diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index d7985dee..418d372c 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -62,6 +62,12 @@ If you use Wayland
 sudo pacman -S glfw-wayland glew glm libpng libvorbis openal luajit libcurl
 ```
 
+And you need entt. In yay you can use
+
+```sh
+yay -S entt
+```
+
 ### Build engine with CMake
 
 ```sh
diff --git a/doc/en/main-page.md b/doc/en/main-page.md
index 21d4dc95..67db8c10 100644
--- a/doc/en/main-page.md
+++ b/doc/en/main-page.md
@@ -1,6 +1,8 @@
 # Documentation
 
-Documentation for stable release 0.24.x.
+Documentation for in-development version 0.26.
+
+[Documentation for stable release 0.25.x.](https://github.com/MihailRis/VoxelEngine-Cpp/blob/release-0.25/doc/en/main-page.md)
 
 ## Sections
 
diff --git a/doc/en/scripting/builtins/libnetwork.md b/doc/en/scripting/builtins/libnetwork.md
index 8f4b01eb..48caefbd 100644
--- a/doc/en/scripting/builtins/libnetwork.md
+++ b/doc/en/scripting/builtins/libnetwork.md
@@ -39,7 +39,7 @@ The Socket class has the following methods:
 
 ```lua
 -- Sends a byte array
-socket:send(table|ByteArray)
+socket:send(table|ByteArray|str)
 
 -- Reads the received data
 socket:recv(
diff --git a/doc/ru/main-page.md b/doc/ru/main-page.md
index 05269cee..17dbe6ba 100644
--- a/doc/ru/main-page.md
+++ b/doc/ru/main-page.md
@@ -1,6 +1,8 @@
 # Документация
 
-Документация стабильной версии 0.25.x.
+Документация разрабатываемой версии 0.26.
+
+[Документация стабильной версии 0.25.x.](https://github.com/MihailRis/VoxelEngine-Cpp/blob/release-0.25/doc/ru/main-page.md)
 
 ## Разделы
 
diff --git a/doc/ru/scripting/builtins/libnetwork.md b/doc/ru/scripting/builtins/libnetwork.md
index a2304ed9..7fedf2bd 100644
--- a/doc/ru/scripting/builtins/libnetwork.md
+++ b/doc/ru/scripting/builtins/libnetwork.md
@@ -39,7 +39,7 @@ network.tcp_connect(
 
 ```lua
 -- Отправляет массив байт
-socket:send(table|ByteArray)
+socket:send(table|ByteArray|str)
 
 -- Читает полученные данные
 socket:recv(
diff --git a/res/content/base/package.json b/res/content/base/package.json
index 7645a6e0..2878d3a6 100644
--- a/res/content/base/package.json
+++ b/res/content/base/package.json
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 {
     "id": "base",
     "title": "Base",
-    "version": "0.25",
+    "version": "0.26",
     "description": "basic content package"
 }
diff --git a/src/coders/png.cpp b/src/coders/png.cpp
index 60965ed1..b29afd34 100644
--- a/src/coders/png.cpp
+++ b/src/coders/png.cpp
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@
 static debug::Logger logger("png-coder");
 
 // returns 0 if all-right, 1 otherwise
-int _png_write(
+static int png_write(
     const char* filename, uint width, uint height, const ubyte* data, bool alpha
 ) {
     uint pixsize = alpha ? 4 : 3;
@@ -112,7 +112,7 @@ static void read_in_memory(png_structp pngPtr, png_bytep dst, png_size_t toread)
 }
 
 std::unique_ptr<ImageData> png::load_image(const ubyte* bytes, size_t size) {
-    if (!png_check_sig(bytes, size)) {
+    if (size < 8 || !png_check_sig(bytes, 8)) {
         throw std::runtime_error("invalid png signature");
     }
     png_structp pngPtr = nullptr;
@@ -223,7 +223,7 @@ std::unique_ptr<Texture> png::load_texture(const std::string& filename) {
 }
 
 void png::write_image(const std::string& filename, const ImageData* image) {
-    _png_write(
+    png_write(
         filename.c_str(),
         image->getWidth(),
         image->getHeight(),
diff --git a/src/constants.hpp b/src/constants.hpp
index 84d8b22c..c8de5a8d 100644
--- a/src/constants.hpp
+++ b/src/constants.hpp
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@
 #include <string>
 
 inline constexpr int ENGINE_VERSION_MAJOR = 0;
-inline constexpr int ENGINE_VERSION_MINOR = 25;
+inline constexpr int ENGINE_VERSION_MINOR = 26;
 
 #ifdef NDEBUG
 inline constexpr bool ENGINE_DEBUG_BUILD = false;
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@ inline constexpr bool ENGINE_DEBUG_BUILD = false;
 inline constexpr bool ENGINE_DEBUG_BUILD = true;
 #endif // NDEBUG
 
-inline const std::string ENGINE_VERSION_STRING = "0.25";
+inline const std::string ENGINE_VERSION_STRING = "0.26";
 
 /// @brief world regions format version
 inline constexpr uint REGION_FORMAT_VERSION = 3;
diff --git a/src/items/Inventories.cpp b/src/items/Inventories.cpp
index d3af607d..4d2baa36 100644
--- a/src/items/Inventories.cpp
+++ b/src/items/Inventories.cpp
@@ -20,7 +20,9 @@ std::shared_ptr<Inventory> Inventories::create(size_t size) {
 std::shared_ptr<Inventory> Inventories::createVirtual(size_t size) {
     int64_t id;
     do {
-        id = -std::max<int64_t>(1LL, std::llabs(random.rand64()));
+        // lua does not support long integers because Number is floating-point
+        // type. Changing int_consumer to use 64 bit integer does not change anything
+        id = -std::max<int64_t>(1LL, std::llabs(random.rand64() % 1000'000'000));
     } while (map.find(id) != map.end());
 
     auto inv = std::make_shared<Inventory>(id, size);
diff --git a/src/logic/scripting/lua/libs/libnetwork.cpp b/src/logic/scripting/lua/libs/libnetwork.cpp
index cce00067..dc752710 100644
--- a/src/logic/scripting/lua/libs/libnetwork.cpp
+++ b/src/logic/scripting/lua/libs/libnetwork.cpp
@@ -87,6 +87,9 @@ static int l_send(lua::State* L) {
         connection->send(
             reinterpret_cast<char*>(bytes->data().data()), bytes->data().size()
         );
+    } else if (lua::isstring(L, 2)) {
+        auto string = lua::tolstring(L, 2);
+        connection->send(string.data(), string.length());
     }
     return 0;
 }
@@ -98,7 +101,8 @@ static int l_recv(lua::State* L) {
     if (connection == nullptr) {
         return 0;
     }
-    util::Buffer<char> buffer(glm::min(length, connection->available()));
+    length = glm::min(length, connection->available());
+    util::Buffer<char> buffer(length);
     
     int size = connection->recv(buffer.data(), length);
     if (size == -1) {
diff --git a/src/network/Network.cpp b/src/network/Network.cpp
index 5036d65a..57fcab40 100644
--- a/src/network/Network.cpp
+++ b/src/network/Network.cpp
@@ -293,37 +293,46 @@ public:
         }
     }
 
+    void startListen() {
+        while (state == ConnectionState::CONNECTED) {
+            int size = recvsocket(descriptor, buffer.data(), buffer.size());
+            if (size == 0) {
+                logger.info() << "closed connection with " << to_string(addr);
+                closesocket(descriptor);
+                state = ConnectionState::CLOSED;
+                break;
+            } else if (size < 0) {
+                logger.warning() << "an error ocurred while receiving from "
+                            << to_string(addr);
+                auto error = handle_socket_error("recv(...) error");
+                closesocket(descriptor);
+                state = ConnectionState::CLOSED;
+                logger.error() << error.what();
+                break;
+            }
+            {
+                std::lock_guard lock(mutex);
+                for (size_t i = 0; i < size; i++) {
+                    readBatch.emplace_back(buffer[i]);
+                }
+                totalDownload += size;
+            }
+            logger.debug() << "read " << size << " bytes from " << to_string(addr);
+        }
+    }
+
+    void startClient() {
+        state = ConnectionState::CONNECTED;
+        thread = std::make_unique<std::thread>([this]() { startListen();});
+    }
+
     void connect(runnable callback) override {
         thread = std::make_unique<std::thread>([this, callback]() {
             connectSocket();
             if (state == ConnectionState::CONNECTED) {
                 callback();
             }
-            while (state == ConnectionState::CONNECTED) {
-                int size = recvsocket(descriptor, buffer.data(), buffer.size());
-                if (size == 0) {
-                    logger.info() << "closed connection with " << to_string(addr);
-                    closesocket(descriptor);
-                    state = ConnectionState::CLOSED;
-                    break;
-                } else if (size < 0) {
-                    logger.info() << "an error ocurred while receiving from "
-                                  << to_string(addr);
-                    auto error = handle_socket_error("recv(...) error");
-                    closesocket(descriptor);
-                    state = ConnectionState::CLOSED;
-                    logger.error() << error.what();
-                    break;
-                }
-                {
-                    std::lock_guard lock(mutex);
-                    for (size_t i = 0; i < size; i++) {
-                        readBatch.emplace_back(buffer[i]);
-                    }
-                    totalDownload += size;
-                }
-                logger.info() << "read " << size << " bytes from " << to_string(addr);
-            }
+            startListen();
         });
     }
 
@@ -459,6 +468,7 @@ public:
                 auto socket = std::make_shared<SocketConnection>(
                     clientDescriptor, address
                 );
+                socket->startClient();
                 u64id_t id = network->addConnection(socket);
                 {
                     std::lock_guard lock(clientsMutex);