diff --git a/engine/client/cl_demo.c b/engine/client/cl_demo.c
index 386f866af..b99123ca9 100644
--- a/engine/client/cl_demo.c
+++ b/engine/client/cl_demo.c
@@ -363,7 +363,7 @@ void CL_ProgressDemoTime(void)
 {
 	extern cvar_t cl_demospeed;
 
-	if (cl.parsecount && Media_PausedDemo())
+	if (cl.parsecount && Media_PausedDemo(true))
 	{	//console visible whilst democapturing
 		cls.netchan.last_received = realtime;
 		return;
@@ -1634,6 +1634,8 @@ void CL_PlayDemoStream(vfsfile_t *file, struct dl_download *dl, char *filename,
 	CL_Disconnect_f ();
 
 	demo_flushcache();
+
+	NET_InitClient(true);
 //
 // open the demo file
 //
@@ -1703,6 +1705,8 @@ void CL_PlayDemoFile(vfsfile_t *f, char *demoname, qboolean issyspath)
 		VFS_READ(f, &type, sizeof(type));
 		VFS_READ(f, &protocol, sizeof(protocol));
 		VFS_SEEK(f, start);
+		len = LittleLong(len);
+		protocol = LittleLong(protocol);
 		if (len > 5 && type == svcq2_serverdata && protocol == PROTOCOL_VERSION_Q2)
 		{
 			CL_PlayDemoStream(f, NULL, demoname, issyspath, DPB_QUAKE2, 0);
diff --git a/engine/client/cl_main.c b/engine/client/cl_main.c
index fb72ce2a1..3bf1f9bc6 100644
--- a/engine/client/cl_main.c
+++ b/engine/client/cl_main.c
@@ -677,6 +677,9 @@ void CL_CheckForResend (void)
 		pext2 = 0;
 		connectinfo.trying = true;
 		connectinfo.istransfer = false;
+
+		NET_InitClient(true);
+
 		Q_strncpyz (cls.servername, "internalserver", sizeof(cls.servername));
 		Cvar_ForceSet(&cl_servername, cls.servername);
 		NET_StringToAdr(cls.servername, 0, &connectinfo.adr);
@@ -842,6 +845,8 @@ void CL_CheckForResend (void)
 	if (connectinfo.time && realtime - connectinfo.time < 5.0)
 		return;
 
+	NET_InitClient(false);
+
 	t1 = Sys_DoubleTime ();
 	if (!connectinfo.istransfer)
 	{
@@ -5171,7 +5176,6 @@ void Host_Init (quakeparms_t *parms)
 #endif
 	Host_FixupModelNames();
 
-	NET_InitClient ();
 	Netchan_Init ();
 	Renderer_Init();
 	Mod_Init(true);
diff --git a/engine/client/m_mp3.c b/engine/client/m_mp3.c
index bc65a03e4..1b880899d 100644
--- a/engine/client/m_mp3.c
+++ b/engine/client/m_mp3.c
@@ -2847,7 +2847,7 @@ qboolean Media_UnregisterEncoder(struct plugin_s *plug, media_encoder_funcs_t *f
 	}
 	return success;
 }
-
+ 
 //returns 0 if not capturing. 1 if capturing live. 2 if capturing a demo (where frame timings are forced).
 int Media_Capturing (void)
 {
@@ -2861,12 +2861,17 @@ void Media_CapturePause_f (void)
 	capturepaused = !capturepaused;
 }
 
-qboolean Media_PausedDemo (void)
+qboolean Media_PausedDemo (qboolean fortiming)
 {
+	//if fortiming is set, then timing might need to advance if we still need to parse the demo to get the first valid data out of it.
+
+	if (capturepaused)
+		return true;
+
 	//capturedemo doesn't record any frames when the console is visible
 	//but that's okay, as we don't load any demo frames either.
-	if ((cls.demoplayback && Media_Capturing()) || capturepaused)
-		if (Key_Dest_Has(~kdm_game) || scr_con_current > 0 || !cl.validsequence || capturepaused)
+	if ((cls.demoplayback && Media_Capturing()))
+		if (Key_Dest_Has(~kdm_game) || scr_con_current > 0 || (!fortiming&&!cl.validsequence))
 			return true;
 
 	return false;
@@ -2908,7 +2913,7 @@ void Media_RecordFrame (void)
 		captureframe = 0;
 	}
 */
-	if (Media_PausedDemo())
+	if (Media_PausedDemo(false))
 	{
 		int y = vid.height -32-16;
 		if (y < scr_con_current) y = scr_con_current;
diff --git a/engine/client/render.h b/engine/client/render.h
index 89b6f1ff8..7f7e2783a 100644
--- a/engine/client/render.h
+++ b/engine/client/render.h
@@ -482,7 +482,7 @@ extern struct model_s		*currentmodel;
 qboolean Media_ShowFilm(void);
 void Media_CaptureDemoEnd(void);
 void Media_RecordFrame (void);
-qboolean Media_PausedDemo (void);
+qboolean Media_PausedDemo (qboolean fortiming);
 int Media_Capturing (void);
 double Media_TweekCaptureFrameTime(double oldtime, double time);
 
diff --git a/engine/common/net.h b/engine/common/net.h
index 1b66244ba..0213dcc6c 100644
--- a/engine/common/net.h
+++ b/engine/common/net.h
@@ -86,7 +86,7 @@ struct ftenet_connections_s;
 void		NET_Init (void);
 void		NET_Tick (void);
 void		SVNET_RegisterCvars(void);
-void		NET_InitClient (void);
+void		NET_InitClient (qboolean loopbackonly);
 void		NET_InitServer (void);
 qboolean	NET_WasSpecialPacket(netsrc_t netsrc);
 void		NET_CloseServer (void);
diff --git a/engine/common/net_wins.c b/engine/common/net_wins.c
index e083d5db5..1fb0afa3f 100644
--- a/engine/common/net_wins.c
+++ b/engine/common/net_wins.c
@@ -77,6 +77,7 @@ void IPX_CloseSocket (int socket);
 #endif
 cvar_t	net_hybriddualstack = CVAR("net_hybriddualstack", "1");
 cvar_t	net_fakeloss	= CVARFD("net_fakeloss", "0", CVAR_CHEAT, "Simulates packetloss in both receiving and sending, on a scale from 0 to 1.");
+cvar_t	net_enabled		= CVARD("net_enabled", "1", "If 0, disables all network access, including name resolution and socket creation. Does not affect loopback/internal connections.");
 
 extern cvar_t sv_public, sv_listen_qw, sv_listen_nq, sv_listen_dp, sv_listen_q3;
 
@@ -938,8 +939,6 @@ size_t	NET_StringToAdr2 (const char *s, int defaultport, netadr_t *a, size_t num
 
 	memset(a, 0, sizeof(*a)*numaddresses);
 
-	Con_DPrintf("Resolving address: %s\n", s);
-
 	if (!numaddresses)
 		return false;
 
@@ -948,6 +947,7 @@ size_t	NET_StringToAdr2 (const char *s, int defaultport, netadr_t *a, size_t num
 		a->type = NA_LOOPBACK;
 		return true;
 	}
+
 	if (!strncmp(s, "QLoopBack", 9))
 	{
 		a->type = NA_LOOPBACK;
@@ -958,6 +958,10 @@ size_t	NET_StringToAdr2 (const char *s, int defaultport, netadr_t *a, size_t num
 		return true;
 	}
 
+	if (!net_enabled.ival)
+		return false;
+	Con_DPrintf("Resolving address: %s\n", s);
+
 #ifdef HAVE_WEBSOCKCL
 	if (!strncmp (s, "ws://", 5) || !strncmp (s, "wss://", 6))
 	{
@@ -2557,17 +2561,19 @@ qboolean FTENET_Generic_SendPacket(ftenet_generic_connection_t *con, int length,
 qboolean	NET_PortToAdr (int adrfamily, const char *s, netadr_t *a)
 {
 	char *e;
-	int port;
-	port = strtoul(s, &e, 10);
-	if (*e)	//if *e then its not just a single number in there, so treat it as a proper address.
-		return NET_StringToAdr(s, 0, a);
-	else if (e != s)	//if we actually read something (even a 0)
+	if (net_enabled.ival || adrfamily == NA_LOOPBACK)
 	{
-		memset(a, 0, sizeof(*a));
-		a->port = htons((unsigned short)port);
-		a->type = adrfamily;
+		int port = strtoul(s, &e, 10);
+		if (*e)	//if *e then its not just a single number in there, so treat it as a proper address.
+			return NET_StringToAdr(s, 0, a);
+		else if (e != s)	//if we actually read something (even a 0)
+		{
+			memset(a, 0, sizeof(*a));
+			a->port = htons((unsigned short)port);
+			a->type = adrfamily;
 
-		return a->type != NA_INVALID;
+			return a->type != NA_INVALID;
+		}
 	}
 	a->type = NA_INVALID;
 	return false;
@@ -5553,23 +5559,27 @@ NET_Init
 */
 void NET_Init (void)
 {
-#if defined(_WIN32) && defined(HAVE_PACKET)
-	int		r;
-#ifdef IPPROTO_IPV6
-	dllfunction_t fncs[] =
+	Cvar_Register(&net_enabled, "networking");
+	if (!net_enabled.ival)
 	{
-		{(void**)&pgetaddrinfo, "getaddrinfo"},
-		{(void**)&pfreeaddrinfo, "freeaddrinfo"},
-		{NULL, NULL}
-	};
-	Sys_LoadLibrary("ws2_32.dll", fncs);
+#if defined(_WIN32) && defined(HAVE_PACKET)
+		int		r;
+#ifdef IPPROTO_IPV6
+		dllfunction_t fncs[] =
+		{
+			{(void**)&pgetaddrinfo, "getaddrinfo"},
+			{(void**)&pfreeaddrinfo, "freeaddrinfo"},
+			{NULL, NULL}
+		};
+		Sys_LoadLibrary("ws2_32.dll", fncs);
 #endif
 
-	r = WSAStartup (MAKEWORD(2, 2), &winsockdata);
+		r = WSAStartup (MAKEWORD(2, 2), &winsockdata);
 
-	if (r)
-		Sys_Error ("Winsock initialization failed.");
+		if (r)
+			Sys_Error ("Winsock initialization failed.");
 #endif
+	}
 
 	Cvar_Register(&net_hybriddualstack, "networking");
 	Cvar_Register(&net_fakeloss, "networking");
@@ -5591,7 +5601,7 @@ void NET_Init (void)
 	Net_Master_Init();
 }
 #ifndef SERVERONLY
-void NET_InitClient(void)
+void NET_InitClient(qboolean loopbackonly)
 {
 	const char *port;
 	int p;
@@ -5608,10 +5618,13 @@ void NET_InitClient(void)
 		port = com_argv[p+1];
 	}
 
-	cls.sockets = FTENET_CreateCollection(false);
+	if (!cls.sockets)
+		cls.sockets = FTENET_CreateCollection(false);
 #ifndef CLIENTONLY
 	FTENET_AddToCollection(cls.sockets, "CLLoopback", "1", NA_LOOPBACK, true);
 #endif
+	if (loopbackonly)
+		port = "";
 #ifdef HAVE_IPV4
 	FTENET_AddToCollection(cls.sockets, "CLUDP4", port, NA_IP, true);
 #endif