diff --git a/binding-mri/filesystem-binding.cpp b/binding-mri/filesystem-binding.cpp
index a9449af..b71e042 100644
--- a/binding-mri/filesystem-binding.cpp
+++ b/binding-mri/filesystem-binding.cpp
@@ -33,7 +33,6 @@ fileIntFreeInstance(void *inst)
 {
 	SDL_RWops *ops = static_cast<SDL_RWops*>(inst);
 
-	SDL_RWclose(ops);
 	SDL_FreeRW(ops);
 }
 
@@ -42,16 +41,14 @@ DEF_TYPE_CUSTOMFREE(FileInt, fileIntFreeInstance);
 static VALUE
 fileIntForPath(const char *path, bool rubyExc)
 {
-	SDL_RWops *ops = SDL_AllocRW();
+	SDL_RWops *ops;
 
 	try
 	{
-		shState->fileSystem().openReadRaw(*ops, path);
+		ops = shState->fileSystem().openReadRaw(path);
 	}
 	catch (const Exception &e)
 	{
-		SDL_FreeRW(ops);
-
 		if (rubyExc)
 			raiseRbExc(e);
 		else
diff --git a/binding-mruby/binding-mruby.cpp b/binding-mruby/binding-mruby.cpp
index b2d7fcf..b788d80 100644
--- a/binding-mruby/binding-mruby.cpp
+++ b/binding-mruby/binding-mruby.cpp
@@ -273,23 +273,23 @@ runRMXPScripts(mrb_state *mrb, mrbc_context *ctx)
 
 	/* We use a secondary util state to unmarshal the scripts */
 	mrb_state *scriptMrb = mrb_open();
-	SDL_RWops ops;
 
-	shState->fileSystem().openReadRaw(ops, scriptPack.c_str());
+	SDL_RWops *ops = shState->fileSystem().openReadRaw(scriptPack.c_str());
 
 	mrb_value scriptArray = mrb_nil_value();
 	std::string readError;
 
 	try
 	{
-		scriptArray = marshalLoadInt(scriptMrb, &ops);
+		scriptArray = marshalLoadInt(scriptMrb, ops);
 	}
 	catch (const Exception &e)
 	{
 		readError = std::string(": ") + e.msg;
 	}
 
-	SDL_RWclose(&ops);
+	SDL_RWclose(ops);
+	SDL_FreeRW(ops);
 
 	if (!mrb_array_p(scriptArray))
 	{
diff --git a/src/filesystem.cpp b/src/filesystem.cpp
index c03dec6..a5c5dbf 100644
--- a/src/filesystem.cpp
+++ b/src/filesystem.cpp
@@ -222,15 +222,6 @@ static int SDL_RWopsClose(SDL_RWops *ops)
 	return (result != 0) ? 0 : -1;
 }
 
-static int SDL_RWopsCloseFree(SDL_RWops *ops)
-{
-	int result = SDL_RWopsClose(ops);
-
-	SDL_FreeRW(ops);
-
-	return result;
-}
-
 /* Copies the first srcN characters from src into dst,
  * or the full string if srcN == -1. Never writes more
  * than dstMax, and guarantees dst to be null terminated.
@@ -272,18 +263,13 @@ findExt(const char *filename)
 
 static void
 initReadOps(PHYSFS_File *handle,
-            SDL_RWops &ops,
-            bool freeOnClose)
+            SDL_RWops &ops)
 {
 	ops.size  = SDL_RWopsSize;
 	ops.seek  = SDL_RWopsSeek;
 	ops.read  = SDL_RWopsRead;
 	ops.write = SDL_RWopsWrite;
-
-	if (freeOnClose)
-		ops.close = SDL_RWopsCloseFree;
-	else
-		ops.close = SDL_RWopsClose;
+	ops.close = SDL_RWopsClose;
 
 	ops.type = SDL_RWOPS_PHYSFS;
 	ops.hidden.unknown.data1 = handle;
@@ -504,7 +490,7 @@ fontSetEnumCB (void *data, const char *dir, const char *fname)
 		return PHYSFS_ENUM_ERROR;
 
 	SDL_RWops ops;
-	initReadOps(handle, ops, false);
+	initReadOps(handle, ops);
 
 	d->sfs->initFontSetCB(ops, filename);
 
@@ -620,7 +606,7 @@ openReadEnumCB(void *d, const char *dirpath, const char *filename)
 		return PHYSFS_ENUM_ERROR;
 	}
 
-	initReadOps(phys, data.ops, false);
+	initReadOps(phys, data.ops);
 
 	const char *ext = findExt(filename);
 
@@ -684,14 +670,27 @@ void FileSystem::openRead(OpenHandler &handler, const char *filename)
 		throw Exception(Exception::NoFileError, "%s", filename);
 }
 
-void FileSystem::openReadRaw(SDL_RWops &ops,
-                             const char *filename,
-                             bool freeOnClose)
+SDL_RWops *FileSystem::openReadRaw(const char *filename)
 {
-	PHYSFS_File *handle = PHYSFS_openRead(filename);
-	assert(handle);
+	SDL_RWops *ops;
 
-	initReadOps(handle, ops, freeOnClose);
+	PHYSFS_File *handle = PHYSFS_openRead(filename);
+	if (!handle) {
+		Debug() << "Couldn't open " << filename << " via PhysFS; trying normal FILE*";
+		ops = SDL_RWFromFile(filename, "rb");
+
+		if (!ops) {
+			Debug() << "FILE* path failed too..";
+			throw Exception(Exception::NoFileError, "%s", filename);
+		}
+	}
+	else
+	{
+		ops = SDL_AllocRW();
+		initReadOps(handle, *ops);
+	}
+
+	return ops;
 }
 
 bool FileSystem::exists(const char *filename)
diff --git a/src/filesystem.h b/src/filesystem.h
index 71cdb1b..5e5a805 100644
--- a/src/filesystem.h
+++ b/src/filesystem.h
@@ -60,9 +60,7 @@ public:
 	              const char *filename);
 
 	/* Circumvents extension supplementing */
-	void openReadRaw(SDL_RWops &ops,
-	                 const char *filename,
-	                 bool freeOnClose = false);
+	SDL_RWops *openReadRaw(const char *filename);
 
 	/* Does not perform extension supplementing */
 	bool exists(const char *filename);
diff --git a/src/font.cpp b/src/font.cpp
index 97ebc76..33e48ec 100644
--- a/src/font.cpp
+++ b/src/font.cpp
@@ -167,14 +167,13 @@ _TTF_Font *SharedFontState::getFont(std::string family,
 		const char *path = !req.regular.empty()
 		                 ? req.regular.c_str() : req.other.c_str();
 
-		ops = SDL_AllocRW();
-		shState->fileSystem().openReadRaw(*ops, path, true);
+		ops = shState->fileSystem().openReadRaw(path);
 	}
 
 	// FIXME 0.9 is guesswork at this point
 //	float gamma = (96.0/45.0)*(5.0/14.0)*(size-5);
-//	font = TTF_OpenFontRW(ops, 1, gamma /** .90*/);
-	font = TTF_OpenFontRW(ops, 1, size* 0.90f);
+//	font = TTF_OpenFontRW(ops, 0, gamma /** .90*/);
+	font = TTF_OpenFontRW(ops, 0, size* 0.90f);
 
 	if (!font)
 		throw Exception(Exception::SDLError, "%s", SDL_GetError());