diff --git a/src/main/as/com/threerings/presents/client/Client.as b/src/main/as/com/threerings/presents/client/Client.as
index 28ffb6c22..5e870214b 100644
--- a/src/main/as/com/threerings/presents/client/Client.as
+++ b/src/main/as/com/threerings/presents/client/Client.as
@@ -273,11 +273,22 @@ public class Client extends EventDispatcher
         // we need to wait for the CLIENT_WILL_LOGON to have been dispatched before we actually
         // tell the communicator to logon, so we run this through the callLater pipeline
         _comm = new Communicator(this);
-        callLater(_comm.logon);
+        callLater(function () :void {
+            _comm.logon(buildClientProps());
+        });
 
         return true;
     }
 
+    /**
+     * Create the client property object to pass to {@link ObjectInputStream}. Subclasses may
+     * add references useful during e.g. deserialization.
+     */
+    protected function buildClientProps () :Object
+    {
+        return { invDir: _invdir };
+    }
+
     /**
      * Transitions a logged on client from its current server to the specified new server.
      * Currently this simply logs the client off of its current server (if it is logged on) and
diff --git a/src/main/as/com/threerings/presents/client/Communicator.as b/src/main/as/com/threerings/presents/client/Communicator.as
index aa22c5068..e0636339b 100644
--- a/src/main/as/com/threerings/presents/client/Communicator.as
+++ b/src/main/as/com/threerings/presents/client/Communicator.as
@@ -21,7 +21,6 @@
 
 package com.threerings.presents.client {
 
-import flash.errors.IOError;
 import flash.events.Event;
 import flash.events.IOErrorEvent;
 import flash.events.SecurityErrorEvent;
@@ -55,13 +54,13 @@ public class Communicator
         _client = client;
     }
 
-    public function logon () :void
+    public function logon (clientProps :Object = null) :void
     {
         // create our input/output business
         _outBuffer = new ByteArray();
         _outBuffer.endian = Endian.BIG_ENDIAN;
         _outStream = new ObjectOutputStream(_outBuffer);
-        _inStream = new ObjectInputStream(null, { invDir: _client.getInvocationDirector() });
+        _inStream = new ObjectInputStream(null, clientProps);
 
         attemptLogon(0);
     }