How to Handle Version Changes When Updating Serialized Data in Unity?

Updating Serialized Data in Unity: Handling Version Changes

When serializing data in Unity, it's possible to encounter issues if you modify the structure of the serialized class later on. Adding new variables can lead to deserialization errors.

To address this, one approach is to utilize JSON serialization and PlayerPrefs to store and retrieve data as JSON strings. Here's how you can implement it:

[Serializable]
public class Save
{
    public List<int> ID;
    public List<int> Amounts;
    public int extra;
}

// Save Data
void Save()
{
    Save saveData = new Save();
    saveData.ID = new List<int>();
    saveData.Amounts = new List<int>();
    saveData.extra = 99;

    // Convert to JSON
    string jsonData = JsonUtility.ToJson(saveData);

    // Save JSON string
    PlayerPrefs.SetString("MySettings", jsonData);
    PlayerPrefs.Save();
}

// Load Data
void Load()
{
    // Load saved JSON
    string jsonData = PlayerPrefs.GetString("MySettings");

    // Convert JSON back to class
    Save loadedData = JsonUtility.FromJson<Save>(jsonData);

    // Display saved data
    Debug.Log($"Extra: {loadedData.extra}");
}

In this implementation, we convert the Save object to a JSON string using JsonUtility.ToJson. This string is then stored in PlayerPrefs. When loading the data, we deserialize the JSON string back into a Save object using JsonUtility.FromJson.

This approach ensures that even if you add new variables to the Save class later, existing saved data can still be loaded without errors. The deserialization process will simply ignore the new, unrecognized variables.

Note:

When using this technique, it's important to consider potential issues with different versions of the class. For example, if you change the data type of a variable in the Save class, it may cause compatibility issues when loading data saved with an older version of the class.

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