DontDestroyOnLoad() doesn't work in Unity

Question

I have a problem with DontDestroyOnLoad() in Unity. It does not work!

My code:

private static PlayerSpawningScript instance;


public void Awake()
{
    Debug.Log ("PlayerSpawningScript awake");
    Debug.Log ("Instance: " + instance);
    if (instance == null) {
        Debug.Log ("Initializing PlayerSpawningScript instance");
        instance = this;
        DontDestroyOnLoad (gameObject);
    }
    if (instance != this) {
        Debug.Log ("PlayerSpawningScript instance exists. Destroying new copy.");
        Destroy (gameObject);
    } 
    Debug.Log ("PlayerSpawningScript instance: " + instance);
}

public void OnDestroy()
{
    Debug.Log ("Destroying PlayerSpawningSceript instance: " + instance.ToString ());
}

Basing on the console output, I successfully create an instance in scene1, but when I change the scene, it gets destroyed - I know this because I get "Destroying PlayerSpawningScript (...)" before the new scene is loaded, and the same script set up in scene2 does not find an existing instance (which held data saved in scene1) and sets up itself as the instance instead of getting Destroyed. What am I doing wrong?

Answer 1

Check if your gameObject has a parent object in the hierarchy.

If it has, then everything is as intended. Your object itself isn't explicitly destroyed by Unity. But its parent may very well be destroyed. It is to be expected that when an object is destroyed, all of its children are destroyed too. That's when your object is destroyed.

Put your object in the root of the hierarchy in the editor and check if the problem persists.

Answer 2

I seems to me that Awake is called when the object is loaded when scenes change, in that case you explicitally call destroy.