diff --git a/src/lua_script.c b/src/lua_script.c
index 6b7b122f0..d2069e8a7 100644
--- a/src/lua_script.c
+++ b/src/lua_script.c
@@ -730,9 +730,13 @@ void LUA_InvalidatePlayer(player_t *player)
 enum
 {
 	ARCH_NULL=0,
-	ARCH_BOOLEAN,
-	ARCH_SIGNED,
-	ARCH_STRING,
+	ARCH_TRUE,
+	ARCH_FALSE,
+	ARCH_INT8,
+	ARCH_INT16,
+	ARCH_INT32,
+	ARCH_SMALLSTRING,
+	ARCH_LARGESTRING,
 	ARCH_TABLE,
 
 	ARCH_MOBJINFO,
@@ -817,22 +821,33 @@ static UINT8 ArchiveValue(int TABLESINDEX, int myindex)
 		WRITEUINT8(save_p, ARCH_NULL);
 		return 2;
 	case LUA_TBOOLEAN:
-		WRITEUINT8(save_p, ARCH_BOOLEAN);
-		WRITEUINT8(save_p, lua_toboolean(gL, myindex));
+		WRITEUINT8(save_p, lua_toboolean(gL, myindex) ? ARCH_TRUE : ARCH_FALSE);
 		break;
 	case LUA_TNUMBER:
 	{
 		lua_Integer number = lua_tointeger(gL, myindex);
-        WRITEUINT8(save_p, ARCH_SIGNED);
-        WRITEFIXED(save_p, number);
+		if (number >= INT8_MIN && number <= INT8_MAX)
+		{
+			WRITEUINT8(save_p, ARCH_INT8);
+			WRITESINT8(save_p, number);
+		}
+		else if (number >= INT16_MIN && number <= INT16_MAX)
+		{
+			WRITEUINT8(save_p, ARCH_INT16);
+			WRITEINT16(save_p, number);
+		}
+		else
+		{
+			WRITEUINT8(save_p, ARCH_INT32);
+			WRITEFIXED(save_p, number);
+		}
 		break;
 	}
 	case LUA_TSTRING:
 	{
-		UINT16 len = (UINT16)lua_objlen(gL, myindex); // get length of string, including embedded zeros
+		UINT32 len = (UINT32)lua_objlen(gL, myindex); // get length of string, including embedded zeros
 		const char *s = lua_tostring(gL, myindex);
-		UINT16 i = 0;
-		WRITEUINT8(save_p, ARCH_STRING);
+		UINT32 i = 0;
 		// if you're wondering why we're writing a string to save_p this way,
 		// it turns out that Lua can have embedded zeros ('\0') in the strings,
 		// so we can't use WRITESTRING as that cuts off when it finds a '\0'.
@@ -840,7 +855,16 @@ static UINT8 ArchiveValue(int TABLESINDEX, int myindex)
 		// fixing the awful crashes previously encountered for reading strings longer than 1024
 		// (yes I know that's kind of a stupid thing to care about, but it'd be evil to trim or ignore them?)
 		// -- Monster Iestyn 05/08/18
-		WRITEUINT16(save_p, len); // save size of string
+		if (len < 255)
+		{
+			WRITEUINT8(save_p, ARCH_SMALLSTRING);
+			WRITEUINT8(save_p, len); // save size of string
+		}
+		else
+		{
+			WRITEUINT8(save_p, ARCH_LARGESTRING);
+			WRITEUINT32(save_p, len); // save size of string
+		}
 		while (i < len)
 			WRITECHAR(save_p, s[i++]); // write chars individually, including the embedded zeros
 		break;
@@ -1170,21 +1194,36 @@ static UINT8 UnArchiveValue(int TABLESINDEX)
 	case ARCH_NULL:
 		lua_pushnil(gL);
 		break;
-	case ARCH_BOOLEAN:
-		lua_pushboolean(gL, READUINT8(save_p));
+	case ARCH_TRUE:
+		lua_pushboolean(gL, true);
 		break;
-	case ARCH_SIGNED:
+	case ARCH_FALSE:
+		lua_pushboolean(gL, false);
+		break;
+	case ARCH_INT8:
+		lua_pushinteger(gL, READSINT8(save_p));
+		break;
+	case ARCH_INT16:
+		lua_pushinteger(gL, READINT16(save_p));
+		break;
+	case ARCH_INT32:
 		lua_pushinteger(gL, READFIXED(save_p));
 		break;
-	case ARCH_STRING:
+	case ARCH_SMALLSTRING:
+	case ARCH_LARGESTRING:
 	{
-		UINT16 len = READUINT16(save_p); // length of string, including embedded zeros
+		UINT32 len;
 		char *value;
-		UINT16 i = 0;
+		UINT32 i = 0;
+
 		// See my comments in the ArchiveValue function;
 		// it's much the same for reading strings as writing them!
 		// (i.e. we can't use READSTRING either)
 		// -- Monster Iestyn 05/08/18
+		if (type == ARCH_SMALLSTRING)
+			len = READUINT8(save_p); // length of string, including embedded zeros
+		else
+			len = READUINT32(save_p); // length of string, including embedded zeros
 		value = malloc(len); // make temp buffer of size len
 		// now read the actual string
 		while (i < len)