diff --git a/polymer/eduke32/source/lunatic/defs.ilua b/polymer/eduke32/source/lunatic/defs.ilua
index 59fc07bd1..baa076c3d 100644
--- a/polymer/eduke32/source/lunatic/defs.ilua
+++ b/polymer/eduke32/source/lunatic/defs.ilua
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
+-- INTERNAL
 -- definitions of BUILD and game types for the Lunatic Interpreter
--- INTERNAL!
 
 local ffi = require("ffi")
 
@@ -567,20 +567,21 @@ function getbunch(sectnum, cf)
 end
 
 
+-- gamevarNames[name] is true if that gamevar was declared
+local gamevarNames = {}
+
 -- code for prohibiting initial assignments to create new variables,
 -- based on 14.2 of PiL
 function gamevar(name, initval)  -- aka 'declare'
-    local declaredNames = {}
-
     if (type(name) ~= "string") then
         error("First argument to 'gamevar' must be a string", 2);
     end
 
-    if (~string.match(name, "^[%a_][%w_]*$")) then
+    if (not string.match(name, "^[%a_][%w_]*$")) then
         error("First argument to 'gamevar' must be a valid identifier", 2);
     end
 
-    if (declaredNames[name]) then
+    if (gamevarNames[name]) then
         error(string.format("Duplicate declaration of identifier '%s'", name), 2)
     end
 
@@ -588,11 +589,90 @@ function gamevar(name, initval)  -- aka 'declare'
         error(string.format("Identifier name '%s' is already used in the global environment", name), 2)
     end
 
-    declaredNames[name] = true
+    gamevarNames[name] = true
     rawset(G_, name, initval or false)
 end
 
 
+---=== Serialization, from PiL with modifications ===---
+local function basicSerialize(o)
+    if (type(o) == "number") then
+        if (o ~= o) then return "0/0" end  -- nan
+        if (o == 1/0) then return "1/0" end  -- inf
+        if (o == -1/0) then return "-1/0" end  -- -inf
+
+        return tostring(o)
+    else  -- must be a string
+        if (type(o) ~= "string") then
+            error("cannot save a " .. type(o) .. " as key of a table", 3);
+        end
+
+        return string.format("%q", o)
+    end
+end
+
+-- will contain all gamevar tables as keys (and true as value)
+local tmpgvtabs = {}
+
+local function save(name, value, saved, strings)
+    saved = saved or {}       -- initial value
+
+    strings[#strings+1] = name .. "="
+
+    if (type(value) == "number" or type(value) == "string") then
+        strings[#strings+1] = basicSerialize(value) .. "\n"
+    elseif (type(value) == "table") then
+        if (saved[value]) then    -- value already saved?
+            strings[#strings+1] = saved[value] .. "\n"  -- use its previous name
+        else
+            saved[value] = name   -- save name for next time
+            strings[#strings+1] = "{}\n"  -- create a new table
+
+            for k,v in pairs(value) do      -- save its fields
+                local fieldname = string.format("%s[%s]", name, basicSerialize(k))
+                if (type(v)=="table" and not tmpgvtabs[v]) then
+                    error("cannot save \""..name..
+                          "\": gamevar tables may only contain tables that are also gamevars", 2)
+                end
+                save(fieldname, v, saved, strings)
+            end
+        end
+    else
+        error("cannot save \""..name.."\", a " .. type(value), 2)
+    end
+end
+
+local function serializeGamevars()
+    local saved = {}
+    local strings = {}
+
+    for gvname,_ in pairs(gamevarNames) do
+        if (type(G_[gvname])=="table") then
+            tmpgvtabs[G_[gvname]] = true
+        end
+    end
+
+    -- TODO: catch errors in save()
+    for gvname,_ in pairs(gamevarNames) do
+        save(gvname, G_[gvname], saved, strings)
+    end
+    strings[#strings+1] = "\n"
+
+    tmpgvtabs = {}
+
+    return table.concat(strings)
+end
+
+local function loadGamevarsString(string)
+    assert(loadstring(string))()
+end
+
+DBG_.serializeGamevars = serializeGamevars
+DBG_.loadGamevarsString = loadGamevarsString
+
+
+---=== Environment setup ===---
+
 -- add new variables/functions living in the global environment
 G_.DBG_ = DBG_  -- REMOVE this for release
 G_.gv = gv
diff --git a/polymer/eduke32/source/lunatic/lunacon.lua b/polymer/eduke32/source/lunatic/lunacon.lua
index e0c19487c..10242d4de 100644
--- a/polymer/eduke32/source/lunatic/lunacon.lua
+++ b/polymer/eduke32/source/lunatic/lunacon.lua
@@ -708,7 +708,7 @@ end
 -- Returns index into the sorted table tab such that
 --   tab[index] <= searchelt < tab[index+1].
 -- Preconditions:
---  tab[i] < tab[i+1] for i < i+1 and 1 < i < #tab
+--  tab[i] < tab[i+1] for 1 <= i < #tab
 --  tab[1] <= searchelt < tab[#tab]
 -- If tab has less than 2 elements, returns nil.
 local function bsearch(tab, searchelt)
diff --git a/polymer/eduke32/source/lunatic/test.elua b/polymer/eduke32/source/lunatic/test.elua
index 68f680b82..5bb6e4cbf 100644
--- a/polymer/eduke32/source/lunatic/test.elua
+++ b/polymer/eduke32/source/lunatic/test.elua
@@ -1,5 +1,7 @@
 -- test script for ELua/Lunatic Interpreter
 
+--return
+
 print('--- ELua Test script ---')
 
 local function checkfail(funcstr)
@@ -11,6 +13,27 @@ local function checkfail(funcstr)
     end
 end
 
+
+---- check serialization ----
+gamevar("ourvar")
+gamevar("ourvar2")
+
+-- test nans, infs, precision, subnorms
+ourvar2 = { "asd"; 0/0, 1/0, -1/0, 0.12345678901234567, 1e-314 }
+ourvar = { ourvar2; 1, 2, 3, "qwe" }
+ourvar[#ourvar+1] = ourvar;
+
+local gvstr = DBG_.serializeGamevars()
+ourvar = -1
+
+print("---------- attempting to load string: ----------")
+print(gvstr)
+print("---------- (end string to load) ----------")
+
+DBG_.loadGamevarsString(gvstr)
+print("ourvar[4]="..ourvar[4])
+
+
 local i
 
 print('tweaking sector pals')