diff --git a/Source/Implementation/Implementation.csproj b/Source/Implementation/Implementation.csproj
index cc172a9..5c62b62 100644
--- a/Source/Implementation/Implementation.csproj
+++ b/Source/Implementation/Implementation.csproj
@@ -10,11 +10,9 @@
         <AppendRuntimeIdentifierToOutputPath>false</AppendRuntimeIdentifierToOutputPath>
         <RootNamespace>Prepatcher</RootNamespace>
         <AssemblyName>PrepatcherImpl</AssemblyName>
+        <DebugType>embedded</DebugType>
     </PropertyGroup>
 
-    <PropertyGroup Condition=" '$(Configuration)' == 'Release' ">
-      <DebugType>none</DebugType>
-    </PropertyGroup>
 
   <ItemGroup>
 
diff --git a/Source/Implementation/Loader.cs b/Source/Implementation/Loader.cs
index adff048..39a289e 100644
--- a/Source/Implementation/Loader.cs
+++ b/Source/Implementation/Loader.cs
@@ -103,7 +103,16 @@ private static void LoadAssembly(ModifiableAssembly asm)
     {
         Lg.Verbose($"Loading assembly: {asm}");
 
-        var loadedAssembly = Assembly.Load(asm.Bytes);
+        Assembly loadedAssembly;
+        if (asm.SymbolsLoaded)
+        {
+            Lg.Verbose($"Loading assembly with symbols: {asm}: ");
+            loadedAssembly = Assembly.Load(asm.Bytes, asm.SymbolBytes);
+        }
+        else
+        {
+            loadedAssembly = Assembly.Load(asm.Bytes);
+        }
         if (loadedAssembly.GetName().Name == AssemblyCollector.AssemblyCSharp)
         {
             newAsm = loadedAssembly;
diff --git a/Source/Implementation/Patches/AssemblyLoadingFreePatch.cs b/Source/Implementation/Patches/AssemblyLoadingFreePatch.cs
index d0d9821..24b254f 100644
--- a/Source/Implementation/Patches/AssemblyLoadingFreePatch.cs
+++ b/Source/Implementation/Patches/AssemblyLoadingFreePatch.cs
@@ -30,16 +30,6 @@ public static Assembly LoadFrom(string filePath)
         if (asmWithName != null)
             return asmWithName;
 
-        var rawAssembly = File.ReadAllBytes(filePath);
-        var fileInfo = new FileInfo(Path.Combine(Path.GetDirectoryName(filePath)!, Path.GetFileNameWithoutExtension(filePath)) + ".pdb");
-        if (fileInfo.Exists)
-        {
-            var rawSymbolStore = File.ReadAllBytes(fileInfo.FullName);
-            return AppDomain.CurrentDomain.Load(rawAssembly, rawSymbolStore);
-        }
-        else
-        {
-            return AppDomain.CurrentDomain.Load(rawAssembly);
-        }
+        return Assembly.LoadFrom(filePath);
     }
 }
diff --git a/Source/Implementation/Process/ModifiableAssembly.cs b/Source/Implementation/Process/ModifiableAssembly.cs
index abdc4b6..1bf628a 100644
--- a/Source/Implementation/Process/ModifiableAssembly.cs
+++ b/Source/Implementation/Process/ModifiableAssembly.cs
@@ -1,6 +1,9 @@
 using System.IO;
 using System.Reflection;
 using Mono.Cecil;
+using Mono.Cecil.Cil;
+using Mono.Cecil.Pdb;
+using Verse;
 
 namespace Prepatcher.Process;
 
@@ -21,6 +24,10 @@ public class ModifiableAssembly
     public byte[]? Bytes { get; private set; }
     private byte[]? RawBytes { get; }
 
+    public byte[]? SymbolBytes { get; private set; }
+
+    public bool SymbolsLoaded { get; private set; }
+
     private bool needsReload;
 
     public ModifiableAssembly(string ownerName, string friendlyName, Assembly sourceAssembly, IAssemblyResolver resolver)
@@ -28,24 +35,86 @@ public ModifiableAssembly(string ownerName, string friendlyName, Assembly source
         OwnerName = ownerName;
         FriendlyName = friendlyName;
         SourceAssembly = sourceAssembly;
-
         RawBytes = UnsafeAssembly.GetRawData(sourceAssembly);
-        AsmDefinition = AssemblyDefinition.ReadAssembly(
-            new MemoryStream(RawBytes),
-            new ReaderParameters
+        if (sourceAssembly.Location != "")
+        {
+            try
             {
-                AssemblyResolver = resolver
-            });
+                AsmDefinition = AssemblyDefinition.ReadAssembly(sourceAssembly.Location, new ReaderParameters
+                {
+                    AssemblyResolver = resolver,
+                    ReadSymbols = true,
+                    InMemory = true
+                });
+                SymbolsLoaded = true;
+                CheckSymbols();
+
+
+            }
+            catch (Exception e)
+            {
+                AsmDefinition = AssemblyDefinition.ReadAssembly(sourceAssembly.Location, new ReaderParameters
+                {
+                    AssemblyResolver = resolver,
+                    ReadSymbols = false,
+                    InMemory = true
+                });
+                SymbolsLoaded = false;
+            }
+        }
+        else
+        {
+            try
+            {
+                AsmDefinition = AssemblyDefinition.ReadAssembly(
+                    new MemoryStream(RawBytes),
+                    new ReaderParameters
+                    {
+                        AssemblyResolver = resolver,
+                        ReadSymbols = true,
+                    });
+                SymbolsLoaded = true;
+                CheckSymbols();
+            }
+            catch (Exception e)
+            {
+                AsmDefinition = AssemblyDefinition.ReadAssembly(
+                    new MemoryStream(RawBytes),
+                    new ReaderParameters
+                    {
+                        AssemblyResolver = resolver,
+                    });
+                SymbolsLoaded = false;
+            }
+
+        }
     }
 
     public ModifiableAssembly(string ownerName, string friendlyName, string path, IAssemblyResolver resolver)
     {
         OwnerName = ownerName;
         FriendlyName = friendlyName;
-        AsmDefinition = AssemblyDefinition.ReadAssembly(
-            path,
-            new ReaderParameters { AssemblyResolver = resolver, InMemory = true }
-        );
+        try
+        {
+            AsmDefinition = AssemblyDefinition.ReadAssembly(path, new ReaderParameters
+            {
+                AssemblyResolver = resolver,
+                ReadSymbols = true,
+                InMemory = true
+            });
+            SymbolsLoaded = true;
+            CheckSymbols();
+        }
+        catch (Exception e)
+        {
+            AsmDefinition = AssemblyDefinition.ReadAssembly(path, new ReaderParameters
+            {
+                AssemblyResolver = resolver,
+                ReadSymbols = false,
+                InMemory = true
+            });
+            SymbolsLoaded = false;
+        }
     }
 
     public void SerializeToByteArray()
@@ -59,7 +128,23 @@ public void SerializeToByteArray()
 
         Lg.Verbose($"Serializing: {FriendlyName}");
         var stream = new MemoryStream();
-        AsmDefinition.Write(stream);
+        if (SymbolsLoaded)
+        {
+            Lg.Verbose($"Serializing assembly with symbols loaded: {FriendlyName} {AsmDefinition.MainModule} {AsmDefinition.MainModule.symbol_reader.GetType()}");
+            var symbolsStream = new MemoryStream();
+            AsmDefinition.Write(stream,
+                new WriterParameters
+                {
+                    SymbolStream = symbolsStream,
+                    SymbolWriterProvider = new PdbWriterProvider()
+                });
+            SymbolBytes = symbolsStream.ToArray();
+
+        }
+        else
+        {
+            AsmDefinition.Write(stream);
+        }
         Bytes = stream.ToArray();
     }
 
@@ -78,4 +163,32 @@ public override string ToString()
     {
         return FriendlyName;
     }
+
+    private void CheckSymbols()
+    {
+        // embedded symbols are portable symbols compressed and inserted directly into assembly
+        // Mono.Cecil doesnt support writing embedded symbols into memory so we extract the portable provider from them
+        if (AsmDefinition.MainModule.symbol_reader is EmbeddedPortablePdbReader mainEmbedded)
+        {
+            AsmDefinition.MainModule.symbol_reader = mainEmbedded.reader;
+
+        }
+
+        if (!AsmDefinition.Modules.NullOrEmpty())
+        {
+            foreach (var module in AsmDefinition.Modules)
+            {
+                if (module.symbol_reader is EmbeddedPortablePdbReader embedded)
+                {
+                    module.symbol_reader = embedded.reader;
+                }
+            }
+        }
+
+        // Mono has no support loading native pdb, we ignore them
+        if (AsmDefinition.MainModule.symbol_reader is NativePdbReader)
+        {
+            SymbolsLoaded = false;
+        }
+    }
 }