GameObject or Entity Tasks

Export

Choose GameObject Tasks for the first tree and most component-based projects. Choose Entity Tasks when the behavior already belongs in an ECS workflow or profiling shows that data-oriented execution is necessary at scale.

What the Entities dependency does and does not require

Behavior Designer Pro requires Entities because its runtime traversal uses that package internally. This does not require your gameplay code, characters, or custom Tasks to use ECS.

Start with GameObject Tasks when you want to:

  • reference GameObjects, Components, Animators, NavMeshAgents, or ordinary scene objects;
  • call existing MonoBehaviour properties and methods;
  • inspect Unity object references directly in the Element Inspector; or
  • keep authoring cost low until profiling identifies a bottleneck.

Use Entity Tasks when you want to:

  • read or write ECS component data;
  • bake authoring data into entities;
  • run the same behavior across many entities; or
  • keep the behavior inside an existing data-oriented architecture.

Compare the workflows

Decision GameObject Task Entity Task
Authoring cost Component references configured in the Inspector Authoring component, baking, and system setup
Primary data GameObjects, Components, Shared Variables Entities and ECS component data
Scene references Direct or Shared Variable references Authoring and baking workflow
Custom code route GameObject Task Entity Task
Runtime preparation Behavior Tree component Entity baking and entity-compatible Tasks
Best validation Inspect the selected GameObject and active Tasks Inspect baking, entity data, and active tree status

The green border used by pure ECS Tasks identifies their execution capability; it is not an error and does not mean the surrounding tree must contain only Entity Tasks.

Make the decision per behavior

A project may use GameObject behavior for a boss or player companion and Entity behavior for a large crowd. Choose according to data ownership and measured scale rather than converting every Task because Entities is installed.

Entity Baking covers the authoring, baking, and spawning workflow that Entity Tasks require. Performance covers what each route actually costs at runtime.

Troubleshooting

Symptom Check Fix
A familiar Component does not appear in an Entity Task. The Task is using ECS data rather than a GameObject reference. Use a GameObject Task or author the required ECS component and baking path.
The project has Entities installed but no ECS gameplay. Entities is a Behavior Designer Pro runtime dependency. Continue with GameObject Tasks; no gameplay conversion is required.
An Entity tree has no expected runtime data. Check baking, SubScenes, entity components, and authoring references. Follow Entity Baking and verify the baked entity before debugging tree flow.