partial restructuring towards allowing loops

Assets/Controller.cs

@@ -3,7 +3,10 @@ using TMPro;
 using UnityEngine;
 
 public class Controller : MonoBehaviour {
-    private List<RollerProperties> cableStartingPoints = new();
+    
+    [Tooltip("List of cables in the scene. Each cable consists of segments describing the link and last/first can optionally be fixed to points.")]
+    [SerializeField]
+    public List<Cable> cables = new();
 
     //Initialize
     void Awake() {
@@ -37,11 +40,9 @@ public class Controller : MonoBehaviour {
                 //collisions and physics
                 Rigidbody2D rb = go.GetOrAddComponent<Rigidbody2D>();
                 // mass is based on area, if not provided
-                if (rp.mass == null) {
-                    rb.useAutoMass = rp.mass == null;
-                }
-                else {
-                    rb.mass = rp.mass.Value;
+                rb.useAutoMass = rp.mass < 0;
+                if(rp.mass >= 0) {
+                    rb.mass = rp.mass;
                 }
                 rb.angularDrag = 1;
                 rb.drag = 1;
@@ -51,8 +52,6 @@ public class Controller : MonoBehaviour {
 
                 go.AddComponent<PolygonCollider2D>();
                 
-                //build list of cable starting objects 
-                cableStartingPoints.Add(rp);
                 Debug.Log("Initialized roller: " + go.name);
             }
         }
@@ -73,9 +72,6 @@ public class Controller : MonoBehaviour {
                         dist.autoConfigureDistance = false;
                         rp.distanceJoint2D = dist;
 
-                        //remove linked to objects, so only starting points remain
-                        cableStartingPoints.Remove(rp.linkTo);
-
                         //set fixed points only once
                         if (rp.useFixedAttachmentPoint) {
                             dist.anchor = rp.attachmentPoint;
@@ -126,7 +122,9 @@ public class Controller : MonoBehaviour {
             }
         }
         
-        Debug.Log("Initialized "+cableStartingPoints.Count+" cables");
+        Debug.Log("Initialized "+cables.Count+" cables");
+        
+        /* Define cables directly instead
         var cableNum = 0;
         //find and report loops of cables
         foreach (var cable in cableStartingPoints) {
@@ -139,7 +137,7 @@ public class Controller : MonoBehaviour {
                 }
                 visitedSegments.Add(segment);
             }
-        }
+        }*/
         
     }
 
@@ -156,7 +154,7 @@ public class Controller : MonoBehaviour {
         }
         
         if (waitedFrames++ > -1) {
-            CableJointsAlgorithm.TimeStep(cableStartingPoints);
+            CableJointsAlgorithm.TimeStep(cables);
             waitedFrames = 0;
         }
     }

Assets/Model.cs

@@ -0,0 +1,25 @@
+using System;
+using System.Collections.Generic;
+using JetBrains.Annotations;
+using UnityEngine;
+
+[Serializable]
+public class Cable {
+    [SerializeField]
+    public List<CableSegment> segments;
+}
+
+[Serializable]
+public class CableSegment {
+    [SerializeField]
+    public GameObject go;
+    //keep references to all of these, to reduce inefficient getComponent calls
+    protected RollerProperties rp = null;
+    protected RollerProperties linkToGO = null;
+    protected RollerProperties linkToRP = null;
+    protected DistanceJoint2D dist = null;
+
+    [SerializeField] public bool useFixedAttachmentPoint = false;
+    
+    [SerializeField] public Vector2 attachmentPoint = new Vector2(0,0);
+}

Assets/Model.cs.meta

@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+fileFormatVersion: 2
+guid: 35789436d28644f99ea0a7f2230944a1
+timeCreated: 1701891888

Assets/RollerProperties.cs

@@ -1,32 +1,27 @@
-using System.Collections.Generic;
 using TMPro;
-using Unity.VisualScripting;
 using UnityEngine;
 using UnityEngine.Serialization;
 
 [System.Serializable]
 public class RollerProperties : MonoBehaviour {
     //settings
-    /// rotation direction, used to determine attachment sides for the cables
+    [Tooltip("rotation direction, used to determine attachment sides for the cables")]
     [SerializeField] public bool clockwise = false;
-    [SerializeField] public RollerProperties linkTo = null;
-    [SerializeField] public List<RollerProperties> listTest;
-    [SerializeField] public RollerProperties[] arrayTest;
+    [Tooltip("Type of movement of the object. Powered behaves like a wheel, which can be toggled with \"t\".")]
     [SerializeField] public RotationType movement = RotationType.Fixed;
-    [FormerlySerializedAs("fixedAttachmentPoint")] [SerializeField] public bool useFixedAttachmentPoint = false;
-    [SerializeField] public Vector2 attachmentPoint = new Vector2(0, 0);
-    [SerializeField] public float? mass = null;
+    [Tooltip("Mass of the object. Use -1 to automatically calculate based on area.")]
+    [SerializeField] public float mass = -1;
 
     //references
     protected internal GameObject text;
     protected internal DistanceJoint2D distanceJoint2D = null;
-    protected internal GameObject linkToGameObject => linkTo.gameObject;
 
     //simulation properties
     protected internal float actualDistance;
 
     public (float?, float?) updateDistanceJoints() {
         Vector2? left = null, right = null;
+
         if (linkTo != null) {
             if (useFixedAttachmentPoint && !linkTo.useFixedAttachmentPoint) {
                 //left = attachmentPoint;

Assets/Scenes/MultipleCables.unity

@@ -393,6 +393,20 @@ MonoBehaviour:
   m_Script: {fileID: 11500000, guid: d406720d26e7d1e4ba8afd140d67de7e, type: 3}
   m_Name: 
   m_EditorClassIdentifier: 
+  cables:
+  - firstRoller: {fileID: 0}
+    segments:
+    - go: {fileID: 0}
+      fixedAttachmentPoint: 0
+      attachmentPoint7: {x: 0, y: 0}
+    - go: {fileID: 0}
+      fixedAttachmentPoint: 0
+      attachmentPoint7: {x: 0, y: 0}
+    - go: {fileID: 0}
+      fixedAttachmentPoint: 0
+      attachmentPoint7: {x: 0, y: 0}
+  cabletes:
+  - 0
 --- !u!1 &1306628726
 GameObject:
   m_ObjectHideFlags: 0

Packages/manifest.json

@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@
     "com.csutil.cscore": "https://github.com/cs-util-com/cscore.git?path=CsCore/PlainNetClassLib/src/Plugins",
     "com.unity.collab-proxy": "2.2.0",
     "com.unity.feature.2d": "2.0.0",
-    "com.unity.ide.rider": "3.0.26",
+    "com.unity.ide.rider": "3.0.27",
     "com.unity.test-framework": "1.3.9",
     "com.unity.textmeshpro": "3.0.6",
     "com.unity.timeline": "1.8.2",

Packages/packages-lock.json

@@ -151,7 +151,7 @@
       }
     },
     "com.unity.ide.rider": {
-      "version": "3.0.26",
+      "version": "3.0.27",
       "depth": 0,
       "source": "registry",
       "dependencies": {