Unity3d editor: how to prevent changes from being undone upon exiting play mode?

Question

Apparently this is some beginner\'s question (and that I am) but it\'s driving me crazy and I couldn\'t find any mention:

I Occasionally forget to exit P

Answer 1

There is no settings to prevent changing things during play mode but there are ways to reduce the chances of losing changes during play mode.

1.Edit->Preferences... -> Colors. Now, on the right change Playmode Tint to red. That will remind you you are making changes in play mode.

2.Click on the gear icon of each component you change during play then click Copy Component. When are done with playmode, select the component you want to keep its changes. Click the gear icon again and this time, Click Paste Component Values.

3.Write an Editor Plugin that will do that for you. This is hard but possible.

Use event to find out when entering playmode. Store all GameObject public important variables such as transform/rigidbody properties in a list.

Wait for the stop event to fire then ask your self which GameObjects to overwrite settings to. Then overwrite the properties of the selected GameObjects That's it.

Usefull APIs for this:

EditorApplication.isPlaying
EditorApplication.isPaused
EditorApplication.isPlayingOrWillChangePlaymode
EditorApplication.playmodeStateChanged += callBackFunc;
EditorApplication.HierarchyWindowItemCallback
EditorApplication.ProjectWindowItemCallback

Note: According to Unity roadmap, a feature that enables you to save playtime changes is in construction and will be released soon but the above seems to be the only way at this time.