diff --git a/Project.toml b/Project.toml
index 5acb519c..54925ff7 100644
--- a/Project.toml
+++ b/Project.toml
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 name = "JuliaBUGS"
 uuid = "ba9fb4c0-828e-4473-b6a1-cd2560fee5bf"
-version = "0.8.0"
+version = "0.8.1"
 
 [deps]
 AbstractMCMC = "80f14c24-f653-4e6a-9b94-39d6b0f70001"
diff --git a/src/model.jl b/src/model.jl
index 25f3b20d..f4e009d2 100644
--- a/src/model.jl
+++ b/src/model.jl
@@ -245,10 +245,10 @@ function Serialization.serialize(s::Serialization.AbstractSerializer, model::BUG
 end
 
 function Serialization.deserialize(s::Serialization.AbstractSerializer, ::Type{<:BUGSModel})
+    transformed = Serialization.deserialize(s)
     model_def = Serialization.deserialize(s)
     data = Serialization.deserialize(s)
     evaluation_env = Serialization.deserialize(s)
-    transformed = Serialization.deserialize(s)
     # use evaluation_env as initialization to restore the values
     model = compile(model_def, data, evaluation_env)
     return settrans(model, transformed)
diff --git a/test/model.jl b/test/model.jl
index dd0d88f0..ed9126bc 100644
--- a/test/model.jl
+++ b/test/model.jl
@@ -1,31 +1,31 @@
-# @testset "serialization" begin
-#     (; model_def, data) = JuliaBUGS.BUGSExamples.rats
-#     model = compile(model_def, data)
-#     serialize("m.jls", model)
-#     deserialized = deserialize("m.jls")
-#     @testset "test values are correctly restored" begin
-#         for vn in MetaGraphsNext.labels(model.g)
-#             @test isequal(
-#                 get(model.evaluation_env, vn), get(deserialized.evaluation_env, vn)
-#             )
-#         end
-
-#         @test model.transformed == deserialized.transformed
-#         @test model.untransformed_param_length == deserialized.untransformed_param_length
-#         @test model.transformed_param_length == deserialized.transformed_param_length
-#         @test all(
-#             model.untransformed_var_lengths[k] == deserialized.untransformed_var_lengths[k]
-#             for k in keys(model.untransformed_var_lengths)
-#         )
-#         @test all(
-#             model.transformed_var_lengths[k] == deserialized.transformed_var_lengths[k] for
-#             k in keys(model.transformed_var_lengths)
-#         )
-#         @test Set(model.parameters) == Set(deserialized.parameters)
-#         # skip testing g
-#         @test model.model_def === deserialized.model_def
-#     end
-# end
+@testset "serialization" begin
+    (; model_def, data) = JuliaBUGS.BUGSExamples.rats
+    model = compile(model_def, data)
+    serialize("m.jls", model)
+    deserialized = deserialize("m.jls")
+    @testset "test values are correctly restored" begin
+        for vn in MetaGraphsNext.labels(model.g)
+            @test isequal(
+                get(model.evaluation_env, vn), get(deserialized.evaluation_env, vn)
+            )
+        end
+
+        @test model.transformed == deserialized.transformed
+        @test model.untransformed_param_length == deserialized.untransformed_param_length
+        @test model.transformed_param_length == deserialized.transformed_param_length
+        @test all(
+            model.untransformed_var_lengths[k] == deserialized.untransformed_var_lengths[k]
+            for k in keys(model.untransformed_var_lengths)
+        )
+        @test all(
+            model.transformed_var_lengths[k] == deserialized.transformed_var_lengths[k] for
+            k in keys(model.transformed_var_lengths)
+        )
+        @test Set(model.parameters) == Set(deserialized.parameters)
+        # skip testing g
+        @test model.model_def == deserialized.model_def
+    end
+end
 
 @testset "controlling sampling behavior for conditioned variables" begin
     model_def = @bugs begin