What's the event order in a new room?

All placed instances run their Create events first, then the room’s Creation Code, then every instance’s Room Start event. Setting global state in Creation Code that instances’ Create depends on is out of order.

How do I initialize globals before instances?

Put a single “init controller” object in your first room with high creation order priority. Its Create runs early; use it to set globals. Subsequent instance Create events see initialized state.

Should I use Room Start instead?

Room Start fires after both Create and Creation Code. Use for per-room setup that depends on instance state being initialized. Good for spawning bosses based on player level, e.g.

Fix: GameMaker Room Creation Code Runs After Instance Create

Quick answer: Order is instance Create → room Creation Code → instance Room Start. For globals needed in Create, use a persistent init controller from the first room or set values via Game Start event.

A level’s Creation Code sets global.difficulty = 2. Placed instances’ Create events read difficulty and configure stats. Stats are wrong because Create runs first; difficulty was still its previous value at that moment.

Event Order in a New Room

All placed instances fire Create event (in some order).
Room Creation Code runs.
All instances fire Room Start event.

So Creation Code is too late to influence Create-time logic. The fix is either to init earlier or to defer instance logic to Room Start.

Option 1: Init Controller

Place a single obj_init controller in the first room of the game (persistent). Its Create event sets global variables. Subsequent room loads don’t recreate it (persistent); globals remain.

/// obj_init Create
persistent = true;
if (instance_number(obj_init) > 1) { instance_destroy(); exit; }
global.difficulty = 2;
global.gravity = 0.5;

Option 2: Game Start Event

Each object can have a Game Start event — fires once when the game launches, before any room. Use for true app-init logic:

/// obj_anything Game Start (rarely used but powerful)
global.config = init_config();

Option 3: Move Instance Logic to Room Start

If your instances can defer their setup until after Creation Code:

/// obj_enemy Room Start
hp = max(10, 20 * global.difficulty);   // safe; global is set

Room Start runs after Creation Code, so globals are populated. Some logic must stay in Create (positioning, sprite setup); others can move to Room Start.

Verifying

Print global.difficulty at the top of obj_enemy.Create and obj_enemy.RoomStart. Confirm Create sees the previous value and RoomStart sees the new one. Plan instance logic accordingly.

“Create runs before Creation Code. If you need globals at Create time, set them earlier in an init controller or Game Start.”

Document the event order in your project README — new contributors won’t guess it correctly and the bug is subtle.