diff --git a/src/java/com/threerings/io/FramedInputStream.java b/src/java/com/threerings/io/FramedInputStream.java
index f0ddd7a5f..8bdfa01c3 100644
--- a/src/java/com/threerings/io/FramedInputStream.java
+++ b/src/java/com/threerings/io/FramedInputStream.java
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 //
-// $Id: FramedInputStream.java,v 1.5 2003/07/07 22:35:38 eric Exp $
+// $Id: FramedInputStream.java,v 1.6 2003/07/09 05:13:34 mdb Exp $
 
 package com.threerings.io;
 
@@ -91,6 +91,12 @@ public class FramedInputStream extends InputStream
             }
             _have += got;
 
+            if (_length == -1) {
+                // if we didn't already have our length, see if we now
+                // have enough data to obtain it
+                _length = decodeLength();
+            }
+
             // if there's room remaining in the buffer, that means we've
             // read all there is to read, so we can move on to inspecting
             // what we've got
@@ -98,6 +104,14 @@ public class FramedInputStream extends InputStream
                 break;
             }
 
+            // additionally, if the buffer happened to be exactly as long
+            // as we needed, we need to break as well
+            if ((_length > 0) && (_have >= _length)) {
+                System.err.println("Phew, we would have been screwed in " +
+                                   "the previous release (" + _length + ").");
+                break;
+            }
+
             // otherwise, we've filled up our buffer as a result of this
             // read, expand it and try reading some more
             ByteBuffer newbuf = ByteBuffer.allocate(_buffer.capacity() << 1);
@@ -107,12 +121,6 @@ public class FramedInputStream extends InputStream
             // don't let things grow without bounds
         } while (_buffer.capacity() < MAX_BUFFER_CAPACITY);
 
-        // if we didn't already have our length, see if we now have enough
-        // data to obtain it
-        if (_length == -1) {
-            _length = decodeLength();
-        }
-
         // finally check to see if there's a complete frame in the buffer
         // and prepare to serve it up if there is
         return checkForCompleteFrame();