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SDK 1.2
SDK 1.2
  • Welcome
  • Overview
    • How does coherence work?
    • Rooms, Worlds and Lobbies
    • Features and Roadmap
  • Learn
    • Beginner's guide to networking
    • Package samples
    • First Steps tutorial
      • 1. Basic syncing
        • 1.2. Animation parameters
        • 1.3. Sending commands
      • 2. Physics / Authority transfer
      • 3. Areas of interest
      • 4. Parenting entities
      • 5. Complex hierarchies
      • 6. Persistence
    • Campfire project
      • Game mechanics
      • Leveraging object pooling
      • Remote interactions: Chairs
      • Remote interactions: Trees
      • A unique object with complex state
      • Custom instantiation and destruction
      • Running a server-side NPC
      • Playing audio and particles
      • A simple text chat
    • How to network [genre]…
      • Racing
      • Turn-based
      • First-Person Shooter
      • MMO
      • Fighting
    • Video tutorials
  • Get started
    • Install coherence
    • Scene Setup
      • Sample UIs
    • Prefab setup: CoherenceSync
    • Local Development
      • Local Testing via Player Builds
      • Local Testing via Unity's Multiplayer Play Mode (MPPM)
      • Local Testing via ParrelSync
    • coherence Cloud
      • Create a free account
      • Deploy a Replication Server
      • Share builds
  • coherence SDK for Unity
    • Upgrade Guide
      • Upgrade 1.1 -> 1.2
      • Upgrade 1.0 -> 1.1
      • Upgrade 0.10 -> 1.0
      • Upgrade 0.9 -> 0.10
    • Components
      • CoherenceSync
      • CoherenceBridge
      • CoherenceLiveQuery
      • CoherenceTagQuery
      • Order of execution
    • Asset Management
      • Using CoherenceSyncConfig to instantiate GameObjects locally
    • Networking State Changes
      • Supported types
      • Messaging with Commands
      • Syncing child GameObjects
      • Parenting network entities
        • Direct child CoherenceSyncs
        • Deeply-nested CoherenceSyncs
        • Nesting Prefabs at Edit time
      • Animation
      • CoherenceSync references
      • [Sync] and [Command] Attributes
      • [OnValueSynced] Attribute
      • Creating your own syncable member
      • Custom Component Actions
    • Baking (code generation)
    • Scene Management
    • Authority
      • Authority transfer
      • Server-authoritative setup
    • Lifetime
      • Persistence
      • Uniqueness
      • Example – a global counter
    • Optimization
      • Simulation Frequency
      • Areas of Interest
      • Level of Detail (LOD)
    • Profiling
    • Interpolation
    • Rigid Bodies
    • Settings
    • Simulation Frame
    • Replication Server
    • Simulators
      • Scripting: Client vs Simulator
      • Local Development
      • World Simulators
      • Room Simulators
      • Simulator Slugs
      • Multi-Room Simulators
      • Build and Publish
      • Command-line arguments
      • Load Balancing
    • Client-Hosting
    • Client Connections
    • Rollback Networking Support
    • World Origin Shifting
    • Offline gameplay
    • CLI
    • Code Stripping
    • Version Control Integration
  • Hosting & Cloud
  • coherence Cloud
    • Developer Portal
    • Dashboard
    • Worlds
    • Rooms
    • Lobbies
    • Game Services
      • Account
      • Key-Value Store
    • Using coherence Cloud in Unity
      • Worlds
      • Rooms
      • Lobbies
      • Game Services
        • Authentication Service (Player Accounts)
        • Key-value store
  • Schema explained
    • Overview
    • Specification
    • Field settings
    • Archetypes
  • coherence API reference
  • Additional resources
    • Community
    • Continuous Integration
    • Unreal Engine Support
    • WebGL Support
    • Peer-to-Peer Support (P2P)
    • Glossary
  • Credit cost & pricing
  • Known Issues and Troubleshooting
  • Release Notes
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  1. coherence SDK for Unity
  2. Networking State Changes

CoherenceSync references

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Entity references let you set up references between Entities and have those be synchronized, just like other value types (like integers, vectors, etc.)

To use Entity references, simply select any fields of type GameObject, Transform, or CoherenceSync for syncing in the Configuration window:

The synchronization works both when using reflection and in baked sync scripts.

Limitations

It's important to know about the situations when an Entity reference might become null, even though it seems like it should have a value:

  • The owner of the Entity reference might sync the reference to the Replication Server before syncing the referenced Entity. This will lead to the Replication Server storing a null reference. If possible, try setting the Entity references during gameplay when the referenced Entities have already existed for a while.

  • Cyclic references are undefined behavior for now. Therefore multiple entities created on the same Client that reference each other might never get synced properly. This is also holds true for references that exist through intermediate entities (A has reference to B has reference to C has reference A - cyclic).

In any case, it's important to use a defensive coding style when working with Entity references. Make sure that your code can handle missing Entities and nulls in a graceful way.

Entity references can also be used as arguments in .

A client might not have the referenced entity in its LiveQuery. A local reference can only be valid if there's an actual Entity instance to reference. If this becomes a problem, consider switching to using the component or of prefabs, which ensures that that Entity stays part of the query.

Commands
CoherenceNode
Parent-Child relationships