Saving generic list of several instances of a class that inherit from another class

I keep getting an error that tells me that my CharacterSheet class needs to be serializable when I try to save and whenever I put [system.serializable] at the top of the class, it gives me a similar error that the class that my CharacterSheet inherits from also needs to be serializable. I put [System.Serializable] at the top of it and then I get another error that monobehaviour needs to be serializable. I am sure that I am doing something wrong but I cant figure out what after hours of googling.

Save/Load Script:

Code (CSharp):

1. public class CharacterManager : MonoBehaviour
2. {
3.     public static CharacterManager characterManager;
4.    
5.     void Awake () {
6.         if (characterManager == null) {
7.             characterManager = this;
8.             DontDestroyOnLoad (gameObject);
9.         }else if(characterManager != this){
10.             Destroy(gameObject);
11.         }
12.     }
13.  
14.     public List<GameObject> CharactersSaveAndLoad = new List<GameObject>(2);
15.     public List<CharacterSheet> CharacterSheetsSaveAndLoad = new List<CharacterSheet>(2);
16.  
17.     public void GetSheets(){
18.         CharacterSheetsSaveAndLoad.Clear();
19.         for (int i = 0; i < CharactersSaveAndLoad.Count; i++) {
20.             CharacterSheetsSaveAndLoad.Add (CharactersSaveAndLoad[i].GetComponent<CharacterSheet>());
21.         }
22.     }
23.     public void Save(){
24.         BinaryFormatter bf = new BinaryFormatter ();
25.         FileStream file = File.Create (Application.persistentDataPath + "/playerInfo.dat");
26.  
27.         GetSheets ();
28.         CharacterData data = new CharacterData ();
29.  
30.         data.Sheets = CharacterSheetsSaveAndLoad;
31.         bf.Serialize (file, data);
32.         file.Close();
33.         Debug.Log ("Save Compleated");
34.        
35.     }
36.     public static void Load(GameObject CharacterObject){
37.         CharacterSheet objectCharacterSheet = CharacterObject.GetComponent<CharacterSheet>();
38.         //CharacterSheet findCharacterSheet = CharacterObject.GetComponent<CharacterSheet>();
39.  
40.         if (File.Exists (Application.persistentDataPath + "/playerInfo.dat")) {
41.             BinaryFormatter bf = new BinaryFormatter ();
42.             FileStream file = File.Open (Application.persistentDataPath + "/playerInfo.dat", FileMode.Open);
43.             CharacterData data = (CharacterData)bf.Deserialize(file);
44.             file.Close();
45.  
46.             for (int i = 0; i < data.Sheets.Count; i++){
47.                 if (data.Sheets[i].objectID == objectCharacterSheet.objectID){
48.                     //findCharacterSheet = data.Sheets[i];
49.                     objectCharacterSheet.characterName = data.Sheets[i].characterName;//findCharacterSheet.characterName;
50.                 }
51.             }
52.  
53.         }
54.     }
55. }
56.  
57. [System.Serializable]
58. public class CharacterData{
59.     public List<CharacterSheet> Sheets;
60.  
61. }

 

It is impossible to serialize instances of types that inherit from MonoBehaviour with the BinaryFormatter because MonoBehaviour does not have a Serializable-attribute applied. You need to transfer all the data you want to save from the CharacterSheet instances into new serializable container class instances and then serialize these.

Code (CSharp):

1. class CharacterSheet : MonoBehaviour
2. {
3.    public string name;
4.    public int intelligence;
5. }
6.  
7. [Serializable]
8. class CharacterSheetContainer
9. {
10.    public string name;
11.    public int intelligence;
12.  
13.    public CharacterSheetContainer(CharacterSheet charSheet)
14.    {
15.       this.name = charSheet.name;
16.       this.intelligence = charSheet.intelligence;
17.    }
18. }

 

Thank you. This is exactly what I needed. Your help is very much appreciated.