diff --git a/sc2/src/libs/compiler.h b/sc2/src/libs/compiler.h
index 4e855505c..0b2970928 100644
--- a/sc2/src/libs/compiler.h
+++ b/sc2/src/libs/compiler.h
@@ -32,7 +32,7 @@ typedef sint32           SDWORD;
 typedef UWORD             COUNT;
 typedef SWORD              SIZE;
 
-typedef unsigned char   UNICODE;
+typedef char            UNICODE;
 
 
 typedef enum
diff --git a/sc2/src/libs/graphics/font.c b/sc2/src/libs/graphics/font.c
index e2d05dc8f..d9851825b 100644
--- a/sc2/src/libs/graphics/font.c
+++ b/sc2/src/libs/graphics/font.c
@@ -130,7 +130,7 @@ TextRect (TEXT *lpText, RECT *pRect, BYTE *pdelta)
 		COORD top_y, bot_y;
 		SIZE width;
 		UniChar next_ch = 0;
-		const unsigned char *pStr;
+		const char *pStr;
 		COUNT num_chars;
 	
 		num_chars = lpText->CharCount;
@@ -240,7 +240,7 @@ _text_blt (RECT *pClipRect, TEXT *TextPtr, POINT ctxOrigin)
 	FONT FontPtr;
 	COUNT num_chars;
 	UniChar next_ch;
-	const unsigned char *pStr;
+	const char *pStr;
 	POINT origin;
 	TFB_Image *backing;
 
diff --git a/sc2/src/libs/strings/unicode.c b/sc2/src/libs/strings/unicode.c
index bf754b972..dd8e636a7 100644
--- a/sc2/src/libs/strings/unicode.c
+++ b/sc2/src/libs/strings/unicode.c
@@ -16,11 +16,13 @@
 
 #include "port.h"
 
+#define UNICODE_INTERNAL
+#include "libs/unicode.h"
+
 #include <ctype.h>
 #include <stddef.h>
 #include <stdio.h>
 #include <string.h>
-#include "libs/strlib.h"
 #include "libs/log.h"
 
 
diff --git a/sc2/src/libs/unicode.h b/sc2/src/libs/unicode.h
index b3d947608..428de6f5c 100644
--- a/sc2/src/libs/unicode.h
+++ b/sc2/src/libs/unicode.h
@@ -18,38 +18,47 @@
 #define UNICODE_H
 
 #include "port.h"
+#include "types.h"
+		// for uint32
 #include <sys/types.h>
 		// For size_t
 
 typedef uint32 UniChar;
 
-UniChar getCharFromString(const unsigned char **ptr);
-UniChar getCharFromStringN(const unsigned char **ptr,
-		const unsigned char *end);
-unsigned char *getLineFromString(const unsigned char *start,
-		const unsigned char **end, const unsigned char **startNext);
-size_t utf8StringCount(const unsigned char *start);
-size_t utf8StringCountN(const unsigned char *start,
-		const unsigned char *end);
-int utf8StringPos (const unsigned char *pStr, UniChar ch);
-unsigned char *utf8StringCopy (unsigned char *dst, size_t size,
-		const unsigned char *src);
-int utf8StringCompare (const unsigned char *str1, const unsigned char *str2);
-unsigned char *skipUTF8Chars(const unsigned char *ptr, size_t num);
+#ifdef UNICODE_INTERNAL
+#	define UNICODE_CHAR  unsigned char
+#else
+#	define UNICODE_CHAR  char
+#endif
+
+UniChar getCharFromString(const UNICODE_CHAR **ptr);
+UniChar getCharFromStringN(const UNICODE_CHAR **ptr,
+		const UNICODE_CHAR *end);
+unsigned char *getLineFromString(const UNICODE_CHAR *start,
+		const UNICODE_CHAR **end, const UNICODE_CHAR **startNext);
+size_t utf8StringCount(const UNICODE_CHAR *start);
+size_t utf8StringCountN(const UNICODE_CHAR *start,
+		const UNICODE_CHAR *end);
+int utf8StringPos (const UNICODE_CHAR *pStr, UniChar ch);
+unsigned char *utf8StringCopy (UNICODE_CHAR *dst, size_t size,
+		const UNICODE_CHAR *src);
+int utf8StringCompare (const UNICODE_CHAR *str1, const UNICODE_CHAR *str2);
+UNICODE_CHAR *skipUTF8Chars(const UNICODE_CHAR *ptr, size_t num);
 size_t getUniCharFromString(UniChar *wstr, size_t maxcount,
-		const unsigned char *start);
+		const UNICODE_CHAR *start);
 size_t getUniCharFromStringN(UniChar *wstr, size_t maxcount,
-		const unsigned char *start, const unsigned char *end);
-int getStringFromChar(unsigned char *ptr, size_t size, UniChar ch);
-size_t getStringFromWideN(unsigned char *ptr, size_t size,
+		const UNICODE_CHAR *start, const UNICODE_CHAR *end);
+int getStringFromChar(UNICODE_CHAR *ptr, size_t size, UniChar ch);
+size_t getStringFromWideN(UNICODE_CHAR *ptr, size_t size,
 		const UniChar *wstr, size_t count);
-size_t getStringFromWide(unsigned char *ptr, size_t size,
+size_t getStringFromWide(UNICODE_CHAR *ptr, size_t size,
 		const UniChar *wstr);
 int UniChar_isGraph(UniChar ch);
 int UniChar_isPrint(UniChar ch);
 UniChar UniChar_toUpper(UniChar ch);
 UniChar UniChar_toLower(UniChar ch);
 
+#undef UNICODE_CHAR
 
 #endif  /* UNICODE_H */
 
diff --git a/sc2/src/uqm/comm.c b/sc2/src/uqm/comm.c
index b18d74980..13a5a7e1b 100644
--- a/sc2/src/uqm/comm.c
+++ b/sc2/src/uqm/comm.c
@@ -121,7 +121,7 @@ static int
 _count_lines (TEXT *pText)
 {
 	SIZE text_width;
-	const unsigned char *pStr;
+	const char *pStr;
 	int numLines = 0;
 	BOOLEAN eol;
 
@@ -151,7 +151,7 @@ add_text (int status, TEXT *pTextIn)
 	TEXT locText;
 	TEXT *pText;
 	SIZE leading;
-	const unsigned char *pStr;
+	const char *pStr;
 	SIZE text_width;
 	int num_lines = 0;
 	static COORD last_baseline;
@@ -311,7 +311,7 @@ add_text (int status, TEXT *pTextIn)
 // TRUE is returned if a complete line fitted
 // FALSE otherwise
 BOOLEAN
-getLineWithinWidth(TEXT *pText, const unsigned char **startNext,
+getLineWithinWidth(TEXT *pText, const char **startNext,
 		SIZE maxWidth, COUNT maxChars)
 {
 	BOOLEAN eol;
@@ -320,8 +320,8 @@ getLineWithinWidth(TEXT *pText, const unsigned char **startNext,
 			// We cannot add any more words.
 	RECT rect;
 	COUNT oldCount;
-	const unsigned char *ptr;
-	const unsigned char *wordStart;
+	const char *ptr;
+	const char *wordStart;
 	UniChar ch;
 	COUNT charCount;
 
@@ -861,7 +861,7 @@ DoConvSummary (SUMMARY_STATE *pSS)
 		for (row = 0; row < MAX_SUMM_ROWS && pSS->NextSub;
 				++row, pSS->NextSub = GetNextTrackSubtitle (pSS->NextSub))
 		{
-			const unsigned char *next = NULL;
+			const char *next = NULL;
 
 			if (pSS->LeftOver)
 			{	// some text left from last subtitle
diff --git a/sc2/src/uqm/comm.h b/sc2/src/uqm/comm.h
index c11be2f92..d3fe8708d 100644
--- a/sc2/src/uqm/comm.h
+++ b/sc2/src/uqm/comm.h
@@ -113,7 +113,7 @@ extern void RaceCommunication (void);
 
 #define WAIT_TRACK_ALL  ((COUNT)~0)
 extern void AlienTalkSegue (COUNT wait_track);
-BOOLEAN getLineWithinWidth(TEXT *pText, const unsigned char **startNext,
+BOOLEAN getLineWithinWidth(TEXT *pText, const char **startNext,
 		SIZE maxWidth, COUNT maxChars);
 
 extern RECT CommWndRect; /* comm window rect */
diff --git a/sc2/src/uqm/credits.c b/sc2/src/uqm/credits.c
index 9e20bc68d..932131808 100644
--- a/sc2/src/uqm/credits.c
+++ b/sc2/src/uqm/credits.c
@@ -142,7 +142,7 @@ Credits_RenderTextFrame (CONTEXT TempContext, int *istr, int dir,
 	CONTEXT OldContext;
 	FRAME OldFrame;
 	TEXT TextLines[MAX_TEXT_LINES];
-	STRINGPTR pStr = NULL;
+	char *pStr = NULL;
 	int size;
 	char salign[32];
 	char *scol;
diff --git a/sc2/src/uqm/getchar.c b/sc2/src/uqm/getchar.c
index 5c8795b9c..8c90940c3 100644
--- a/sc2/src/uqm/getchar.c
+++ b/sc2/src/uqm/getchar.c
@@ -27,10 +27,14 @@
 #include "resinst.h"
 #include "nameref.h"
 
+
+// TODO: This may be better done with UniChar at the cost of a tiny bit
+//   of overhead to convert UniChar back to UTF8 string. This overhead
+//   will probably be offset by removal of looped string-compare overhead ;)
 struct joy_char
 {
 	unsigned char len;
-	unsigned char enc[7];
+	char enc[7];
 		// 1+7 is a nice round number
 };
 
diff --git a/sc2/src/uqm/intro.c b/sc2/src/uqm/intro.c
index ae1caf8f2..7ba8a0b43 100644
--- a/sc2/src/uqm/intro.c
+++ b/sc2/src/uqm/intro.c
@@ -338,8 +338,8 @@ DoPresentation (void *pIS)
 	while (pPIS->OperIndex < GetStringTableCount (pPIS->SlideShow))
 	{
 		char Opcode[16];
+		char *pStr = GetStringAddress (pPIS->SlideShow);
 
-		STRINGPTR pStr = GetStringAddress (pPIS->SlideShow);
 		pPIS->OperIndex++;
 		pPIS->SlideShow = SetRelStringTableIndex (pPIS->SlideShow, 1);
 
diff --git a/sc2/src/uqm/melee.c b/sc2/src/uqm/melee.c
index 9ae49713c..05184e34d 100644
--- a/sc2/src/uqm/melee.c
+++ b/sc2/src/uqm/melee.c
@@ -592,7 +592,7 @@ multiLineDrawText (TEXT *textIn, RECT *clipRect) {
 	lineWidth = clipRect->extent.width - text.baseline.x;
 
 	while (*text.pStr != '\0') {
-		const unsigned char *nextLine;
+		const char *nextLine;
 
 		text.baseline.y += leading;
 		text.CharCount = (COUNT) ~0;
diff --git a/sc2/src/uqm/sis.c b/sc2/src/uqm/sis.c
index 6ba82d981..213882f20 100644
--- a/sc2/src/uqm/sis.c
+++ b/sc2/src/uqm/sis.c
@@ -345,7 +345,7 @@ DrawSISMessageEx (const UNICODE *pStr, SIZE CurPos, SIZE ExPos, COUNT flags)
 }
 
 void
-DateToString (unsigned char *buf, size_t bufLen,
+DateToString (char *buf, size_t bufLen,
 		BYTE month_index, BYTE day_index, COUNT year_index)
 {
 	snprintf (buf, bufLen, "%s %02d" STR_MIDDLE_DOT "%04d",
diff --git a/sc2/src/uqm/sis.h b/sc2/src/uqm/sis.h
index 3980b9211..962337d3c 100644
--- a/sc2/src/uqm/sis.h
+++ b/sc2/src/uqm/sis.h
@@ -198,7 +198,7 @@ extern BOOLEAN DrawSISMessageEx (const UNICODE *pStr, SIZE CurPos,
 		SIZE ExPos, COUNT flags);
 
 extern void DrawSISMessage (const UNICODE *pStr);
-extern void DateToString (unsigned char *buf, size_t bufLen,
+extern void DateToString (char *buf, size_t bufLen,
 		BYTE month_index, BYTE day_index, COUNT year_index);
 
 // Returned RECT is relative to the StatusContext