diff --git a/src/files.h b/src/files.h
index 4b281438f..ea24cff20 100644
--- a/src/files.h
+++ b/src/files.h
@@ -184,6 +184,14 @@ public:
 		return mReader->Read(buffer, (long)len);
 	}
 
+	TArray<uint8_t> Read(size_t len)
+	{
+		TArray<uint8_t> buffer((int)len, true);
+		Size length = mReader->Read(&buffer[0], (long)len);
+		buffer.Clamp((int)length);
+		return buffer;
+	}
+
 	TArray<uint8_t> Read()
 	{
 		TArray<uint8_t> buffer(mReader->Length, true);
diff --git a/src/p_setup.cpp b/src/p_setup.cpp
index 15cbb0b54..8f456c024 100644
--- a/src/p_setup.cpp
+++ b/src/p_setup.cpp
@@ -1691,15 +1691,10 @@ uint16_t MakeSkill(int flags)
 
 void P_LoadThings (MapData * map)
 {
-	int	lumplen = map->Size(ML_THINGS);
-	int numthings = lumplen / sizeof(mapthing_t);
-
-	char *mtp;
 	mapthing_t *mt;
-
-	mtp = new char[lumplen];
-	map->Read(ML_THINGS, mtp);
-	mt = (mapthing_t*)mtp;
+	auto mtp = map->Read(ML_THINGS);
+	int numthings = mtp.Size() / sizeof(mapthing_t);
+	mt = (mapthing_t*)mtp.Data();
 
 	MapThingsConverted.Resize(numthings);
 	FMapThing *mti = &MapThingsConverted[0];
@@ -1767,7 +1762,6 @@ void P_LoadThings (MapData * map)
 			if (flags & BTF_NOTSINGLE)			mti[i].flags &= ~MTF_SINGLE;
 		}
 	}
-	delete [] mtp;
 }
 
 //===========================================================================
@@ -2109,29 +2103,24 @@ void P_LoadLineDefs (MapData * map)
 {
 	int i, skipped;
 	line_t *ld;
-	int lumplen = map->Size(ML_LINEDEFS);
-	char * mldf;
 	maplinedef_t *mld;
 		
-	int numlines = lumplen / sizeof(maplinedef_t);
+	auto mldf = map->Read(ML_LINEDEFS);
+	int numlines = mldf.Size() / sizeof(maplinedef_t);
 	linemap.Resize(numlines);
 
-	mldf = new char[lumplen];
-	map->Read(ML_LINEDEFS, mldf);
-
 	// [RH] Count the number of sidedef references. This is the number of
 	// sidedefs we need. The actual number in the SIDEDEFS lump might be less.
 	// Lines with 0 length are also removed.
 
 	for (skipped = sidecount = i = 0; i < numlines; )
 	{
-		mld = ((maplinedef_t*)mldf) + i;
+		mld = ((maplinedef_t*)mldf.Data()) + i;
 		unsigned v1 = LittleShort(mld->v1);
 		unsigned v2 = LittleShort(mld->v2);
 
 		if (v1 >= level.vertexes.Size() || v2 >= level.vertexes.Size())
 		{
-			delete [] mldf;
 			I_Error ("Line %d has invalid vertices: %d and/or %d.\nThe map only contains %u vertices.", i+skipped, v1, v2, level.vertexes.Size());
 		}
 		else if (v1 == v2 ||
@@ -2164,7 +2153,7 @@ void P_LoadLineDefs (MapData * map)
 
 	P_AllocateSideDefs (map, sidecount);
 
-	mld = (maplinedef_t *)mldf;
+	mld = (maplinedef_t *)mldf.Data();
 	ld = &level.lines[0];
 	for (i = 0; i < numlines; i++, mld++, ld++)
 	{
@@ -2203,7 +2192,6 @@ void P_LoadLineDefs (MapData * map)
 		if (level.flags2 & LEVEL2_WRAPMIDTEX) ld->flags |= ML_WRAP_MIDTEX;
 		if (level.flags2 & LEVEL2_CHECKSWITCHRANGE) ld->flags |= ML_CHECKSWITCHRANGE;
 	}
-	delete[] mldf;
 }
 
 //===========================================================================
diff --git a/src/p_setup.h b/src/p_setup.h
index 1f773e951..dd3a1e1e3 100644
--- a/src/p_setup.h
+++ b/src/p_setup.h
@@ -104,6 +104,13 @@ public:
 		}
 	}
 
+	TArray<uint8_t> Read(unsigned lumpindex)
+	{
+		TArray<uint8_t> buffer(Size(lumpindex), true);
+ 		Read(lumpindex, buffer.Data(), (int)buffer.Size());
+		return buffer;
+	}
+
 	uint32_t Size(unsigned int lumpindex)
 	{
 		if (lumpindex<countof(MapLumps) && MapLumps[lumpindex].Reader.isOpen())
diff --git a/src/p_udmf.cpp b/src/p_udmf.cpp
index 11652abfc..e0bccff7d 100644
--- a/src/p_udmf.cpp
+++ b/src/p_udmf.cpp
@@ -2045,15 +2045,11 @@ public:
 
 	void ParseTextMap(MapData *map)
 	{
-		char *buffer = new char[map->Size(ML_TEXTMAP)];
-
 		isTranslated = true;
 		isExtended = false;
 		floordrop = false;
 
-		map->Read(ML_TEXTMAP, buffer);
-		sc.OpenMem(Wads.GetLumpFullName(map->lumpnum), buffer, map->Size(ML_TEXTMAP));
-		delete [] buffer;
+		sc.OpenMem(Wads.GetLumpFullName(map->lumpnum), map->Read(ML_TEXTMAP));
 		sc.SetCMode(true);
 		if (sc.CheckString("namespace"))
 		{
diff --git a/src/p_usdf.cpp b/src/p_usdf.cpp
index 4838d4b8d..f24cd5d7b 100644
--- a/src/p_usdf.cpp
+++ b/src/p_usdf.cpp
@@ -473,10 +473,7 @@ class USDFParser : public UDMFParserBase
 public:
 	bool Parse(int lumpnum, FileReader &lump, int lumplen)
 	{
-		char *buffer = new char[lumplen];
-		lump.Read(buffer, lumplen);
-		sc.OpenMem(Wads.GetLumpFullName(lumpnum), buffer, lumplen);
-		delete [] buffer;
+		sc.OpenMem(Wads.GetLumpFullName(lumpnum), lump.Read(lumplen));
 		sc.SetCMode(true);
 		// Namespace must be the first field because everything else depends on it.
 		if (sc.CheckString("namespace"))
diff --git a/src/parsecontext.cpp b/src/parsecontext.cpp
index cdc28c15a..9631c4b49 100644
--- a/src/parsecontext.cpp
+++ b/src/parsecontext.cpp
@@ -323,15 +323,12 @@ void FParseContext::ParseLump(const char *lumpname)
 	}
 
 	// Read the lump into a buffer and add a 0-terminator
-	int lumplen = Wads.LumpLength(lumpno);
-	char *lumpdata = new char[lumplen+1];
-	Wads.ReadLump(lumpno, lumpdata);
-	lumpdata[lumplen] = 0;
+	auto lumpdata = Wads.ReadLumpIntoArray(lumpno, 1);
 
 	SourceLine = 0;
 	SourceFile = lumpname;
 
-	char *sourcep = lumpdata;
+	char *sourcep = (char*)lumpdata.Data();
 	while ( (tokentype = GetToken(sourcep, &token)) )
 	{
 		// It is much easier to handle include statements outside the main parser.
@@ -349,7 +346,6 @@ void FParseContext::ParseLump(const char *lumpname)
 			Parse(pParser, tokentype, token, this);
 		}
 	}
-	delete [] lumpdata;
 	SourceLine = SavedSourceLine;
 	SourceFile = SavedSourceFile;
 }
diff --git a/src/sc_man.h b/src/sc_man.h
index 9c4f34a22..57ab6ec52 100644
--- a/src/sc_man.h
+++ b/src/sc_man.h
@@ -21,6 +21,10 @@ public:
 	void Open(const char *lumpname);
 	bool OpenFile(const char *filename);
 	void OpenMem(const char *name, const char *buffer, int size);
+	void OpenMem(const char *name, TArray<uint8_t> &buffer)
+	{
+		OpenMem(name, (const char*)buffer.Data(), buffer.Size());
+	}
 	void OpenString(const char *name, FString buffer);
 	void OpenLumpNum(int lump);
 	void Close();
diff --git a/src/tarray.h b/src/tarray.h
index 8543637cd..77fc2fa5c 100644
--- a/src/tarray.h
+++ b/src/tarray.h
@@ -157,12 +157,12 @@ public:
 		Count = 0;
 		Array = NULL;
 	}
-	TArray (int max, bool reserve = false)
+	TArray (size_t max, bool reserve = false)
 	{
-		Most = max;
-		Count = reserve? max : 0;
+		Most = (unsigned)max;
+		Count = (unsigned)(reserve? max : 0);
 		Array = (T *)M_Malloc (sizeof(T)*max);
-		if (reserve)
+		if (reserve && Count > 0)
 		{
 			ConstructEmpty(0, Count - 1);
 		}
@@ -436,7 +436,7 @@ public:
 		Grow (amount);
 		unsigned int place = Count;
 		Count += amount;
-		ConstructEmpty(place, Count - 1);
+		if (Count > 0) ConstructEmpty(place, Count - 1);
 		return place;
 	}
 	unsigned int Size () const
diff --git a/src/w_wad.cpp b/src/w_wad.cpp
index 9c474ceb8..177a8b802 100644
--- a/src/w_wad.cpp
+++ b/src/w_wad.cpp
@@ -1281,6 +1281,30 @@ void FWadCollection::ReadLump (int lump, void *dest)
 	}
 }
 
+//==========================================================================
+//
+// W_ReadLump
+//
+// Loads the lump into a TArray and returns it.
+//
+//==========================================================================
+
+TArray<uint8_t> FWadCollection::ReadLumpIntoArray(int lump, int pad)
+{
+	auto lumpr = OpenLumpReader(lump);
+	auto size = lumpr.GetLength();
+	TArray<uint8_t> data(size + pad);
+	auto numread = lumpr.Read(data.Data(), size);
+
+	if (numread != size)
+	{
+		I_Error("W_ReadLump: only read %ld of %ld on lump %i\n",
+			numread, size, lump);
+	}
+	if (pad > 0) memset(&data[size], 0, pad);
+	return data;
+}
+
 //==========================================================================
 //
 // ReadLump - variant 2
diff --git a/src/w_wad.h b/src/w_wad.h
index dca4bd8fe..a7009d65e 100644
--- a/src/w_wad.h
+++ b/src/w_wad.h
@@ -148,6 +148,7 @@ public:
 
 
 	void ReadLump (int lump, void *dest);
+	TArray<uint8_t> ReadLumpIntoArray(int lump, int pad = 0);	// reads lump into a writable buffer and optionally adds some padding at the end. (FMemLump isn't writable!)
 	FMemLump ReadLump (int lump);
 	FMemLump ReadLump (const char *name) { return ReadLump (GetNumForName (name)); }