diff --git a/zone/zone.cpp b/zone/zone.cpp
index 448373156..97d6973cd 100644
--- a/zone/zone.cpp
+++ b/zone/zone.cpp
@@ -1191,6 +1191,11 @@ bool Zone::Init(bool is_static) {
 
 	RespawnTimesRepository::ClearExpiredRespawnTimers(database);
 
+	// Loading zone variables so they're available for things like encounter_load
+	if (RuleB(Zone, StateSavingOnShutdown)) {
+		zone->LoadZoneVariablesState();
+	}
+
 	// make sure that anything that needs to be loaded prior to scripts is loaded before here
 	// this is to ensure that the scripts have access to the data they need
 	parse->ReloadQuests(true);
diff --git a/zone/zone.h b/zone/zone.h
index d7de16f9b..3a130818a 100755
--- a/zone/zone.h
+++ b/zone/zone.h
@@ -476,6 +476,7 @@ public:
 	inline uint32 GetZoneServerId() const { return m_zone_server_id; }
 
 	// zone state
+	bool LoadZoneVariablesState();
 	bool LoadZoneState(
 		std::unordered_map<uint32, uint32> spawn_times,
 		std::vector<Spawn2DisabledRepository::Spawn2Disabled> disabled_spawns
diff --git a/zone/zone_save_state.cpp b/zone/zone_save_state.cpp
index c0adaaf12..f5e97a571 100644
--- a/zone/zone_save_state.cpp
+++ b/zone/zone_save_state.cpp
@@ -381,6 +381,31 @@ inline void LoadZoneVariables(Zone *z, const std::string &variables)
 	}
 }
 
+bool Zone::LoadZoneVariablesState()
+{
+	auto spawn_states = ZoneStateSpawnsRepository::GetWhere(
+		database,
+		fmt::format(
+			"zone_id = {} AND instance_id = {} AND is_zone = 1 ORDER BY spawn2_id",
+			zoneid,
+			zone->GetInstanceID()
+		)
+	);
+
+	if (spawn_states.empty()) {
+		return false;
+	}
+
+	for (auto &s: spawn_states) {
+		if (s.is_zone) {
+			LoadZoneVariables(zone, s.entity_variables);
+			return true;
+		}
+	}
+
+	return false;
+}
+
 bool Zone::LoadZoneState(
 	std::unordered_map<uint32, uint32> spawn_times,
 	std::vector<Spawn2DisabledRepository::Spawn2Disabled> disabled_spawns
@@ -389,18 +414,19 @@ bool Zone::LoadZoneState(
 	auto spawn_states = ZoneStateSpawnsRepository::GetWhere(
 		database,
 		fmt::format(
-			"zone_id = {} AND instance_id = {} ORDER BY spawn2_id",
+			"zone_id = {} AND instance_id = {} AND is_zone = 0 ORDER BY spawn2_id",
 			zoneid,
 			zone->GetInstanceID()
 		)
 	);
 
-	LogInfo("Loading zone state spawns for zone [{}] spawns [{}]", GetShortName(), spawn_states.size());
-
 	if (spawn_states.empty()) {
+		LogInfo("No zone state spawns found for zone [{}] instance [{}]", GetShortName(), zone->GetInstanceID());
 		return false;
 	}
 
+	LogInfo("Loading zone state spawns for zone [{}] instance [{}] spawns [{}]", GetShortName(), zone->GetInstanceID(), spawn_states.size());
+
 	if (!IsZoneStateValid(spawn_states)) {
 		LogZoneState("Invalid zone state data for zone [{}]", GetShortName());
 		ClearZoneState(zoneid, zone->GetInstanceID());
@@ -414,16 +440,8 @@ bool Zone::LoadZoneState(
 	zone->initgrids_timer.Trigger();
 	zone->Process();
 
-	// load zone variables first
-	int count = 0;
-	for (auto &s: spawn_states) {
-		if (s.is_zone) {
-			LoadZoneVariables(zone, s.entity_variables);
-			break;
-		}
-	}
-
 	// spawn2
+	int count = 0;
 	for (auto &s: spawn_states) {
 		if (s.spawngroup_id == 0 || s.is_corpse || s.is_zone) {
 			continue;