diff --git a/app/ecs/ecs.js b/app/ecs/ecs.js
index c98574a..33b5cef 100644
--- a/app/ecs/ecs.js
+++ b/app/ecs/ecs.js
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 import Component from './component.js';
 import EntityFactory from './entity-factory.js';
+import Schema from './schema.js';
 import System from './system.js';
 
 export default class Ecs {
@@ -122,8 +123,15 @@ export default class Ecs {
   static deserialize(view) {
     const ecs = new this();
     let cursor = 0;
+    const headerComponents = view.getUint16(cursor, true);
+    cursor += 2;
+    const keys = [];
+    for (let i = 0; i < headerComponents; ++i) {
+      const wrapped = {value: cursor};
+      keys[i] = Schema.deserialize(view, wrapped, {type: 'string'});
+      cursor = wrapped.value;
+    }
     const count = view.getUint32(cursor, true);
-    const keys = Object.keys(ecs.Types);
     cursor += 4;
     const creating = new Map();
     const updating = new Map();
@@ -142,8 +150,12 @@ export default class Ecs {
         const componentId = view.getUint16(cursor, true);
         cursor += 2;
         const component = keys[componentId];
-        if (!component) {
-          throw new Error(`can't decode component ${componentId}`);
+        const componentSize = view.getUint32(cursor, true);
+        cursor += 4;
+        if (!this.Types[component]) {
+          console.error(`can't deserialize nonexistent component ${component}`);
+          cursor += componentSize;
+          continue;
         }
         if (!ecs.$$entities[entityId]) {
           creating.get(entityId)[component] = false;
@@ -156,7 +168,7 @@ export default class Ecs {
           updating.get(component).push([entityId, false]);
         }
         cursors.get(entityId)[component] = cursor;
-        cursor += ecs.Types[component].constructor.schema.readSize(view, cursor);
+        cursor += componentSize;
       }
       if (addedComponents.length > 0 && ecs.$$entities[entityId]) {
         ecs.rebuild(entityId, (types) => types.concat(addedComponents));
@@ -333,9 +345,15 @@ export default class Ecs {
       view = new DataView(new ArrayBuffer(ecs.size()));
     }
     let cursor = 0;
+    const keys = Object.keys(ecs.Types);
+    view.setUint16(cursor, keys.length, true);
+    cursor += 2;
+    for (const i in keys) {
+      cursor += Schema.serialize(keys[i], view, cursor, {type: 'string'});
+    }
+    const entitiesWrittenAt = cursor;
     let entitiesWritten = 0;
     cursor += 4;
-    const keys = Object.keys(ecs.Types);
     for (const entityId of ecs.entities) {
       const entity = ecs.get(entityId);
       entitiesWritten += 1;
@@ -343,18 +361,21 @@ export default class Ecs {
       cursor += 4;
       const entityComponents = entity.constructor.types;
       view.setUint16(cursor, entityComponents.length, true);
-      const componentsWrittenIndex = cursor;
+      const componentsWrittenAt = cursor;
       cursor += 2;
       for (const component of entityComponents) {
         const instance = ecs.Types[component];
         view.setUint16(cursor, keys.indexOf(component), true);
         cursor += 2;
+        const sizeOf = instance.sizeOf(entityId);
+        view.setUint32(cursor, sizeOf, true);
+        cursor += 4;
         instance.serialize(entityId, view, cursor);
-        cursor += instance.sizeOf(entityId);
+        cursor += sizeOf;
       }
-      view.setUint16(componentsWrittenIndex, entityComponents.length, true);
+      view.setUint16(componentsWrittenAt, entityComponents.length, true);
     }
-    view.setUint32(0, entitiesWritten, true);
+    view.setUint32(entitiesWrittenAt, entitiesWritten, true);
     return view;
   }
 
@@ -363,8 +384,14 @@ export default class Ecs {
   }
 
   size() {
+    let size = 0;
+    // # of components.
+    size += 2;
+    for (const type in this.Types) {
+      size += Schema.sizeOf(type, {type: 'string'});
+    }
     // # of entities.
-    let size = 4;
+    size += 4;
     for (const entityId of this.entities) {
       size += this.get(entityId).size();
     }
diff --git a/app/ecs/ecs.test.js b/app/ecs/ecs.test.js
index c90f1a6..231cc7e 100644
--- a/app/ecs/ecs.test.js
+++ b/app/ecs/ecs.test.js
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-import {expect, test} from 'vitest';
+import {expect, test, vi} from 'vitest';
 
 import Ecs from './ecs.js';
 import System from './system.js';
@@ -403,31 +403,33 @@ test('calculates entity size', () => {
   const ecs = new SizingEcs();
   ecs.createSpecific(1, {Empty: {}, Position: {}});
   // ID + # of components + Empty + Position + x + y + z
-  // 4  + 2               + 2     + 2        + 4 + 4 + 4 = 22
+  // 4  + 2               + 2 + 4 + 2 + 4    + 4 + 4 + 4 = 30
   expect(ecs.get(1).size())
-    .to.equal(22);
+    .to.equal(30);
 });
 
 test('serializes and deserializes', () => {
   class SerializingEcs extends Ecs {
     static Types = {Empty, Name, Position};
   }
+  // # of components + strings (Empty,  Name,   Position)
+  // 2               +          4 + 5 + 4 + 4 + 4 + 8     = 31
   const ecs = new SerializingEcs();
   // ID + # of components + Empty + Position + x + y + z
-  // 4  + 2               + 2     + 2        + 4 + 4 + 4 = 22
+  // 4  + 2               + 2 + 4 + 2 + 4    + 4 + 4 + 4 = 30
   ecs.createSpecific(1, {Empty: {}, Position: {x: 64}});
-  // ID + # of components + Name + 'foobar' + Position + x + y + z
-  // 4  + 2               + 2    + 4 + 6    + 2        + 4 + 4 + 4 = 32
+  // ID + # of components + Name  + 'foobar' + Position + x + y + z
+  // 4  + 2               + 2 + 4 + 4 + 6    + 2 + 4    + 4 + 4 + 4 = 40
   ecs.createSpecific(16, {Name: {name: 'foobar'}, Position: {x: 128}});
   const view = SerializingEcs.serialize(ecs);
-  // # of entities + Entity(1) + Entity(16)
-  // 4             + 22        + 32         = 58
+  // # of entities + Header + Entity(1) + Entity(16)
+  // 4             + 31     + 30        + 40         = 105
   expect(view.byteLength)
-    .to.equal(58);
+    .to.equal(105);
   // Entity values.
-  expect(view.getUint32(4 + 22 - 12, true))
+  expect(view.getUint32(4 + 31 + 30 - 12, true))
     .to.equal(64);
-  expect(view.getUint32(4 + 22 + 32 - 12, true))
+  expect(view.getUint32(4 + 31 + 30 + 40 - 12, true))
     .to.equal(128);
   const deserialized = SerializingEcs.deserialize(view);
   // # of entities.
@@ -449,11 +451,33 @@ test('serializes and deserializes', () => {
     .to.equal('foobar');
 });
 
+test('deserializes from compatible ECS', () => {
+  class DeserializingEcs extends Ecs {
+    static Types = {Empty, Name};
+  }
+  class SerializingEcs extends Ecs {
+    static Types = {Empty, Name, Position};
+  }
+  const ecs = new SerializingEcs();
+  ecs.createSpecific(1, {Empty: {}, Position: {x: 64}});
+  ecs.createSpecific(16, {Name: {name: 'foobar'}, Position: {x: 128}});
+  const view = SerializingEcs.serialize(ecs);
+  const consoleErrorSpy = vi.spyOn(console, 'error').mockImplementation(() => {});
+  const deserialized = DeserializingEcs.deserialize(view);
+  expect(consoleErrorSpy.mock.calls.length)
+    .to.equal(2);
+  consoleErrorSpy.mockRestore();
+  expect(deserialized.get(1).toJSON())
+    .to.deep.equal({Empty: {}});
+  expect(deserialized.get(16).toJSON())
+    .to.deep.equal({Name: {name: 'foobar'}});
+});
+
 test('deserializes empty', () => {
   class SerializingEcs extends Ecs {
     static Types = {Empty, Name, Position};
   }
-  const ecs = SerializingEcs.deserialize(new DataView(new Uint32Array([0]).buffer));
+  const ecs = SerializingEcs.deserialize(new DataView(new Uint16Array([0, 0, 0]).buffer));
   expect(ecs)
     .to.not.be.undefined;
 });
diff --git a/app/ecs/entity-factory.js b/app/ecs/entity-factory.js
index e7634b7..dbf2a6b 100644
--- a/app/ecs/entity-factory.js
+++ b/app/ecs/entity-factory.js
@@ -28,7 +28,7 @@ export default class EntityFactory {
           let size = 0;
           for (const component of this.constructor.types) {
             const instance = Types[component];
-            size += 2 + instance.constructor.schema.sizeOf(instance.get(this.id));
+            size += 2 + 4 + instance.constructor.schema.sizeOf(instance.get(this.id));
           }
           // ID + # of components.
           return size + 4 + 2;
diff --git a/app/ecs/schema.js b/app/ecs/schema.js
index beb6fbf..dafb4fb 100644
--- a/app/ecs/schema.js
+++ b/app/ecs/schema.js
@@ -145,41 +145,6 @@ export default class Schema {
     return {...normalized, defaultValue: this.defaultValue(normalized)};
   }
 
-  static readSize(view, offset, specification) {
-    const size = this.size(specification);
-    if (size > 0) {
-      return size;
-    }
-    switch (specification.type) {
-      case 'array': {
-        const length = view.getUint32(offset.value, true);
-        offset.value += 4;
-        let arraySize = 0;
-        for (let i = 0; i < length; ++i) {
-          arraySize += this.readSize(view, offset, specification.subtype);
-        }
-        return 4 + arraySize;
-      }
-      case 'object': {
-        let objectSize = 0;
-        for (const key in specification.properties) {
-          objectSize += this.readSize(view, offset, specification.properties[key]);
-        }
-        return objectSize;
-      }
-      case 'string': {
-        const length = view.getUint32(offset.value, true);
-        offset.value += 4 + length;
-        return 4 + length;
-      }
-    }
-  }
-
-  readSize(view, offset) {
-    const wrapped = {value: offset};
-    return this.constructor.readSize(view, wrapped, this.specification);
-  }
-
   static serialize(source, view, offset, specification) {
     const viewSetMethod = this.viewSetMethods[specification.type];
     if (viewSetMethod) {