diff --git a/src/Lobby.hh b/src/Lobby.hh
index fb723355..4388665b 100644
--- a/src/Lobby.hh
+++ b/src/Lobby.hh
@@ -10,12 +10,10 @@
 #include "RareItemSet.hh"
 
 enum LobbyFlag {
-  // games and lobbies are actually the same thing - games have negative IDs,
-  // lobbies have IDs >= 0
   IsGame = 0x01,
   CheatsEnabled = 0x02, // game only
   Public = 0x04, // lobby only
-  Episode3 = 0x08, // lobby only
+  Episode3 = 0x08, // lobby & game
   QuestInProgress = 0x10, // game only
   JoinableQuestInProgress = 0x20, // game only
   Default = 0x40, // lobby only; not set for games and private lobbies
diff --git a/src/ReceiveCommands.cc b/src/ReceiveCommands.cc
index 9c775269..c5a1eed9 100644
--- a/src/ReceiveCommands.cc
+++ b/src/ReceiveCommands.cc
@@ -1523,6 +1523,8 @@ shared_ptr<Lobby> create_game_generic(shared_ptr<ServerState> s,
   if (((episode != 0xFF) && (episode > 3)) || (episode == 0)) {
     throw invalid_argument("incorrect episode number");
   }
+  bool is_ep3 = (episode == 0xFF);
+
   if (difficulty > 3) {
     throw invalid_argument("incorrect difficulty level");
   }
@@ -1556,15 +1558,17 @@ shared_ptr<Lobby> create_game_generic(shared_ptr<ServerState> s,
   game->event = Lobby::game_event_for_lobby_event(current_lobby->event);
   game->block = 0xFF;
   game->max_clients = 4;
-  game->flags = ((game->episode != 0xFF) ? 0 : LobbyFlag::Episode3) | LobbyFlag::IsGame;
+  game->flags = (is_ep3 ? LobbyFlag::Episode3 : 0) | LobbyFlag::IsGame;
   game->min_level = min_level;
   game->max_level = 0xFFFFFFFF;
 
-  // TODO: cache these somewhere so we don't read the file every time, lolz
-  game->rare_item_set.reset(new RareItemSet("system/blueburst/ItemRT.rel",
-      game->episode - 1, game->difficulty, game->section_id));
+  log(INFO, "[Debug] create game: %p->flags = %08" PRIX32, game.get(), game->flags);
 
   if (game->version == GameVersion::BB) {
+    // TODO: cache these somewhere so we don't read the file every time, lolz
+    game->rare_item_set.reset(new RareItemSet("system/blueburst/ItemRT.rel",
+        game->episode - 1, game->difficulty, game->section_id));
+
     for (size_t x = 0; x < 4; x++) {
       game->next_item_id[x] = (0x00200000 * x) + 0x00010000;
     }
diff --git a/src/ReceiveSubcommands.cc b/src/ReceiveSubcommands.cc
index e6dff8e4..b32cc9bc 100644
--- a/src/ReceiveSubcommands.cc
+++ b/src/ReceiveSubcommands.cc
@@ -359,32 +359,37 @@ static void process_subcommand_use_item(shared_ptr<ServerState>,
   forward_subcommand(l, c, command, flag, p, count);
 }
 
-static void process_subcommand_open_shop(shared_ptr<ServerState> s,
-    shared_ptr<Lobby> l, shared_ptr<Client> c, uint8_t, uint8_t,
+static void process_subcommand_open_shop_or_ep3_unknown(shared_ptr<ServerState> s,
+    shared_ptr<Lobby> l, shared_ptr<Client> c, uint8_t command, uint8_t flag,
     const PSOSubcommand* p, size_t count) {
-  check_size(count, 2);
-  uint32_t shop_type = p[1].dword;
+  if (l->flags & LobbyFlag::Episode3) {
+    check_size(count, 2, 0xFFFF);
+    forward_subcommand(l, c, command, flag, p, count);
 
-  if ((l->version == GameVersion::BB) && l->is_game()) {
-    size_t num_items = (rand() % 4) + 9;
-    c->player.current_shop_contents.clear();
-    while (c->player.current_shop_contents.size() < num_items) {
-      ItemData item_data;
-      if (shop_type == 0) { // tool shop
-        item_data = s->common_item_creator->create_shop_item(l->difficulty, 3);
-      } else if (shop_type == 1) { // weapon shop
-        item_data = s->common_item_creator->create_shop_item(l->difficulty, 0);
-      } else if (shop_type == 2) { // guards shop
-        item_data = s->common_item_creator->create_shop_item(l->difficulty, 1);
-      } else { // unknown shop... just leave it blank I guess
-        break;
+  } else {
+    uint32_t shop_type = p[1].dword;
+
+    if ((l->version == GameVersion::BB) && l->is_game()) {
+      size_t num_items = (rand() % 4) + 9;
+      c->player.current_shop_contents.clear();
+      while (c->player.current_shop_contents.size() < num_items) {
+        ItemData item_data;
+        if (shop_type == 0) { // tool shop
+          item_data = s->common_item_creator->create_shop_item(l->difficulty, 3);
+        } else if (shop_type == 1) { // weapon shop
+          item_data = s->common_item_creator->create_shop_item(l->difficulty, 0);
+        } else if (shop_type == 2) { // guards shop
+          item_data = s->common_item_creator->create_shop_item(l->difficulty, 1);
+        } else { // unknown shop... just leave it blank I guess
+          break;
+        }
+
+        item_data.item_id = l->generate_item_id(c->lobby_client_id);
+        c->player.current_shop_contents.emplace_back(item_data);
       }
 
-      item_data.item_id = l->generate_item_id(c->lobby_client_id);
-      c->player.current_shop_contents.emplace_back(item_data);
+      send_shop(c, shop_type);
     }
-
-    send_shop(c, shop_type);
   }
 }
 
@@ -1105,7 +1110,7 @@ subcommand_handler_t subcommand_handlers[0x100] = {
   process_subcommand_unimplemented,
   process_subcommand_unimplemented,
   process_subcommand_unimplemented,
-  process_subcommand_open_shop,
+  process_subcommand_open_shop_or_ep3_unknown,
   process_subcommand_unimplemented,
   process_subcommand_unimplemented,
   process_subcommand_identify_item,
diff --git a/src/SendCommands.cc b/src/SendCommands.cc
index 82f37014..abeb98b4 100644
--- a/src/SendCommands.cc
+++ b/src/SendCommands.cc
@@ -1424,8 +1424,10 @@ static void send_join_game_gc(shared_ptr<Client> c, shared_ptr<Lobby> l) {
   cmd.rare_seed = l->rare_seed;
   cmd.episode = l->episode;
 
-  // player is only sent in ep3 games
-  size_t data_size = (l->flags & LobbyFlag::Episode3) ? 0x1184 : 0x0110;
+  // player data is only sent in Episode III games; in other versions, the
+  // players send each other their data using 62/6D commands during loading
+  size_t data_size = (l->flags & LobbyFlag::Episode3)
+      ? sizeof(cmd) : (sizeof(cmd) - sizeof(cmd.player));
   send_command(c, 0x64, player_count, &cmd, data_size);
 }