RaceManger.

 

Is that the whole script? There is no line 41 in your script.

 

sorry, here's the full script:

Code (CSharp):

1. using System;
2. using System.Collections;
3. using System.Collections.Generic;
4. using UnityEngine.SceneManagement;
5. using UnityEngine.InputSystem;
6. using UnityEngine.UI;
7. using UnityEngine;
8. using TMPro;
9.  
10. /*
11. *
12. * handle input for GUI
13. *
14. */
15. public class GUI_Input : MonoBehaviour
16. {
17.     [HideInInspector] public bool menuMode = false;
18.     [HideInInspector] public bool gamePaused = false;
19.     public Canvas pauseMenuCanvasBG;
20.     public GameObject pauseBG;
21.     public void Update()
22.     {
23.         // use L_Stick like a mouse when paused or in menuMode
24.         if(menuMode)
25.         {
26.             Debug.Log("gamePad");
27.             GamePad_LStick();
28.         }
29.     }
30.  
31.     public void PauseGame()
32.     {
33.         if (Keyboard.current.escapeKey.wasPressedThisFrame || Gamepad.current.startButton.wasPressedThisFrame)
34.         {
35.             if (!gamePaused)
36.             {
37.                 // Pause game
38.                 Debug.Log("pause");
39.                 gamePaused = true;
40.                 menuMode = true;
41.                 pauseMenuCanvasBG.enabled = true;
42.                 //pauseBG.SetActive(true);
43.                 Debug.Log("Menu mode: " + menuMode);
44.             }
45.             else
46.             {
47.                 // Resume game
48.                 Debug.Log("resume");
49.                 gamePaused = false;
50.                 menuMode = false;
51.                 pauseMenuCanvasBG.enabled = false;
52.                 //pauseBG.SetActive(false);
53.                 Debug.Log("Menu mode: "+ menuMode);
54.             }
55.         }
56.     }
57.     //
58.     void GamePad_LStick()
59.     {
60.         var gamepad = Gamepad.current;
61.         if (gamepad == null) return; // No gamepad connected.
62.  
63.         Vector2 stickInput = gamepad.leftStick.ReadValue();
64.         Vector2 mouseDelta = new Vector2(stickInput.x, stickInput.y) * 10f;
65.         Mouse.current.WarpCursorPosition(Mouse.current.position.ReadValue() + mouseDelta);
66.     }
67. }
68.  

 

Well a null ref is just a null ref. I guarantee you that you have nother instance of this component lying around in a scene somewhere.

You can easily locate it by using the second overload of Debug.Log, which takes a Unity object for context and will highlight the component in the heirarchy. You could easily change line 38 to:

Debug.Log("Pause", this);

and solve this quickly.

 

this is returned:

Code (CSharp):

1. pause
2. UnityEngine.Debug:Log (object,UnityEngine.Object)
3. GUI_Input:PauseGame () (at Assets/_06Scripts/GUI_Input.cs:38)
4. RaceManager:Update () (at Assets/_06Scripts/RaceManager.cs:114)

when using

Code (CSharp):

1. Debug.Log("Pause", this);

I searched my hierarchy for pauseCanvasBG & only one shows up

 

Well that's not the component I'm saying you might have multiple of. I'm saying you might have multiple

GUI_Input

components. You can type in

t:GUI_Input

into the hierarchy search to see which objects have this component.

Unity doesn't lie about null refs. There's always a simple cause.

 

this is the result for

Code (CSharp):

1. t:GUI_Input

 

So what is the full error? You haven't posted the full error.

Also you've been here before: https://forum.unity.com/threads/nee...-object-not-set-to-an-instance-error.1384662/

You should be able to solve this on your own by now.

 

I'm always fascinated by how long people will resist doing the first step, the ONLY step that will ever start the process of fixing a NullReferenceException.

How to fix a NullReferenceException error

https://forum.unity.com/threads/how-to-fix-a-nullreferenceexception-error.1230297/

Three steps to success:
- Identify what is null <-- any other action taken before this step is WASTED TIME
- Identify why it is null
- Fix that

If you THINK you have done Step 1 by finding and printing something that isn't null, you actually haven't done Step 1.

The simple fact that what you printed was NOT NULL means that you did not find what IS null, so go back and check again. Check a different object. Check what line number you're seeing. REMOVE the script completely, run it again, etc..

It's really just that simple: you MUST find what is null first. End of story.

Read what Spiney says above, read the links I posted, there's really nothing anyone can do for you until YOU do Step #1. It's not a global conspiracy against you. It's a nullref.

 

Truth is I had no idea how to search for a missing object until yesterday.

I suppose I'm still confused as to parent/child relationships. The way I implemented everything was fine except for the error- this is what confused me. Ended up fixing it by moving that block of code to the parent.