diff --git a/src/hardware/hw_draw.c b/src/hardware/hw_draw.c
index 55bbde45..bccb0ee8 100644
--- a/src/hardware/hw_draw.c
+++ b/src/hardware/hw_draw.c
@@ -1082,21 +1082,24 @@ UINT8 *HWR_GetScreenshot(void)
 	return buf;
 }
 
-boolean HWR_Screenshot(const char *lbmname)
+boolean HWR_Screenshot(const char *pathname, char **error)
 {
 	boolean ret;
 	UINT8 *buf = malloc(vid.width * vid.height * 3 * sizeof (*buf));
 
 	if (!buf)
+	{
+		*error = "Failed to allocate memory for HWR_Screenshot";
 		return false;
+	}
 
 	// returns 24bit 888 RGB
 	HWD.pfnReadRect(0, 0, vid.width, vid.height, vid.width * 3, (void *)buf);
 
 #ifdef USE_PNG
-	ret = M_SavePNG(lbmname, buf, vid.width, vid.height, NULL);
+	ret = M_SavePNG(pathname, buf, vid.width, vid.height, NULL, &*error);	// c_irl
 #else
-	ret = saveTGA(lbmname, buf, vid.width, vid.height);
+	ret = saveTGA(pathname, buf, vid.width, vid.height);
 #endif
 	free(buf);
 	return ret;
diff --git a/src/hardware/hw_main.h b/src/hardware/hw_main.h
index 59042cf3..cf9f2232 100644
--- a/src/hardware/hw_main.h
+++ b/src/hardware/hw_main.h
@@ -38,8 +38,6 @@ void HWR_RenderSkyboxView(INT32 viewnumber, player_t *player);
 void HWR_RenderPlayerView(INT32 viewnumber, player_t *player);
 void HWR_DrawViewBorder(INT32 clearlines);
 void HWR_DrawFlatFill(INT32 x, INT32 y, INT32 w, INT32 h, lumpnum_t flatlumpnum);
-UINT8 *HWR_GetScreenshot(void);
-boolean HWR_Screenshot(const char *lbmname);
 void HWR_InitTextureMapping(void);
 void HWR_SetViewSize(void);
 void HWR_DrawPatch(GLPatch_t *gpatch, INT32 x, INT32 y, INT32 option);
@@ -54,6 +52,9 @@ void HWR_DrawFill(INT32 x, INT32 y, INT32 w, INT32 h, INT32 color);
 void HWR_DrawConsoleFill(INT32 x, INT32 y, INT32 w, INT32 h, UINT32 color, INT32 options);	// Lat: separate flags from color since color needs to be an uint to work right.
 void HWR_DrawPic(INT32 x,INT32 y,lumpnum_t lumpnum);
 
+UINT8 *HWR_GetScreenshot(void);
+boolean HWR_Screenshot(const char *pathname, char **error);
+
 void HWR_AddCommands(void);
 void HWR_CorrectSWTricks(void);
 void transform(float *cx, float *cy, float *cz);
diff --git a/src/m_misc.c b/src/m_misc.c
index 7dd0d822..7b60caff 100644
--- a/src/m_misc.c
+++ b/src/m_misc.c
@@ -30,6 +30,7 @@
 #include "g_game.h"
 #include "m_misc.h"
 #include "hu_stuff.h"
+#include "st_stuff.h"
 #include "v_video.h"
 #include "z_zone.h"
 #include "g_input.h"
@@ -585,6 +586,21 @@ void M_SaveConfig(const char *filename)
 	fclose(f);
 }
 
+// ==========================================================================
+//                              SCREENSHOTS
+// ==========================================================================
+static UINT8 screenshot_palette[768];
+static void M_CreateScreenShotPalette(void)
+{
+	size_t i, j;
+	for (i = 0, j = 0; i < 768; i += 3, j++)
+	{
+		RGBA_t locpal = pLocalPalette[(max(st_palette,0)*256)+j];
+		screenshot_palette[i] = locpal.s.red;
+		screenshot_palette[i+1] = locpal.s.green;
+		screenshot_palette[i+2] = locpal.s.blue;
+	}
+}
 
 #if NUMSCREENS > 2
 static const char *Newsnapshotfile(const char *pathname, const char *ext)
@@ -1047,6 +1063,7 @@ static boolean M_SetupaPNG(png_const_charp filename, png_bytep pal)
 static inline moviemode_t M_StartMovieAPNG(const char *pathname)
 {
 #ifdef USE_APNG
+	UINT8 *palette;
 	const char *freename = NULL;
 	boolean ret = false;
 
@@ -1062,10 +1079,8 @@ static inline moviemode_t M_StartMovieAPNG(const char *pathname)
 		return MM_OFF;
 	}
 
-	if (rendermode == render_soft)
-		ret = M_SetupaPNG(va(pandf,pathname,freename), W_CacheLumpName(GetPalette(), PU_CACHE));
-	else
-		ret = M_SetupaPNG(va(pandf,pathname,freename), NULL);
+	if (rendermode == render_soft) M_CreateScreenShotPalette();
+	ret = M_SetupaPNG(va(pandf,pathname,freename), (palette = screenshot_palette));
 
 	if (!ret)
 	{
@@ -1268,10 +1283,11 @@ void M_StopMovie(void)
   * \param data     The image data.
   * \param width    Width of the picture.
   * \param height   Height of the picture.
-  * \param palette  Palette of image data
+  * \param palette  Palette of image data.
   *  \note if palette is NULL, BGR888 format
+  * \param error    Error string to return, if screenshot failed.
   */
-boolean M_SavePNG(const char *filename, void *data, int width, int height, const UINT8 *palette)
+boolean M_SavePNG(const char *filename, void *data, int width, int height, const UINT8 *palette, char **error)
 {
 	png_structp png_ptr;
 	png_infop png_info_ptr;
@@ -1286,15 +1302,14 @@ boolean M_SavePNG(const char *filename, void *data, int width, int height, const
 	png_FILE = fopen(filename,"wb");
 	if (!png_FILE)
 	{
-		CONS_Debug(DBG_RENDER, "M_SavePNG: Error on opening %s for write\n", filename);
+		*error = "Failed to open file for write";
 		return false;
 	}
 
-	png_ptr = png_create_write_struct(PNG_LIBPNG_VER_STRING, NULL,
-	 PNG_error, PNG_warn);
+	png_ptr = png_create_write_struct(PNG_LIBPNG_VER_STRING, NULL, PNG_error, PNG_warn);
 	if (!png_ptr)
 	{
-		CONS_Debug(DBG_RENDER, "M_SavePNG: Error on initialize libpng\n");
+		*error = "Failed to initialize libpng";
 		fclose(png_FILE);
 		remove(filename);
 		return false;
@@ -1303,7 +1318,7 @@ boolean M_SavePNG(const char *filename, void *data, int width, int height, const
 	png_info_ptr = png_create_info_struct(png_ptr);
 	if (!png_info_ptr)
 	{
-		CONS_Debug(DBG_RENDER, "M_SavePNG: Error on allocate for libpng\n");
+		*error = "Failed to allocate memory for libpng";
 		png_destroy_write_struct(&png_ptr,  NULL);
 		fclose(png_FILE);
 		remove(filename);
@@ -1316,7 +1331,7 @@ boolean M_SavePNG(const char *filename, void *data, int width, int height, const
 	if (setjmp(png_jmpbuf(png_ptr)))
 #endif
 	{
-		//CONS_Debug(DBG_RENDER, "libpng write error on %s\n", filename);
+		*error = "libpng write error";
 		png_destroy_write_struct(&png_ptr, &png_info_ptr);
 		fclose(png_FILE);
 		remove(filename);
@@ -1445,9 +1460,8 @@ void M_ScreenShot(void)
 }
 
 /** Takes a screenshot.
-  * The screenshot is saved as "srb2xxxx.pcx" (or "srb2xxxx.tga" in hardware
-  * rendermode) where xxxx is the lowest four-digit number for which a file
-  * does not already exist.
+  * The screenshot is saved as "srb2xxxx.png" where xxxx is the lowest
+  * four-digit number for which a file does not already exist.
   *
   * \sa HWR_ScreenShot
   */
@@ -1456,11 +1470,16 @@ void M_DoScreenShot(void)
 #if NUMSCREENS > 2
 	const char *freename = NULL, *pathname = ".";
 	boolean ret = false;
+	char *error = "Unknown error";
 	UINT8 *linear = NULL;
 
 	// Don't take multiple screenshots, obviously
 	takescreenshot = false;
 
+	// how does one take a screenshot without a render system?
+	if (rendermode == render_none)
+		return;
+
 	if (cv_screenshot_option.value == 0)
 		pathname = usehome ? srb2home : srb2path;
 	else if (cv_screenshot_option.value == 1)
@@ -1471,16 +1490,13 @@ void M_DoScreenShot(void)
 		pathname = cv_screenshot_folder.string;
 
 #ifdef USE_PNG
-	if (rendermode != render_none)
-		freename = Newsnapshotfile(pathname,"png");
+	freename = Newsnapshotfile(pathname,"png");
 #else
 	if (rendermode == render_soft)
 		freename = Newsnapshotfile(pathname,"pcx");
-	else if (rendermode != render_none)
+	else if (rendermode == render_opengl)
 		freename = Newsnapshotfile(pathname,"tga");
 #endif
-	else
-		I_Error("Can't take a screenshot without a render system");
 
 	if (rendermode == render_soft)
 	{
@@ -1494,18 +1510,16 @@ void M_DoScreenShot(void)
 
 	// save the pcx file
 #ifdef HWRENDER
-	if (rendermode != render_soft)
-		ret = HWR_Screenshot(va(pandf,pathname,freename));
+	if (rendermode == render_opengl)
+		ret = HWR_Screenshot(va(pandf,pathname,freename), &error);
 	else
 #endif
-	if (rendermode != render_none)
 	{
+		M_CreateScreenShotPalette();
 #ifdef USE_PNG
-		ret = M_SavePNG(va(pandf,pathname,freename), linear, vid.width, vid.height,
-			W_CacheLumpName(GetPalette(), PU_CACHE));
+		ret = M_SavePNG(va(pandf,pathname,freename), linear, vid.width, vid.height, screenshot_palette, &error);
 #else
-		ret = WritePCXfile(va(pandf,pathname,freename), linear, vid.width, vid.height,
-			W_CacheLumpName(GetPalette(), PU_CACHE));
+		ret = WritePCXfile(va(pandf,pathname,freename), linear, vid.width, vid.height, screenshot_palette);
 #endif
 	}
 
@@ -1513,14 +1527,14 @@ failure:
 	if (ret)
 	{
 		if (moviemode != MM_SCREENSHOT)
-			CONS_Printf(M_GetText("screen shot %s saved in %s\n"), freename, pathname);
+			CONS_Printf(M_GetText("Screen shot %s saved in %s\n"), freename, pathname);
 	}
 	else
 	{
 		if (freename)
-			CONS_Printf(M_GetText("Couldn't create screen shot %s in %s\n"), freename, pathname);
+			CONS_Alert(CONS_ERROR, M_GetText("Couldn't create screen shot %s in %s (%s)\n"), freename, pathname, error);
 		else
-			CONS_Printf(M_GetText("Couldn't create screen shot (all 10000 slots used!) in %s\n"), pathname);
+			CONS_Alert(CONS_ERROR, M_GetText("Couldn't create screen shot in %s (all 10000 slots used!)\n"), pathname);
 
 		if (moviemode == MM_SCREENSHOT)
 			M_StopMovie();
diff --git a/src/m_misc.h b/src/m_misc.h
index 7dd8baab..cb4af392 100644
--- a/src/m_misc.h
+++ b/src/m_misc.h
@@ -64,7 +64,7 @@ void FIL_ForceExtension(char *path, const char *extension);
 boolean FIL_CheckExtension(const char *in);
 
 #ifdef HAVE_PNG
-boolean M_SavePNG(const char *filename, void *data, int width, int height, const UINT8 *palette);
+boolean M_SavePNG(const char *filename, void *data, int width, int height, const UINT8 *palette, char **error);
 #endif
 
 extern boolean takescreenshot;
diff --git a/src/st_stuff.c b/src/st_stuff.c
index 1f8dbbf6..287aea13 100644
--- a/src/st_stuff.c
+++ b/src/st_stuff.c
@@ -197,7 +197,7 @@ void ST_Ticker(void)
 }
 
 // 0 is default, any others are special palettes.
-static INT32 st_palette = 0;
+INT32 st_palette = 0;
 
 void ST_doPaletteStuff(void)
 {
diff --git a/src/st_stuff.h b/src/st_stuff.h
index 6c4140ce..6f05bbf3 100644
--- a/src/st_stuff.h
+++ b/src/st_stuff.h
@@ -58,6 +58,7 @@ boolean ST_SameTeam(player_t *a, player_t *b);
 //--------------------
 
 extern boolean st_overlay; // sb overlay on or off when fullscreen
+extern INT32 st_palette; // 0 is default, any others are special palettes.
 
 extern lumpnum_t st_borderpatchnum;
 // patches, also used in intermission