Node in group returns null when I added a new scene?

[zeitgeist]

Godot Version

4.2.2

Question

Hello friends,

I’m completely new to godot, so please bear with me. I made a dailog_manager.gd file that opens a chat bubble whenever a character tries to interact with an npc. It’s a singleton. This is what the code looks like partially:

@onready var text_box_scene = preload("res://dialog/text_box.tscn")
@onready var player = get_tree().get_first_node_in_group("player")

var dialog_lines: Array[String] = []
var current_line_index = 0

var text_box 
var text_box_position: Vector2

var is_dialog_active = false
var can_advance_line = false

signal dialog_finished()

func start_dialog(position: Vector2, lines: Array[String]):	
	if is_dialog_active:
		return
	
	player.disable_movement()
	dialog_lines = lines
	text_box_position = position
	_show_text_box()
	
	is_dialog_active = true

Initially, this worked great! However when I created a new scene and added it to my flow, it messed up my code, get_tree().get_first_node_in_group("player") started returning null. The new scene is a simple screen with a start button that redirects to the main_scene where the player can play the actual game. I didn’t remove any of the nodes from the player group, so I dont know why the code is returning null.

Here’s what the start screen looks like:

class_name StartMenu
extends Control

@onready var start_button = $MarginContainer/HBoxContainer/VBoxContainer/StartButton
@onready var settings_button = $MarginContainer/HBoxContainer/VBoxContainer/SettingsButton
@onready var exit_button = $MarginContainer/HBoxContainer/VBoxContainer/ExitButton

@onready var main_scene = preload("res://main_town/main_town.tscn") as PackedScene

func _ready():
	start_button.button_down.connect(_on_start_pressed)
	settings_button.button_down.connect(on_settings_pressed)
	exit_button.button_down.connect(_on_exit_pressed)
	
func _on_start_pressed() -> void:
	get_tree().change_scene_to_packed(main_scene)
	
func on_settings_pressed() -> void:
	pass
	
func _on_exit_pressed() -> void:
	get_tree().quit()

I was able to fix this somehow by passing the body around and getting it from _on_body_entered(body) signal. What I don’t understand is, why did the get_tree().get_first_node_in_group("player") code started returning null when I added the start screen?

[herrspaten]

Because the singleton starts the same time the game starts → when you are in menu-screen there is no player to get → player-variable = null.
To fix this you can got to your player script and put this in your ready method:

func _ready():
    DialogManager.player = self

Replace “DialogManager” with the name of your Singleton

[zeitgeist]

Thank you! That makes so much sense.