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r/godot · u/stonehead74Aug 1, 2026, 4:06 PM

How can I reference a node in a resource?

I have a game with a Level class that can have different objectives, one of which is to defend a specific character. I have an abstract Objective class that the Defend objective class extends. This Defend class has a reference to the specific character that must survive.

In an effort to make it easier to develop multiple levels, I'm converting the Objective class to extend Resource, so that it can be defined in the editor instead of just in code.

My problem is, the I can't export a reference to a Node in a Resource. I did some searching, and I found the NodePath, but that gives a string that's relative to the Level object.

Is there some way to give a Resource a pointer to a node from the editor? There seems to be no problem with these objects storing references to nodes, only with exporting them to the editor.

The only other option I can think of is to give Objective both a Character and a NodePath, and have the Level go through every Objective in its _ready function, look up the node path, and assign it to the Character of that Objective. Is there a better solution than that?

Comments

u/Bob-Kerman1Aug 1, 2026, 4:19 PM
I wouldn't use resource for this. It sounds like it belongs to a specific scene/level. So I would just write a class that extends node, and has all the variables exported. Drop it into the level, and set the objective with an exported node reference. Otherwise, yeah you would have to use either a node name, or node path. Both of which are prone to mistakes, and breaking from changes. Maybe groups? Would avoid some possible mistakes.
- u/stonehead741Aug 1, 2026, 4:29 PM
  I can do that. Is it best practice to use Nodes for things that don't end up using position, \_ready, \_draw, or things like that? I guess I just assumed that would be wasteful.
  - u/thecyberbob1Aug 1, 2026, 5:33 PM
u/Silrar2Aug 1, 2026, 4:22 PM
You don't. Resources explicitly are not meant to hold node references like that. If you need a node reference in the editor, put it on the node the resource is on. Thing is, does it have to be a resource? The objective is tied directly to the level, which makes it unusable anywhere else. It would make a lot more sense as a Node to begin with. Yes, I know it's counterintuitive, and it feels wrong to have something that \_should\_ be just data in the tree like that, but I've come to realize that this is really the best solution in most if not all these cases. Resources are great for when you actually have things you want to reuse. For example, you could have an "Objective" Node with an "ObjectiveParameter" Resource and an Array\[Node\] as targets. The Resource would then be a "DefendObjectiveParameters" Resource or a "EscortObjectiveParameters" Resource, or a "KillObjective Parameters" Resource, and so forth, and the logic would mean that you need to fulfill the parameters on the targets.
- u/stonehead741Aug 1, 2026, 4:27 PM
  Several different levels have the Defend objective, so it is reused across different nodes, just with different parameters. I can make it a node, but nodes have a position, ready, process, draw, and a whole lot of other functions that this. It seemed wasteful to put all this on an object whose purpose is to hold a few functions that the level can call. Is it common to use Nodes for objects that don't *do* anything themself?
  - u/[deleted]1Aug 1, 2026, 4:41 PM
  - u/Silrar1Aug 1, 2026, 4:43 PM
  - u/Silrar1Aug 1, 2026, 4:50 PM
u/NotXesa1Aug 1, 2026, 4:22 PM
Resources don't necessarily live in a scene tree so they can't have direct references to a instanced node. What you can do instead, is to have the Objective class extend Node, or Node2D/3D, and a ObjectiveResource class. The Objective class can be configured via an ObjectiveResource for the stuff that is not dependend of the scene tree, and use exported variables for the stuff that depends on the scene tree.
- u/stonehead741Aug 1, 2026, 4:31 PM
  That could work. Is there a reason to use ObjectiveResource for static configurations like turn count instead of exporting that from the Objective class?
  - u/NotXesa1Aug 1, 2026, 4:54 PM
u/billystein251Aug 1, 2026, 4:23 PM
You can export a NodePath and run get_node using that path (get_node is on scope Node so you need to run it from the node this resource is attached to) or export a Node on the node that the resource is attached to and request that reference.
u/[deleted]1Aug 1, 2026, 4:29 PM
[removed]
u/dfx811Aug 1, 2026, 5:09 PM
You can't assign node references to resources as resources technically are something saved to the disk. Best you can do is node path. What can you do is to have the Objective class extends Node (not Node2D/Node3D, regular Node have no rendering/positioning) and put them in the scene. You can also disable the node process entirely if it's not needed, but Node is lightweight enough so it won't matter anyway. If you want something even more lightweight, you can go lower into RefCounted or even Object but these will need to be instantiated and held by your level script since there's nothing to add to the scene at all.
u/partybusiness1Aug 1, 2026, 6:16 PM
I think NodePath is the most likely solution. If you look at ViewportTexture for an example, that is a Resource, because it inherits from Texture2D. But it needs to be able to access a given Viewport in the scene. The viewport_path property is a NodePath. The other possibility is make your Objective class extend Node instead of Resource. Resources can exist outside of any Scene file which can be convenient in some cases but if your Objectives need to be tightly coupled to things inside of a given scene file, you maybe don't need that.