diff --git a/docs/rh-log.txt b/docs/rh-log.txt
index 55efbe3a2..2b0c2a7de 100644
--- a/docs/rh-log.txt
+++ b/docs/rh-log.txt
@@ -1,4 +1,6 @@
 May 25, 2009
+- Specifiying non-existant directories with -savedir or the save_dir cvar now
+  attempts to create them.
 - I_CheckNativeMouse() now checks the foreground window to determine if the
   mouse should be grabbed. This fixes the case where you start the game in
   the background and it grabs the mouse anyway.
diff --git a/src/cmdlib.cpp b/src/cmdlib.cpp
index e9924785d..5403141ee 100644
--- a/src/cmdlib.cpp
+++ b/src/cmdlib.cpp
@@ -352,7 +352,7 @@ const char *myasctime ()
 /*																		*/
 /************************************************************************/
 #ifdef _WIN32
-void DoCreatePath(const char * fn)
+void DoCreatePath(const char *fn)
 {
 	char drive[_MAX_DRIVE];
 	char path[PATH_MAX];
@@ -367,17 +367,20 @@ void DoCreatePath(const char * fn)
 	_mkdir(p);
 }
 
-void CreatePath(const char * fn)
+void CreatePath(const char *fn)
 {
-	char name[PATH_MAX];
 	char c = fn[strlen(fn)-1];
 
-	if (c!='\\' && c!='/') 
+	if (c != '\\' && c != '/') 
 	{
-		mysnprintf(name, countof(name), "%s/", fn);
+		FString name(fn);
+		name += '/';
 		DoCreatePath(name);
 	}
-	else DoCreatePath(fn);
+	else
+	{
+		DoCreatePath(fn);
+	}
 }
 #else
 void CreatePath(const char *fn)
diff --git a/src/g_game.cpp b/src/g_game.cpp
index 2f37e292b..b139fa1f8 100644
--- a/src/g_game.cpp
+++ b/src/g_game.cpp
@@ -1777,24 +1777,27 @@ FString G_BuildSaveName (const char *prefix, int slot)
 		{
 			leader = save_dir;
 		}
+#ifdef unix
+		if (leader.IsEmpty())
+		{
+			leader = "~" GAME_DIR;
+		}
+#endif
 	}
 	size_t len = leader.Len();
 	if (leader[0] != '\0' && leader[len-1] != '\\' && leader[len-1] != '/')
 	{
 		slash = "/";
 	}
-	name.Format("%s%s%s", leader.GetChars(), slash, prefix);
+	name << leader << slash;
+	name = NicePath(name);
+	CreatePath(name);
+	name << prefix;
 	if (slot >= 0)
 	{
 		name.AppendFormat("%d.zds", slot);
 	}
-#ifdef unix
-	if (leader[0] == 0)
-	{
-		return GetUserFile (name);
-	}
-#endif
-	return NicePath(name);
+	return name;
 }
 
 CVAR (Int, autosavenum, 0, CVAR_NOSET|CVAR_ARCHIVE|CVAR_GLOBALCONFIG)
@@ -1911,7 +1914,7 @@ void G_DoSaveGame (bool okForQuicksave, FString filename, const char *descriptio
 	insave = true;
 	G_SnapshotLevel ();
 
-	FILE *stdfile = fopen (filename.GetChars(), "wb");
+	FILE *stdfile = fopen (filename, "wb");
 
 	if (stdfile == NULL)
 	{