I'm not sure I understand your question. "level_load" must be called before creating entities, even if it is a NULL level. So at the beginning of main() I call level_load(NULL), before it's determined whether the game is a client, a server, or just to play offline.

There are no other levels, and no other level_load calls except a level_load(NULL) immediately after joining a game as a client, and immediately after disconnecting as a client, because otherwise I get a "no level!" error.

Jibb