Resolved Raycast2D issue

I'm having an issue with Raycast2D, I'm getting the error below. Not sure what the issue is. All required/referenced objects are in the Inspector. What am I getting wrong here?

Code (CSharp):

1. playerSpotted = Physics2D.Raycast(transform.position, lookToward.transform.position, lookDistance, LayerMask.GetMask("Player"));
2.  
3.         if(playerSpotted.collider.CompareTag("Player")) // This is line 35
4.         {
5.             Debug.Log("Player spotted");
6.         }

NullReferenceException: Object reference not set to an instance of an object
EnemyController.Update () (at Assets/Scripts/EnemyController.cs:35)

 

You fortunately never need to post for this error.

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

 

Thanks Kurt. I tend to go for that approach anyway, but perhaps I wasn't thorough enough. I honestly try to exhaust every option I have before asking on here as I don't want to waste people's time, plus I feel like I learn more when I solve the problem myself, and believe me there would be 1000 posts from me on here if I didn't do this.

So, I looked at the four elements of the Raycast function individually and what I get back for LayerMask.GetMask("Player") is 64.

My understanding is that there are 32 layers, and Player is layer 6 when I look at it. So if it is returning 64 then Unity doesn't know what to look for and returns a null? Could this be correct or am I misinterpreting things?

 

Unity absolutely does not know what it is looking for. YOU should know what you're looking for.

Physics.Raycast() takes a ton of arguments so writing it all on one line can be problematic.

Break the inputs apart and see what you're passing in. Use Debug.Log() extensively.

Always use named arguments with

Physics.Raycast()

because it contains many poorly-designed overloads:

https://forum.unity.com/threads/lay...ke-described-in-the-docs.744302/#post-6355392

Beyond that, based on the docs you should realize that using the .collider property without testing it is going to be a problem when you don't hit anything with the raycast.

In fact, you should wrap the raycast call in an if() statement, as is often done to simplify checking.

 

There's a comment in the code I provided that does exactly this. Not to worry, I asked on Reddit and I received a very warm and friendly response that helped me.

Cheers.