Smart Reference

version 1.0.0

Summary

Smart Reference is a Unity plugin that allows you to lazy load references to other objects in ScriptableObject and MonoBehaviour. You may be familiar to use ScriptableObject store data, but when you reference other objects, they will be treated as dependencies and will be loaded when the ScriptableObject is loaded. This could be slow if you have a lot of references. For details, see this article.
Smart Reference allows you to load references only when you need them at runtime with same workflow in editor.

Quick Start

1. Use SmartReference instead of Object. See how they look exactly same in the inspector.

       public class MonsterData : ScriptableObject {
           public SmartReference<GameObject> prefab;
           public SmartReference<Sprite> icon;
           public string description;
       }

   Use SceneReference instead of entering scene name as string. See the info tip or auto fix button if the scene is missing or not enabled in build settings.

       public class GameConfig : ScriptableObject {
           public SceneReference startScene;
       }

   Use them exactly same way as you use regular Object and scene name.

       Object.Instantiate(monsterData.prefab, position, rotation);
       SceneManager.LoadSceneAsync(gameConfig.startScene);

2. Initialize smart reference when your game start

   • If you use Unity Addressables, call this when your game start

     SmartReference.Runtime.SmartReference.InitWithAddressablesLoader();

   • If you use your own custom loader, call

     SmartReference.Runtime.SmartReference.Init((path, type) => {
         return MyLoadFunction.Load(path, type);
     }, (path, type, callback) => {
         MyLoadFunction.LoadAsync(path, type, obj => {
             callback(obj);
         });
     });

     or

     var loader = new CustomLoader {
         loader = MyLoadFunction,
         loaderAsync = MyAsyncLoadFunction,
     };
     SmartReference.Runtime.SmartReference.Init(loader);

   • If you use Unity Resources(not recommended, see why), call

     SmartReference.Runtime.SmartReference.InitWithResourcesLoader();

3. SmartReference will automatically update paths before player build in case you move or rename the referenced asset. If you want to manually update all references in the project, go to Tools -> SmartReference -> Update All References to update all references in the project.

Supports

If you have any questions, please leave an issue at GitHub. Thank you for your support!