diff --git a/engine/client/cl_parse.c b/engine/client/cl_parse.c
index 0448e922b..b111c3615 100644
--- a/engine/client/cl_parse.c
+++ b/engine/client/cl_parse.c
@@ -7045,7 +7045,7 @@ static void CL_ParseStuffCmd(char *msg, int destsplit)	//this protects stuffcmds
 	}
 #endif
 
-	strncat(stufftext, msg, sizeof(stufftext)-1);
+	Q_strncatz(stufftext, msg, sizeof(stufftext)-1);
 	while((msg = strchr(stufftext, '\n')))
 	{
 		*msg = '\0';
diff --git a/engine/client/cl_tent.c b/engine/client/cl_tent.c
index 3e4dfc6c5..197df4b4c 100644
--- a/engine/client/cl_tent.c
+++ b/engine/client/cl_tent.c
@@ -310,8 +310,9 @@ cvar_t  r_bluelight_colour = CVARFD("r_bluelight_colour", "0.5 0.5 3.0 200", CVA
 cvar_t  r_rocketlight_colour = CVARFD("r_rocketlight_colour", "2.0 1.0 0.25 200", CVAR_ARCHIVE, "This controls the RGB+radius values of MF_ROCKET effects.");
 cvar_t  r_muzzleflash_colour = CVARFD("r_muzzleflash_colour", "1.5 1.3 1.0 200", CVAR_ARCHIVE, "This controls the initial RGB+radius of EF_MUZZLEFLASH/svc_muzzleflash effects.");
 cvar_t  r_muzzleflash_fade = CVARFD("r_muzzleflash_fade", "1.5 0.75 0.375 1000", CVAR_ARCHIVE, "This controls the per-second RGB+radius decay of EF_MUZZLEFLASH/svc_muzzleflash effects.");
-cvar_t	cl_truelightning = CVARF("cl_truelightning", "0",	CVAR_SEMICHEAT);
-static cvar_t  cl_beam_trace = CVAR("cl_beam_trace", "0");
+cvar_t	cl_truelightning = CVARFD("cl_truelightning", "0",	CVAR_SEMICHEAT, "Manipulate the end position of the player's own beams, to hide lag. Can be set to fractional values to reduce the effect.");
+static cvar_t  cl_beam_trace = CVARD("cl_beam_trace", "0", "Clips the length of any beams according to any walls they may have impacted.");
+static cvar_t  cl_beam_alpha = CVARAFD("cl_beam_alpha", "1", "r_shaftalpha", 0, "Specifies the translucency of the lightning beam segments.");
 static cvar_t	cl_legacystains = CVARD("cl_legacystains", "1", "WARNING: this cvar will default to 0 and later removed at some point");	//FIXME: do as the description says!
 static cvar_t	cl_shaftlight = CVAR("gl_shaftlight", "0.8");
 static cvar_t	cl_part_density_fade_start = CVARD("cl_part_density_fade_start", "1024", "Specifies the distance at which ssqc's pointparticles will start to get less dense.");
@@ -454,6 +455,7 @@ void CL_InitTEnts (void)
 	Cvar_Register (&cl_expsprite, "Temporary entity control");
 	Cvar_Register (&cl_truelightning, "Temporary entity control");
 	Cvar_Register (&cl_beam_trace, "Temporary entity control");
+	Cvar_Register (&cl_beam_alpha, "Temporary entity control");
 	Cvar_Register (&r_explosionlight, "Temporary entity control");
 	Cvar_Register (&r_explosionlight_colour, "Temporary entity control");
 	Cvar_Register (&r_explosionlight_fade, "Temporary entity control");
@@ -905,7 +907,9 @@ beam_t *CL_AddBeam (enum beamtype_e tent, int ent, vec3_t start, vec3_t end)	//f
 	b->tag = -1;
 	b->bflags |= /*STREAM_ATTACHED|*/STREAM_ATTACHTOPLAYER;
 	b->endtime = cl.time + 0.2;
-	b->alpha = 1;
+	b->alpha = bound(0, cl_beam_alpha.value, 1);
+	if(b->alpha < 1)
+		b->rflags |= RF_TRANSLUCENT;
 	b->skin = 0;
 	VectorCopy (start, b->start);
 	VectorCopy (end, b->end);
diff --git a/engine/client/zqtp.c b/engine/client/zqtp.c
index debcd48eb..bf69aa0bc 100644
--- a/engine/client/zqtp.c
+++ b/engine/client/zqtp.c
@@ -1529,16 +1529,16 @@ TP_ParseFunChars
 Doesn't check for overflows, so strlen(s) should be < MAX_MACRO_STRING
 ==============
 */
-char *TP_ParseFunChars (char *s)
+const char *TP_ParseFunChars (const char *s)
 {
 	static char	 buf[MAX_MACRO_STRING];
 	char		*out = buf;
 	int			 c;
 
-	if (!cl_parseFunChars.ival)
+	if (!cl_parseFunChars.ival || com_parseutf8.ival != 0)
 		return s;
 
-	while (*s) {
+	while (*s && out < buf+countof(buf)-1) {
 		if (*s == '$' && s[1] == 'x') {
 			int i;
 			// check for $x10, $x8a, etc
diff --git a/engine/common/cmd.c b/engine/common/cmd.c
index 9288ed21d..b65441586 100644
--- a/engine/common/cmd.c
+++ b/engine/common/cmd.c
@@ -1040,11 +1040,11 @@ Cmd_Echo_f
 Just prints the rest of the line to the console
 ===============
 */
-char *TP_ParseFunChars (char *s);
 static void Cmd_Echo_f (void)
 {
 	char text[4096];
-	char extext[4096], *t;
+	char extext[4096];
+	const char *t;
 	int level = Cmd_ExecLevel;
 	int		i;
 	*text = 0;
diff --git a/engine/common/cmd.h b/engine/common/cmd.h
index 3b5c69039..f3d913ef5 100644
--- a/engine/common/cmd.h
+++ b/engine/common/cmd.h
@@ -251,6 +251,7 @@ void Cmd_MessageTrigger (char *message, int type);
 
 void Cmd_ShiftArgs (int ammount, qboolean expandstring);
 
+const char *TP_ParseFunChars (const char *s);
 char *Cmd_ExpandString (const char *data, char *dest, int destlen, int *accesslevel, qboolean expandargs, qboolean expandcvars, qboolean expandmacros);
 qboolean If_EvaluateBoolean(const char *text, int restriction);
 
diff --git a/engine/common/cvar.c b/engine/common/cvar.c
index 7cfe0bdc8..fa1aaf2a5 100644
--- a/engine/common/cvar.c
+++ b/engine/common/cvar.c
@@ -998,9 +998,10 @@ static cvar_t *Cvar_SetCore (cvar_t *var, const char *value, qboolean force)
 	if (var->flags & CVAR_USERINFO)
 	{
 		char *old = InfoBuf_ValueForKey(&cls.userinfo[0], var->name);
-		if (strcmp(old, value))	//only spam the server if it actually changed
+		const char *corruptval = TP_ParseFunChars(value);
+		if (strcmp(old, corruptval))	//only spam the server if it actually changed
 		{				//this helps with config execs
-			InfoBuf_SetKey (&cls.userinfo[0], var->name, value);
+			InfoBuf_SetKey (&cls.userinfo[0], var->name, corruptval);
 		}
 	}
 #endif