Trouble with FindGameObjectsWithTag and SetActive

Hello, I'm having trouble with using FindGameObjectsWithTag; I want to have two versions of my game based on the boolean

isHighStakes

(not included in the code below) and have a set of buttons appear/disappear depending on the version. However, when I try and run this, the high buttons never appear.

I had the lowStakesVersions and highStakesVersions as private but when I serialized the fields and looked at them in the inspector while the game is running, the lowStakesButtons list is always populated but the highStakesButtons list always says that the size is 0 and never populates.

I would really appreciate any help! I have the buttons tagged properly but I can provide screenshots in case someone wants to verify.

Code (CSharp):

1. void FindButtons(Scene scene, LoadSceneMode mode) {
2.         lowStakesButtons = new List<Button>();
3.         highStakesButtons = new List<Button>();
4.  
5.         foreach (GameObject highButt in GameObject.FindGameObjectsWithTag("High")) {
6.             highStakesButtons.Add(highButt.GetComponent<Button>());
7.         }
8.         foreach (GameObject lowButt in GameObject.FindGameObjectsWithTag("Low")) {
9.             lowStakesButtons.Add(lowButt.GetComponent<Button>());
10.         }
11.  
12.         foreach (Button butt in lowStakesButtons) {
13.             butt.gameObject.SetActive(!isHighStakes);
14.         }
15.         foreach (Button butt in highStakesButtons) {
16.             butt.gameObject.SetActive(isHighStakes);
17.         }
18.     }

 

FindGameObjectsWithTag only finds objects which are currently active. If the high stakes objects are inactive then they won't be find. If you need them inactive then create a public List of them somewhere in the scene (even in this script, but doesn't have to be) and drag all of them to the List in the inspector. Use that list of the buttons instead of FindGameObjectsWithTag.

 

They are all active when the scene loads; the goal with this function is to set the ones that I don't want active to inactive. I'm trying to use FindGameObjectsWithTag because I want to have this object be around for multiple scenes

 

Well, it seems reasonably clear that this code is doing the same thing with both low and high except for the tag, so if you've verified that one of them is working and the other is not, that strongly suggests the problem is something in how you set up your scene, not in this code.

Unless all the buttons you are finding also stick around for multiple scenes, note that you will end up with a bunch of references to no-longer-existing buttons, and if you try to do things with them you'll get errors.

 

Did you know you can also break your scenes up into parts and load them additively? It's pretty powerful.

In your case it might be these three scenes:

- base stuff that all share
- low-stakes stuff
- high-stakes stuff

At load time you'd decide which to load.

Also, try to get away from finding randomly tagged stuff and doing things with it.

Instead have bespoke items such as "HighStakesController" and "LowStakesController" that have their own static locator functions, so that ALL the logic related to their presence or absence is centralized in that one script, rather than splattered all over your game code like so much glitter. You'll thank yourself later when you have to go change something about it.