NullReferenceExeption

I am following a tutorial from jimmy vegas on how to make a cookie clicker game, and I get an error saying: Object reference not set to an instance of an object. Here is my code.

Code (CSharp):

1. using System.Collections;
2. using System.Collections.Generic;
3. using UnityEngine;
4. using UnityEngine.UI;
5.  
6. public class GlobalCookies : MonoBehaviour {
7.  
8.     public static int CookieCount;
9.     public GameObject CookieDisplay;
10.     public int InternalCookie;
11.  
12.     void Update () {
13.         InternalCookie = CookieCount;
14.         CookieDisplay.GetComponent<Text>().text = "Cookies: " + InternalCookie;
15.        
16.     }
17. }

Error: NullReferenceExeption: Object reference not set to an instance of an object GlobalCookies.Update () (at Assets/Scripts/GlobalCookies.cs:14)

 

can you send a picture of the game object in which the script is used?

 

Is this what you are looking for?

 

It does not even remotely matter what you are doing. The answer is ALWAYS the same and we even have a pinned forum post to guide you:

How to fix a NullReferenceException error

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

Steps to success:
- Identify what is null
- Identify why it is null
- Fix that

Be sure also you are following the tutorial properly, otherwise you risk wasting a lot of time.

Tutorials and example code are great, but keep this in mind to maximize your success and minimize your frustration:

How to do tutorials properly, two (2) simple steps to success:

Tutorials are a GREAT idea. Tutorials should be used this way:

Step 1. Follow the tutorial and do every single step of the tutorial 100% precisely the way it is shown. Even the slightest deviation (even a single character!) generally ends in disaster. That's how software engineering works. Every step must be taken, every single letter must be spelled, capitalized, punctuated and spaced (or not spaced) properly, literally NOTHING can be omitted or skipped.

Fortunately this is the easiest part to get right: Be a robot. Don't make any mistakes.
BE PERFECT IN EVERYTHING YOU DO HERE!!

If you get any errors, learn how to read the error code and fix your error. Google is your friend here. Do NOT continue until you fix your error. Your error will probably be somewhere near the parenthesis numbers (line and character position) in the file. It is almost CERTAINLY your typo causing the error, so look again and fix it.

Step 2. Go back and work through every part of the tutorial again, and this time explain it to your doggie. See how I am doing that in my avatar picture? If you have no dog, explain it to your house plant. If you are unable to explain any part of it, STOP. DO NOT PROCEED. Now go learn how that part works. Read the documentation on the functions involved. Go back to the tutorial and try to figure out WHY they did that. This is the part that takes a LOT of time when you are new. It might take days or weeks to work through a single 5-minute tutorial. Stick with it. You will learn.

Step 2 is the part everybody seems to miss. Without Step 2 you are simply a code-typing monkey and outside of the specific tutorial you did, you will be completely lost. If you want to learn, you MUST do Step 2.

Of course, all this presupposes no errors in the tutorial. For certain tutorial makers (like Unity, Brackeys, Imphenzia, Sebastian Lague) this is usually the case. For some other less-well-known content creators, this is less true. Read the comments on the video: did anyone have issues like you did? If there's an error, you will NEVER be the first guy to find it.

Beyond that, Step 3, 4, 5 and 6 become easy because you already understand!