diff --git a/code/client/cl_curl.c b/code/client/cl_curl.c
index 216d9ccd..039b8938 100644
--- a/code/client/cl_curl.c
+++ b/code/client/cl_curl.c
@@ -101,27 +101,21 @@ qboolean CL_cURL_Init()
 #else
 		char fn[1024];
 
-		// On some linux distributions there is no libcurl.so symlink, but only libcurl.so.4
-
-		Q_strncpyz(fn, cl_cURLLib->string, sizeof(fn));
-		strncat(fn, ".4", sizeof(fn)-strlen(fn)-1);
+		Q_strncpyz( fn, Sys_Cwd( ), sizeof( fn ) );
+		strncat(fn, "/", sizeof(fn)-strlen(fn)-1);
+		strncat(fn, cl_cURLLib->string, sizeof(fn)-strlen(fn)-1);
 
 		if((cURLLib = Sys_LoadLibrary(fn)) == 0)
 		{
-			Q_strncpyz(fn, cl_cURLLib->string, sizeof(fn));
-			strncat(fn, ".3", sizeof(fn)-strlen(fn)-1);
-
-			if((cURLLib = Sys_LoadLibrary(fn)) == 0)
+#ifdef ALTERNATE_CURL_LIB
+			// On some linux distributions there is no libcurl.so.3, but only libcurl.so.4. That one works too.
+			if( (cURLLib = Sys_LoadLibrary(ALTERNATE_CURL_LIB)) == 0 )
 			{
-				Q_strncpyz( fn, Sys_Cwd( ), sizeof( fn ) );
-				strncat(fn, "/", sizeof(fn)-strlen(fn)-1);
-				strncat(fn, cl_cURLLib->string, sizeof(fn)-strlen(fn)-1);
-
-				if( (cURLLib = Sys_LoadLibrary(fn)) == 0 )
-				{
-					return qfalse;
-				}
+				return qfalse;
 			}
+#else
+			return qfalse;
+#endif
 		}
 #endif /* _WIN32 */
 	}
diff --git a/code/client/cl_curl.h b/code/client/cl_curl.h
index 196eb05c..c8d3006a 100644
--- a/code/client/cl_curl.h
+++ b/code/client/cl_curl.h
@@ -34,7 +34,8 @@ extern cvar_t *cl_cURLLib;
 #elif defined(MACOS_X)
 #define DEFAULT_CURL_LIB "libcurl.dylib"
 #else
-#define DEFAULT_CURL_LIB "libcurl.so"
+#define DEFAULT_CURL_LIB "libcurl.so.4"
+#define ALTERNATE_CURL_LIB "libcurl.so.3"
 #endif
 
 #ifdef USE_LOCAL_HEADERS