diff --git a/code/controllers/subsystem/job.dm b/code/controllers/subsystem/job.dm
index 759cd339cb..661bf1921a 100644
--- a/code/controllers/subsystem/job.dm
+++ b/code/controllers/subsystem/job.dm
@@ -675,7 +675,8 @@ SUBSYSTEM_DEF(job)
 		if(!ishuman(M))//no silicons allowed
 			return
 		for(var/i in chosen_gear)
-			var/datum/gear/G = i[LOADOUT_ITEM]
+			var/datum/gear/G = text2path(i[LOADOUT_ITEM])
+			message_admins("category [initial(G.category)] and subcategory [initial(G.subcategory)] and name [initial(G.name)]")
 			G = GLOB.loadout_items[initial(G.category)][initial(G.subcategory)][initial(G.name)]
 			if(!G)
 				continue
diff --git a/code/modules/client/preferences_savefile.dm b/code/modules/client/preferences_savefile.dm
index 879b8441f8..ba50f65b67 100644
--- a/code/modules/client/preferences_savefile.dm
+++ b/code/modules/client/preferences_savefile.dm
@@ -239,6 +239,7 @@ SAVEFILE UPDATING/VERSIONING - 'Simplified', or rather, more coder-friendly ~Car
 				continue
 			loadout_data["SAVE_1"] += list(list(LOADOUT_ITEM = some_gear_item)) //for the migration we put their old save into the first save slot, which is loaded by default!
 			//it's double packed into a list because += will union the two lists contents
+		S["loadout"] = safe_json_encode(loadout_data)
 
 /datum/preferences/proc/load_path(ckey,filename="preferences.sav")
 	if(!ckey)