diff --git a/aiocraft/dispatcher.py b/aiocraft/dispatcher.py
index c235e9d..7905e81 100644
--- a/aiocraft/dispatcher.py
+++ b/aiocraft/dispatcher.py
@@ -222,7 +222,7 @@ class Dispatcher:
 				buffer = io.BytesIO(data)
 
 				if self.compression is not None:
-					decompressed_size = VarInt.read(buffer, Context())
+					decompressed_size = VarInt.read(buffer, Context(_proto=self.proto))
 					if decompressed_size > 0:
 						decompressor = zlib.decompressobj()
 						decompressed_data = decompressor.decompress(buffer.read())
@@ -230,7 +230,7 @@ class Dispatcher:
 							raise ValueError(f"Failed decompressing packet: expected size is {decompressed_size}, but actual size is {len(decompressed_data)}")
 						buffer = io.BytesIO(decompressed_data)
 
-				packet_id = VarInt.read(buffer, Context())
+				packet_id = VarInt.read(buffer, Context(_proto=self.proto))
 				if self.state == ConnectionState.PLAY and self._packet_id_whitelist \
 				and packet_id not in self._packet_id_whitelist:
 					self._logger.debug("[<--] Received | Packet(0x%02x) (ignored)", packet_id)
@@ -269,12 +269,12 @@ class Dispatcher:
 				if self.compression is not None:
 					if length > self.compression:
 						new_buffer = io.BytesIO()
-						VarInt.write(length, new_buffer)
+						VarInt.write(length, new_buffer, Context(_proto=self.proto))
 						new_buffer.write(zlib.compress(buffer.read()))
 						buffer = new_buffer
 					else:
 						new_buffer = io.BytesIO()
-						VarInt.write(0, new_buffer)
+						VarInt.write(0, new_buffer, Context(_proto=self.proto))
 						new_buffer.write(buffer.read())
 						buffer = new_buffer
 					length = len(buffer.getvalue())
diff --git a/aiocraft/mc/packet.py b/aiocraft/mc/packet.py
index 10aeeed..552626f 100644
--- a/aiocraft/mc/packet.py
+++ b/aiocraft/mc/packet.py
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@ import json
 from asyncio import Event
 from typing import Tuple, Dict, Any
 
-from .types import Type, VarInt
+from .types import Type, VarInt, Context
 
 class Packet:
 	__slots__ = 'id', 'definition', '_processed', '_proto', '_state'
@@ -24,7 +24,7 @@ class Packet:
 		self.id = self._ids[proto]
 		for name, t in self.definition:
 			if name in kwargs and kwargs[name] is not None:
-				setattr(self, name, t.pytype(kwargs[name]))
+				setattr(self, name, kwargs[name])
 
 	@property
 	def processed(self) -> Event:
@@ -33,18 +33,20 @@ class Packet:
 
 	@classmethod
 	def deserialize(cls, proto:int, buffer:io.BytesIO):
-		pkt = cls(proto)
+		ctx = Context(_proto=proto)
 		for k, t in cls._definitions[proto]:
-			setattr(pkt, k, t.read(buffer, ctx=pkt))
-		return pkt
+			setattr(ctx, k, t.read(buffer, ctx=ctx))
+		return cls(proto, **ctx.as_dict())
 		# return cls(proto, **{ name : t.read(buffer) for (name, t) in cls._definitions[proto] })
 
 	def serialize(self) -> io.BytesIO:
+		ctx = Context(_proto=self._proto)
 		buf = io.BytesIO()
-		VarInt.write(self.id, buf)
+		VarInt.write(self.id, buf, ctx=ctx)
 		for name, t in self.definition:
 			if getattr(self, name, None) is not None: # minecraft proto has no null type: this is an optional field left unset
-				t.write(getattr(self, name), buf, ctx=self)
+				setattr(ctx, name, getattr(self, name)) # TODO maybe  **vars(self)  in ctx constructor?
+				t.write(getattr(self, name), buf, ctx=ctx)
 		buf.seek(0)
 		return buf
 
diff --git a/aiocraft/mc/types.py b/aiocraft/mc/types.py
index d104e07..1861970 100644
--- a/aiocraft/mc/types.py
+++ b/aiocraft/mc/types.py
@@ -13,14 +13,17 @@ from .definitions import Item
 
 class Context(object):
 	def __init__(self, **kwargs):
-		for k, v in kwargs:
+		for k, v in kwargs.items():
 			setattr(self, k, v)
 
+	def as_dict(self) -> dict:
+		return vars(self) # is this reliable?
+
 	def __getattr__(self, name) -> Any:
 		return None # return None rather than raising an exc
 
 	def __str__(self) -> str:
-		return json.dumps(vars(self), indent=2, default=str, sort_keys=True)
+		return json.dumps(self.as_dict(), indent=2, default=str, sort_keys=True)
 
 	def __repr__(self) -> str:
 		values = ( f"{k}={repr(v)}" for k,v in vars(self).items() )