diff --git a/Barotrauma/BarotraumaClient/Source/Networking/ChatMessage.cs b/Barotrauma/BarotraumaClient/Source/Networking/ChatMessage.cs
index 4ca7e1297..668f7ac08 100644
--- a/Barotrauma/BarotraumaClient/Source/Networking/ChatMessage.cs
+++ b/Barotrauma/BarotraumaClient/Source/Networking/ChatMessage.cs
@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@ namespace Barotrauma.Networking
             ChatMessageType type = (ChatMessageType)msg.ReadByte();
             string txt = msg.ReadString();
 
-            string senderName = "";
+            string senderName = msg.ReadString();
             Character senderCharacter = null;
             bool hasSenderCharacter = msg.ReadBoolean();
             if (hasSenderCharacter)
@@ -33,10 +33,6 @@ namespace Barotrauma.Networking
                     senderName = senderCharacter.Name;
                 }
             }
-            else
-            {
-                senderName = msg.ReadString();
-            }
 
             if (NetIdUtils.IdMoreRecent(ID, LastID))
             {
diff --git a/Barotrauma/BarotraumaClient/Source/Networking/GameClient.cs b/Barotrauma/BarotraumaClient/Source/Networking/GameClient.cs
index aafe2d4ac..50806f08b 100644
--- a/Barotrauma/BarotraumaClient/Source/Networking/GameClient.cs
+++ b/Barotrauma/BarotraumaClient/Source/Networking/GameClient.cs
@@ -1064,7 +1064,7 @@ namespace Barotrauma.Networking
                 gameStarted && myCharacter != null ? myCharacter.Name : name,
                 message, 
                 ChatMessageType.Default, 
-                gameStarted ? myCharacter : null);
+                gameStarted && myCharacter != null ? myCharacter : null);
 
             lastQueueChatMsgID++;
             chatMessage.NetStateID = lastQueueChatMsgID;
diff --git a/Barotrauma/BarotraumaShared/Source/Networking/ChatMessage.cs b/Barotrauma/BarotraumaShared/Source/Networking/ChatMessage.cs
index aea118e94..724739997 100644
--- a/Barotrauma/BarotraumaShared/Source/Networking/ChatMessage.cs
+++ b/Barotrauma/BarotraumaShared/Source/Networking/ChatMessage.cs
@@ -224,15 +224,12 @@ namespace Barotrauma.Networking
             msg.Write((byte)Type);
             msg.Write(Text);
 
+            msg.Write(SenderName);
             msg.Write(Sender != null && c.InGame);
             if (Sender != null && c.InGame)
             {
                 msg.Write(Sender.ID);
             }
-            else
-            {
-                msg.Write(SenderName);
-            }
         }
 
     }
diff --git a/Barotrauma/BarotraumaShared/Source/Networking/EntitySpawner.cs b/Barotrauma/BarotraumaShared/Source/Networking/EntitySpawner.cs
index fd08e1f61..5b66e2709 100644
--- a/Barotrauma/BarotraumaShared/Source/Networking/EntitySpawner.cs
+++ b/Barotrauma/BarotraumaShared/Source/Networking/EntitySpawner.cs
@@ -108,6 +108,13 @@ namespace Barotrauma
         {
             if (GameMain.Client != null) return;
             if (removeQueue.Contains(entity) || entity.Removed) return;
+            if (entity is Character)
+            {
+                Character character = entity as Character;
+                Client client = GameMain.Server.ConnectedClients.Find(c => c.Character == character);
+                if (client != null) client.Character = null;
+            }
+            
 
             removeQueue.Enqueue(entity);
         }