aego/engine/res/docs/prefabs.md

id, icon, group, title, order

id	icon	group	title	order
prefabs	file.prefab	scenes	Prefabs	1

Prefabs

A prefab is a reusable piece of a scene stored in an .aeprefab file. Every copy in a scene is an instance: it shows the prefab and keeps its own changes, the overrides. When the prefab changes, every instance follows it, and its overrides stay.

Create and place

• Drag a node from the Hierarchy onto a folder in Assets, or use Hierarchy → Prefab → Create Prefab. The node becomes an instance of the new prefab and keeps its node ids, so references to it keep working.
• Drag an .aeprefab into the Hierarchy or the Scene View, or use Instantiate in Scene from its context menu.
• Open a prefab with a double click or Prefab → Open Prefab. Saving it updates every open instance in one step that can be undone from any of those scenes.

Overrides

Any change to an instance is an override: a property, an added or removed component, an added or removed node, the order of children. The position, rotation and scale of the instance root are always the instance's own.

• The Hierarchy marks instance roots with the prefab icon and nodes you added with a plus.
• The Inspector marks overridden properties with a bar on the left and added components with an added badge. The Prefab card on top has Apply All, Revert All and Open.
• Right click a property, a component or a node to apply it to the prefab or revert it.

Nodes that come from a prefab keep their parent inside an instance. Unpack the instance to move them.

Nested prefabs and variants

A prefab can contain instances of other prefabs. When you apply a change made inside a nested instance, choose where it goes: the nested prefab itself, or the outer prefab as an override of its nested instance.

A variant is a prefab whose root is an instance of another prefab: Prefab → Create Variant. It changes what it overrides and follows its base everywhere else.

Unused overrides

When a prefab loses a node or a component that an instance overrides, the override is kept and listed under Unused overrides in the Prefab card. It does nothing until you remove it. Problems shows it as PFB002.

Missing prefabs

If the prefab file is gone, the instance loads as an empty node named after it and is saved back unchanged. Problems shows PFB001. Play is not blocked.

Unpack

• Unpack turns the instance into plain nodes; prefabs nested in it become instances of their own.
• Unpack Completely turns everything into plain nodes.

Scripts

scene.Instantiate(prefab, parent) creates a copy at runtime. The copy has fresh node ids, and references inside it point into the copy.

node.IsPrefabInstance() reports whether a node is a prefab copy or lies inside one. node.PrefabRoot() returns the root of that copy.