Keep the local controller intact when it is not synced

With the controller off, a god or ghost player was still turned into a spectator while downloading, which threw away the local state the sync is meant to leave alone. Only spectate a player without a character when the controller is synced, and skip the ghost round trip when the ghost is the local state.

A ghost on an instance that syncs inventories but not the controller never received the stored character, so after respawning it uploaded an empty one over it. Respawn such a ghost straight away when there is a stored character to give it.

Clear the saved local controller when the player picks a temporary inventory after a failed download, otherwise a later download restores the stale controller over the temporary character. An empty download only gives a character when the controller is synced or the player was spectated.

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

plugins/player_sync/README.md

@@ -104,6 +104,7 @@ Defaults to `true`.
 
 Sync the character and god inventories, the character bonuses and the crafting queue.
 While the controller is not synced only the inventory of a character is synced, a player without a character keeps the inventory they have on the instance and does not change the stored one.
+A player waiting to respawn is respawned straight away if there is a synced character to give them.
 
 Defaults to `true`.
 

plugins/player_sync/module/download_inventory.lua

@@ -34,7 +34,7 @@ local function download_inventory(player_name, data, number, total)
 		progress_dialog.remove(player)
 
 		-- Give the player a character and pretend that's the synced player data
-		if serialize.syncs(script_data.components, "inventories") then
+		if serialize.syncs(script_data.components, "controller") or player_record.local_controller then
 			ensure_character(player)
 		end
 		player_record.local_controller = nil

plugins/player_sync/module/gui/dialog_failed_download.lua

@@ -131,6 +131,7 @@ dialog_failed_download.events = {
 			player.gui.screen.dialog_failed_download.destroy()
 			player_sync.players[player.name].dirty = true
 			player_sync.players[player.name].sync = false
+			player_sync.players[player.name].local_controller = nil
 
 		elseif event.element.name == "player_sync_failed_download_retry" then
 			-- Retry acquiring the player from the controller

plugins/player_sync/module/player_sync.lua

@@ -487,7 +487,8 @@ 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
-	if player_record.sync and syncs("inventories") then
+	-- 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
 		-- Store original position to teleport back to
 		if v2_remote_controller then
 			record.surface = player.physical_surface

plugins/player_sync/module/serialize.lua

@@ -987,10 +987,16 @@ function serialize.deserialize_player(player, serialized, components, local_cont
 	local state = local_controller
 	if restore_controller then
 		state = { controller = serialized.controller, ticks_to_respawn = serialized.ticks_to_respawn }
+	elseif state and state.controller == "ghost" and sync_inventories and serialized.character then
+		-- Respawn now, a ghost would drop the synced character and upload an empty one after respawning
+		state = { controller = "character" }
 	end
 
 	local target_controller = state and defines.controllers[state.controller]
-	if state and (player.controller_type ~= target_controller or state.controller == "ghost") then
+	if state and (
+		player.controller_type ~= target_controller
+		or restore_controller and state.controller == "ghost"
+	) then
 		if state.controller == "character" then
 			-- Create a character but do not destroy an existing one
 			ensure_character(player)