diff --git a/src/kernel/save.c b/src/kernel/save.c
index bd2002fcc..2dd3f54ea 100644
--- a/src/kernel/save.c
+++ b/src/kernel/save.c
@@ -1203,15 +1203,14 @@ static char * getpasswd(int fno) {
 static void read_password(gamedata *data, faction *f) {
     char name[128];
     READ_STR(data->store, name, sizeof(name));
-    if (data->version == BADCRYPT_VERSION) {
+    if (name[0]=='$' && data->version == BADCRYPT_VERSION) {
         char * pass = getpasswd(f->no);
         if (pass) {
             faction_setpassword(f, password_encode(pass, PASSWORD_DEFAULT));
             free(pass); // TODO: remove this allocation!
         }
         else {
-            free(f->_password);
-            f->_password = NULL;
+            log_error("data version is BADCRYPT but %s not in password.txt", itoa36(f->no));
         }
     }
     else {
diff --git a/src/kernel/save.test.c b/src/kernel/save.test.c
index 53dcfe5d9..89fdcfbb1 100644
--- a/src/kernel/save.test.c
+++ b/src/kernel/save.test.c
@@ -285,20 +285,25 @@ static void test_read_password_external(CuTest *tc) {
     CuAssertPtrNotNull(tc, f->_password);
     mstream_init(&data.strm);
     gamedata_init(&data, &store, RELEASE_VERSION);
-    WRITE_TOK(data.store, (const char *)f->_password);
-    WRITE_TOK(data.store, (const char *)f->_password);
+    WRITE_TOK(data.store, "newpassword");
+    WRITE_TOK(data.store, "secret");
+    WRITE_TOK(data.store, "$brokenhash");
     data.strm.api->rewind(data.strm.handle);
+    data.version = NOCRYPT_VERSION;
+    _test_read_password(&data, f);
+    CuAssertStrEquals(tc, "newpassword", f->_password);
     data.version = BADCRYPT_VERSION;
     _test_read_password(&data, f);
-    CuAssertPtrEquals(tc, 0, f->_password);
+    CuAssertStrEquals(tc, "secret", f->_password);
     F = fopen(pwfile, "wt");
-    fprintf(F, "%s:secret\n", itoa36(f->no));
+    fprintf(F, "%s:pwfile\n", itoa36(f->no));
     fclose(F);
+    CuAssertTrue(tc, checkpasswd(f, "secret"));
     _test_read_password(&data, f);
-    CuAssertPtrNotNull(tc, f->_password);
+    CuAssertStrEquals(tc, "pwfile", f->_password);
+    CuAssertTrue(tc, checkpasswd(f, "pwfile"));
     mstream_done(&data.strm);
     gamedata_done(&data);
-    CuAssertTrue(tc, checkpasswd(f, "secret"));
     CuAssertIntEquals(tc, 0, remove(pwfile));
 }
 
diff --git a/src/kernel/version.h b/src/kernel/version.h
index cfab2d52e..7ef7d9c36 100644
--- a/src/kernel/version.h
+++ b/src/kernel/version.h
@@ -33,10 +33,15 @@
 #define SPELL_LEVEL_VERSION 348 /* f->max_spelllevel gets stored, not calculated */
 #define OWNER_3_VERSION 349 /* regions store last owner, not last alliance */
 #define ATTRIBOWNER_VERSION 351 /* all attrib_type functions know who owns the attribute */
-#define BADCRYPT_VERSION 351 /* passwords are encrypted, poorly */
-#define ATHASH_VERSION 352 /* attribute-type hash, not name */
-#define NOWATCH_VERSION 353 /* plane->watchers is gone */
-#define CRYPT_VERSION 354 /* passwords are encrypted */
+#define BADCRYPT_VERSION 351 /* passwords are broken, 969.dat only. */
+#define NOCRYPT_VERSION 352 /* passwords are plaintext again */
+#define ATHASH_VERSION 353 /* attribute-type hash, not name */
+#define NOWATCH_VERSION 354 /* plane->watchers is gone */
+/* unfinished: */
+#define CRYPT_VERSION 400 /* passwords are encrypted */
+
 #define RELEASE_VERSION NOWATCH_VERSION /* current datafile */
 #define MIN_VERSION INTPAK_VERSION      /* minimal datafile we support */
 #define MAX_VERSION RELEASE_VERSION /* change this if we can need to read the future datafile, and we can do so */
+
+#define STREAM_VERSION 2 /* internal encoding of binary files */
diff --git a/vs2015-build.bat b/vs2015-build.bat
index 82f1f4cd6..6c39659d1 100644
--- a/vs2015-build.bat
+++ b/vs2015-build.bat
@@ -5,7 +5,9 @@ CD ..
 SET ERESSEA=%CD%
 
 CD %SRCDIR%
+IF exist build-vs%VSVERSION% goto HAVEDIR
 mkdir build-vs%VSVERSION%
+:HAVEDIR
 cd build-vs%VSVERSION%
 "%ProgramFiles(x86)%\CMake\bin\cmake.exe" -G "Visual Studio %VSVERSION%" -DCMAKE_PREFIX_PATH="%ProgramFiles(x86)%/Lua/5.1;%ERESSEA%/dependencies-win32" -DCMAKE_MODULE_PATH="%SRCDIR%/cmake/Modules" -DCMAKE_SUPPRESS_REGENERATION=TRUE ..
 PAUSE