Merge uploads by the components they were serialized with

The controller merged uploads using the uploading instance's current config. An upload serialized under different settings, for example one sent from the save right after an admin turned on sync_inventories and restarted the instance, was then merged as if it held a character and wiped the stored one. Uploads now carry the components they were serialized with, the controller merges by those and drops the key before storing.

The scenario keeps the components a player's synced session started with and serializes their upload with them, so changing the options while a player is online takes effect the next time they join. A player whose session lacks a component that is now synced downloads again even if the generation matches. Downloads snapshot the components when they start, so a change during a download can't mix two sets.

A failed acquire unsyncs the player again regardless of the inventories setting, as before this branch.

The god and dead player inventories move from the inventories component to the controller one, matching what the scenario syncs, which removes the special case in mergePlayerData.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>

plugins/player_sync/module/player_sync.lua

@@ -24,9 +24,10 @@ local function is_in_cutscene(player)
 	return player.controller_type == defines.controllers.cutscene
 end
 
--- Returns true if the component is synced on this instance
-local function syncs(name)
-	return serialize.syncs(get_script_data().components, name)
+-- Remember the components a player's synced session uses, uploads are serialized with these
+local function start_sync(player_record, components)
+	player_record.sync = true
+	player_record.components = components
 end
 
 -- Remember the controller the player had before sync code replaced it, restored when the controller is not synced
@@ -95,7 +96,7 @@ function player_sync.serialize_player(player, player_record)
 	end
 
 	local failed_deserialization = get_script_data().failed_deserialization[player.name] or {}
-	local serialized_player = serialize.serialize_player(player, failed_deserialization, get_script_data().components)
+	local serialized_player = serialize.serialize_player(player, failed_deserialization, player_record.components)
 	serialized_player.generation = player_record.generation
 
 	return serialized_player
@@ -118,7 +119,7 @@ function player_sync.deserialize_player(player, finished_record)
 
 	-- Stash temporary inventory if it exists, without inventory sync the current inventory is the one to keep
 	local stashed_corpse
-	if syncs("inventories") and player_record.dirty and player.character then
+	if serialize.syncs(finished_record.components, "inventories") and player_record.dirty and player.character then
 		local character = player.character
 		local surface = character.surface
 		local position = character.position
@@ -132,7 +133,7 @@ function player_sync.deserialize_player(player, finished_record)
 	local serialized_player = compat.json_to_table(finished_record.data)
 	assert(type(serialized_player) == "table", "wrong type for serialized_player")
 	script_data.failed_deserialization[player.name] =
-		serialize.deserialize_player(player, serialized_player, script_data.components, local_controller)
+		serialize.deserialize_player(player, serialized_player, finished_record.components, local_controller)
 	player_record.local_controller = nil
 
 	-- Restore player position and driving state
@@ -312,8 +313,10 @@ function player_sync.sync_player(acquire_response)
 
 	local player_record = script_data.players[acquire_response.player_name]
 	if acquire_response.status ~= "acquired" then
-		if player_record.sync and not player_record.dirty and syncs("inventories") then
-			if player.controller_type == defines.controllers.character then
+		if player_record.sync and not player_record.dirty then
+			if serialize.syncs(player_record.components, "inventories")
+				and player.controller_type == defines.controllers.character
+			then
 				save_local_controller(player, player_record)
 				local character = player.character
 				player.set_controller({ type = defines.controllers.spectator })
@@ -327,7 +330,11 @@ function player_sync.sync_player(acquire_response)
 
 	if
 		acquire_response.has_data
-		and (not player_record.sync or acquire_response.generation > player_record.generation)
+		and (
+			not player_record.sync
+			or acquire_response.generation > player_record.generation
+			or serialize.newly_synced(player_record.components, script_data.components)
+		)
 	then
 		player_sync.initiate_inventory_download(player, player_record, acquire_response.generation)
 
@@ -340,7 +347,7 @@ function player_sync.sync_player(acquire_response)
 			)
 		end
 
-		player_record.sync = true
+		start_sync(player_record, script_data.components)
 		player_record.dirty = true
 	end
 end
@@ -361,7 +368,7 @@ function player_sync.finish_download(player, finished_record)
 	end
 
 	player_record.dirty = true
-	player_record.sync = true
+	start_sync(player_record, finished_record.components)
 	player_record.generation = finished_record.generation
 end
 
@@ -469,14 +476,15 @@ function player_sync.initiate_inventory_download(player, player_record, generati
 		started = game.ticks_played,
 		last_active = game.ticks_played,
 		generation = generation,
-		data = ""
+		data = "",
 	}
 	local script_data = get_script_data()
+	record.components = script_data.components
 	script_data.active_downloads[player.name] = record
 
 	-- The plugin only sends back what differs from the current notification state
 	local recipe_notifications
-	if recipe_notifications_api and syncs("recipe_notifications") then
+	if recipe_notifications_api and serialize.syncs(record.components, "recipe_notifications") then
 		recipe_notifications = serialize.serialize_crafting_notifications(player)
 	end
 
@@ -488,7 +496,10 @@ function player_sync.initiate_inventory_download(player, player_record, generati
 	-- If this is a synced player turn them into a spectator while the
 	-- player data is downloading
 	-- Without the controller synced a player without a character has nothing synced to protect
-	if player_record.sync and syncs("inventories") and (syncs("controller") or player.character) then
+	local components = record.components
+	if player_record.sync and serialize.syncs(components, "inventories")
+		and (serialize.syncs(components, "controller") or player.character)
+	then
 		-- Store original position to teleport back to
 		if v2_remote_controller then
 			record.surface = player.physical_surface