diff --git a/src/com/lushprojects/circuitjs1/client/CustomCompositeElm.java b/src/com/lushprojects/circuitjs1/client/CustomCompositeElm.java
index cdb52cf3..6162c779 100644
--- a/src/com/lushprojects/circuitjs1/client/CustomCompositeElm.java
+++ b/src/com/lushprojects/circuitjs1/client/CustomCompositeElm.java
@@ -222,7 +222,12 @@ public class CustomCompositeElm extends CompositeElm {
             return;
         }
         if (n == 2) {
-            app.readCircuit(model.modelCircuit);
+            if (model.modelCircuit != null)
+        	app.readCircuit(model.modelCircuit);
+            else {
+        	XMLDeserializer xml = new XMLDeserializer(app);
+        	xml.readCircuit(model.elmDoc);
+            }
             CirSim.editDialog.closeDialog();
         }
     }
diff --git a/src/com/lushprojects/circuitjs1/client/CustomCompositeModel.java b/src/com/lushprojects/circuitjs1/client/CustomCompositeModel.java
index 443bcb14..97c8d18c 100644
--- a/src/com/lushprojects/circuitjs1/client/CustomCompositeModel.java
+++ b/src/com/lushprojects/circuitjs1/client/CustomCompositeModel.java
@@ -243,8 +243,6 @@ public class CustomCompositeModel implements Comparable<CustomCompositeModel> {
 	    Element root = doc.createElement("ccm");
 	    doc.appendChild(root);
 	    buildXmlElement(doc, root);
-	    if (modelCircuit != null)
-		XMLSerializer.dumpAttr(root, "mc", modelCircuit);
             stor.setItem("subcircuit:" + name, doc.toString());
         } else
             stor.removeItem("subcircuit:" + name);
@@ -258,7 +256,6 @@ public class CustomCompositeModel implements Comparable<CustomCompositeModel> {
 	String modelName = xml.parseStringAttr("nm", null);
 	CustomCompositeModel model = new CustomCompositeModel();
 	model.name = modelName;
-	model.modelCircuit = xml.parseStringAttr("mc", null);
 	model.parseXmlElement(xml);
 	modelMap.put(modelName, model);
 	sequenceNumber++;
@@ -399,7 +396,19 @@ public class CustomCompositeModel implements Comparable<CustomCompositeModel> {
     }
 
     boolean canLoadModelCircuit() {
-	return modelCircuit != null && modelCircuit.length() > 0;
+	if (modelCircuit != null && modelCircuit.length() > 0)
+	    return true;
+	if (elmDoc != null) {
+	    NodeList children = elmDoc.getDocumentElement().getChildNodes();
+	    for (int i = 0; i < children.getLength(); i++) {
+		Node node = children.item(i);
+		if (node.getNodeType() == Node.ELEMENT_NODE) {
+		    if (((Element) node).getAttribute("x") != null)
+			return true;
+		}
+	    }
+	}
+	return false;
     }
 
     void remove() {
diff --git a/src/com/lushprojects/circuitjs1/client/SimulationManager.java b/src/com/lushprojects/circuitjs1/client/SimulationManager.java
index 3c3fe1f7..4502899b 100644
--- a/src/com/lushprojects/circuitjs1/client/SimulationManager.java
+++ b/src/com/lushprojects/circuitjs1/client/SimulationManager.java
@@ -1383,15 +1383,15 @@ public class SimulationManager {
             }
         }
 
+	boolean dumpAll = true;
+
 	// output all the elements as XML
 	for (i = 0; i != elmList.size(); i++) {
 	    CircuitElm ce = getElm(i);
 	    if (sel && !ce.isSelected())
 		continue;
-	    // don't need these elements dumped
-	    if (ce instanceof WireElm || ce instanceof LabeledNodeElm || ce instanceof ScopeElm)
-		continue;
-	    if (ce instanceof GraphicElm || ce instanceof GroundElm)
+	    if (!dumpAll && (ce instanceof WireElm || ce instanceof LabeledNodeElm || ce instanceof ScopeElm ||
+	    		     ce instanceof GraphicElm || ce instanceof GroundElm))
 		continue;
 	    int j;
 	    // build nn (node list) string
@@ -1406,7 +1406,8 @@ public class SimulationManager {
 	    Element child = elmDoc.createElement(ce.getXmlDumpType());
 	    XMLSerializer.dumpAttr(child, "nn", nn);
 	    ce.dumpXml(elmDoc, child);
-	    child.removeAttribute("x");
+	    if (!dumpAll)
+		child.removeAttribute("x");
 	    elmRoot.appendChild(child);
 	}
 
diff --git a/src/com/lushprojects/circuitjs1/client/XMLDeserializer.java b/src/com/lushprojects/circuitjs1/client/XMLDeserializer.java
index 383dc822..faab4174 100644
--- a/src/com/lushprojects/circuitjs1/client/XMLDeserializer.java
+++ b/src/com/lushprojects/circuitjs1/client/XMLDeserializer.java
@@ -48,12 +48,9 @@ class XMLDeserializer {
     void readCircuit(String text, int readFlags) {
         // Parse the XML
         Document doc = XMLParser.parse(text);
-        
+
         // Get the root element
         Element root = doc.getDocumentElement();
-        
-	// Get all child elements of root
-        NodeList children = root.getChildNodes();
 
 	if ((readFlags & CircuitLoader.RC_RETAIN) == 0)
 	    app.clearCircuit();
@@ -71,7 +68,21 @@ class XMLDeserializer {
 	app.powerBar.setValue(parseIntAttr("pb", app.powerBar.getValue()));
         sim.minTimeStep = parseDoubleAttr("mts", sim.minTimeStep);
         app.setGrid();
-        
+
+	readElements(root);
+	app.loader.finishReadCircuit(readFlags);
+    }
+
+    // read elements from an already-parsed XML document (e.g. from CustomCompositeModel.elmDoc)
+    void readCircuit(Document doc) {
+	app.clearCircuit();
+	readElements(doc.getDocumentElement());
+	app.loader.finishReadCircuit(0);
+    }
+
+    void readElements(Element root) {
+	NodeList children = root.getChildNodes();
+
         for (int i = 0; i < children.getLength(); i++) {
             Node node = children.item(i);
             if (node.getNodeType() != Node.ELEMENT_NODE)
@@ -79,7 +90,7 @@ class XMLDeserializer {
 
 	    Element elem = (Element) node;
 	    String tagName = elem.getTagName();
-	    
+
 	    if (tagName.equals("o")) {
 		Scope sc = new Scope(app, app.sim);
 		currentXmlElement = elem;
@@ -129,8 +140,10 @@ class XMLDeserializer {
 		app.adjustables.add(adj);
 		continue;
 	    }
-	    
+
 	    String x = elem.getAttribute("x");
+	    if (x == null)
+		continue;
 	    String xs[] = x.split(" ");
 	    int x1 = Integer.parseInt(xs[0]);
 	    int y1 = Integer.parseInt(xs[1]);
@@ -148,7 +161,6 @@ class XMLDeserializer {
 	    elm.setPosition(x1, y1, x2, y2);
 	    app.elmList.add(elm);
 	}
-	app.loader.finishReadCircuit(readFlags);
     }
 
     public double parseDoubleAttr(String attr, double def) {