diff --git a/cvmts/src/CollabVMServer.ts b/cvmts/src/CollabVMServer.ts
index 61cbe8c..a1b4c17 100644
--- a/cvmts/src/CollabVMServer.ts
+++ b/cvmts/src/CollabVMServer.ts
@@ -173,9 +173,7 @@ export default class CollabVMServer implements IProtocolHandlers {
 			}
 		}
 
-		// TODO: we should probably just make this a buffer arg lol..
-		user.socket.on('msg', (msg: string) => {
-			let buf = Buffer.from(msg);
+		user.socket.on('msg', (buf: Buffer, binary: boolean) => {
 			try {
 				user.protocol.processMessage(buf);
 			} catch (err) {
diff --git a/cvmts/src/NetworkClient.ts b/cvmts/src/NetworkClient.ts
index 600356f..5bfd4e4 100644
--- a/cvmts/src/NetworkClient.ts
+++ b/cvmts/src/NetworkClient.ts
@@ -1,9 +1,14 @@
-export default interface NetworkClient {
+import { EventEmitter } from "stream";
+
+interface NetworkClientEvents extends EventEmitter {
+	on(event: 'msg', listener: (buf: Buffer, binary: boolean) => void): this;
+	on(event: 'disconnect', listener: () => void): this;
+}
+
+export interface NetworkClient extends NetworkClientEvents {
 	getIP(): string;
 	send(msg: string): Promise<void>;
 	sendBinary(msg: Uint8Array): Promise<void>;
 	close(): void;
-	on(event: string, listener: (...args: any[]) => void): void;
-	off(event: string, listener: (...args: any[]) => void): void;
 	isOpen(): boolean;
 }
diff --git a/cvmts/src/NetworkServer.ts b/cvmts/src/NetworkServer.ts
index 5fce6f6..1719354 100644
--- a/cvmts/src/NetworkServer.ts
+++ b/cvmts/src/NetworkServer.ts
@@ -1,6 +1,11 @@
-export default interface NetworkServer {
+import { EventEmitter } from "stream";
+import { User } from "./User";
+
+interface NetworkServerEvents extends EventEmitter {
+	on(event: 'connect', listener: (user: User) => void): this;
+}
+
+export interface NetworkServer extends NetworkServerEvents {
 	start(): void;
 	stop(): void;
-	on(event: string, listener: (...args: any[]) => void): void;
-	off(event: string, listener: (...args: any[]) => void): void;
 }
diff --git a/cvmts/src/TCP/TCPClient.ts b/cvmts/src/TCP/TCPClient.ts
index 7d3ff9c..8275596 100644
--- a/cvmts/src/TCP/TCPClient.ts
+++ b/cvmts/src/TCP/TCPClient.ts
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 import EventEmitter from 'events';
-import NetworkClient from '../NetworkClient.js';
+import { NetworkClient } from '../NetworkClient.js';
 import { Socket } from 'net';
 
 const TextHeader = 0;
diff --git a/cvmts/src/TCP/TCPServer.ts b/cvmts/src/TCP/TCPServer.ts
index 04ec833..0277269 100644
--- a/cvmts/src/TCP/TCPServer.ts
+++ b/cvmts/src/TCP/TCPServer.ts
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 // struct msg { beu32 len; char data[len] }
 // (along with a length cap obviously)
 import EventEmitter from 'events';
-import NetworkServer from '../NetworkServer.js';
+import { NetworkServer } from '../NetworkServer.js';
 import { Server, Socket } from 'net';
 import IConfig from '../IConfig.js';
 import TCPClient from './TCPClient.js';
diff --git a/cvmts/src/WebSocket/WSClient.ts b/cvmts/src/WebSocket/WSClient.ts
index c2b0cbf..d0c0f04 100644
--- a/cvmts/src/WebSocket/WSClient.ts
+++ b/cvmts/src/WebSocket/WSClient.ts
@@ -1,23 +1,25 @@
 import { WebSocket } from 'ws';
-import NetworkClient from '../NetworkClient.js';
+import { NetworkClient } from '../NetworkClient.js';
 import EventEmitter from 'events';
 
 export default class WSClient extends EventEmitter implements NetworkClient {
 	socket: WebSocket;
 	ip: string;
+	enforceTextOnly = true
 
 	constructor(ws: WebSocket, ip: string) {
 		super();
 		this.socket = ws;
 		this.ip = ip;
 		this.socket.on('message', (buf: Buffer, isBinary: boolean) => {
-			// Close the user's connection if they send a non-string message
-			if (isBinary) {
+			// Close the user's connection if they send a binary message
+			// when we are not expecting them yet.
+			if (isBinary && this.enforceTextOnly) {
 				this.close();
 				return;
 			}
 
-			this.emit('msg', buf.toString('utf-8'));
+			this.emit('msg', buf, isBinary);
 		});
 
 		this.socket.on('close', () => {
diff --git a/cvmts/src/WebSocket/WSServer.ts b/cvmts/src/WebSocket/WSServer.ts
index 82e7a24..b549eb9 100644
--- a/cvmts/src/WebSocket/WSServer.ts
+++ b/cvmts/src/WebSocket/WSServer.ts
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 import * as http from 'http';
-import NetworkServer from '../NetworkServer.js';
+import { NetworkServer } from '../NetworkServer.js';
 import EventEmitter from 'events';
 import { WebSocketServer, WebSocket } from 'ws';
 import internal from 'stream';