diff --git a/source/duke3d/src/cmdline.cpp b/source/duke3d/src/cmdline.cpp
index eab0b9bb7..19f04d0ae 100644
--- a/source/duke3d/src/cmdline.cpp
+++ b/source/duke3d/src/cmdline.cpp
@@ -428,8 +428,7 @@ void G_CheckCommandLine(int32_t argc, char const * const * argv)
                     {
                         free(g_rtsNamePtr);
                         g_rtsNamePtr = dup_filename(argv[i+1]);
-                        Bstrncpyz(ud.rtsname, g_rtsNamePtr, sizeof(ud.rtsname));
-                        initprintf("Using RTS file \"%s\".\n", ud.rtsname);
+                        initprintf("Using RTS file \"%s\".\n", g_rtsNamePtr);
                         i++;
                     }
                     i++;
@@ -822,8 +821,7 @@ void G_CheckCommandLine(int32_t argc, char const * const * argv)
                     {
                         free(g_rtsNamePtr);
                         g_rtsNamePtr = dup_filename(argv[i++]);
-                        Bstrncpyz(ud.rtsname, g_rtsNamePtr, sizeof(ud.rtsname));
-                        initprintf("Using RTS file \"%s\".\n", ud.rtsname);
+                        initprintf("Using RTS file \"%s\".\n", g_rtsNamePtr);
                         continue;
                     }
 #ifdef LUNATIC
diff --git a/source/duke3d/src/common.cpp b/source/duke3d/src/common.cpp
index 2da7ad4f1..d9a3da1fd 100644
--- a/source/duke3d/src/common.cpp
+++ b/source/duke3d/src/common.cpp
@@ -452,7 +452,10 @@ void G_LoadGroups(int32_t autoload)
             g_defNamePtr = dup_filename(type->defname);
 
         if (type->rtsname && g_rtsNamePtr == NULL)
+        {
+            free(g_rtsNamePtr);
             g_rtsNamePtr = dup_filename(type->rtsname);
+        }
     }
     else
     {
diff --git a/source/duke3d/src/config.cpp b/source/duke3d/src/config.cpp
index 3ead450d4..38777ecc0 100644
--- a/source/duke3d/src/config.cpp
+++ b/source/duke3d/src/config.cpp
@@ -260,8 +260,7 @@ void CONFIG_SetDefaults(void)
 
     ud.config.CheckForUpdates = 1;
 
-    if (g_rtsNamePtr == NULL)
-        Bstrcpy(ud.rtsname, G_DefaultRtsFile());
+    Bstrcpy(ud.rtsname, G_DefaultRtsFile());
 
     Bstrcpy(szPlayerName, "Player");
 
@@ -584,8 +583,7 @@ int32_t CONFIG_ReadSetup(void)
 
     Bstrncpyz(szPlayerName, tempbuf, sizeof(szPlayerName));
 
-    if (g_rtsNamePtr == NULL)
-        SCRIPT_GetString(ud.config.scripthandle, "Comm Setup","RTSName",&ud.rtsname[0]);
+    SCRIPT_GetString(ud.config.scripthandle, "Comm Setup","RTSName",&ud.rtsname[0]);
 
     SCRIPT_GetNumber(ud.config.scripthandle, "Setup", "ConfigVersion", &ud.configversion);
     SCRIPT_GetNumber(ud.config.scripthandle, "Setup", "ForceSetup", &ud.config.ForceSetup);
@@ -860,8 +858,7 @@ void CONFIG_WriteSetup(uint32_t flags)
 
     SCRIPT_PutString(ud.config.scripthandle, "Comm Setup","PlayerName",&szPlayerName[0]);
 
-    if (g_rtsNamePtr == NULL)
-        SCRIPT_PutString(ud.config.scripthandle, "Comm Setup","RTSName",&ud.rtsname[0]);
+    SCRIPT_PutString(ud.config.scripthandle, "Comm Setup","RTSName",&ud.rtsname[0]);
 
     char commmacro[] = "CommbatMacro# ";
 
diff --git a/source/duke3d/src/game.cpp b/source/duke3d/src/game.cpp
index 056bdb175..b42ce5cf5 100644
--- a/source/duke3d/src/game.cpp
+++ b/source/duke3d/src/game.cpp
@@ -6451,29 +6451,12 @@ int app_main(int argc, char const * const * argv)
     }
 
     g_mostConcurrentPlayers = ud.multimode;  // XXX: redundant?
-    ud.last_level      = 0;
-
-    // the point of this block is to avoid overwriting the default in the cfg while asserting our selection
-    if (g_rtsNamePtr == NULL &&
-            (!Bstrcasecmp(ud.rtsname,defaultrtsfilename[GAME_DUKE]) ||
-            !Bstrcasecmp(ud.rtsname,defaultrtsfilename[GAME_WW2GI]) ||
-            !Bstrcasecmp(ud.rtsname,defaultrtsfilename[GAME_NAM]) ||
-            !Bstrcasecmp(ud.rtsname,defaultrtsfilename[GAME_NAPALM])))
-    {
-        // ud.last_level is used as a flag here to reset the string to default after load
-        ud.last_level = (Bstrcpy(ud.rtsname, G_DefaultRtsFile()) == ud.rtsname);
-    }
 
     CONFIG_WriteSetup(1);
     CONFIG_ReadSetup();
 
-    RTS_Init(ud.rtsname);
-
-    if (RTS_IsInitialized())
-        initprintf("Using RTS file \"%s\".\n", ud.rtsname);
-
-    if (ud.last_level)
-        Bstrcpy(ud.rtsname, defaultrtsfilename[0]);
+    char const * rtsname = g_rtsNamePtr ? g_rtsNamePtr : ud.rtsname;
+    RTS_Init(rtsname);
 
     ud.last_level = -1;