diff --git a/source/src/main.cpp b/source/src/main.cpp
index 696e0432..b1715e5a 100644
--- a/source/src/main.cpp
+++ b/source/src/main.cpp
@@ -943,38 +943,31 @@ void autostartscripts(const char *prefix)
 
 void createconfigtemplates(const char *templatezip)  // create customisable config files in homedir - only if missing
 {
-#if 0
-    if(addzip(templatezip))
+    vector<const char *> files;
+    void *mz = zipmanualopen(openfile(templatezip, "rb"), files);
+    if(mz)
     {
-        vector<char *> files;
-        listzipfiles("", "cfg", files);  // only look for config files in the root dir of the zip file
         loopv(files)
         {
-            defformatstring(fname)("config%c%s.cfg", PATHDIV, behindpath(files[i]));  // (the "behindpath()" should not be necessary, but we want to be careful: the zip may be weird)
-            stream *f = openrawfile(fname, "rb");
-            if(f) delete f; // config already exists
-            else
+            const char *filename = behindpath(files[i]); // only look for config files in the zip file, ignore all paths in the zip
+            if(strlen(filename) > 4 && !strcmp(filename + strlen(filename) - 4, ".cfg"))
             {
-                int flen;
-                char *buf = loadfile(behindpath(fname), &flen);  // fetch file content from zip
-                if(buf)
+                defformatstring(fname)("config%c%s.cfg", PATHDIV, files[i]);
+                if(getfilesize(fname) <= 0) // config does not exist or is empty
                 {
-                    f = openfile(fname, "wb");
-                    if(f)
+                    stream *zf = openfile(fname, "wb");
+                    if(zf)
                     {
-                        f->write(buf, flen);
-                        delete f;
+                        zipmanualread(mz, i, zf, MAXCFGFILESIZE); // fetch file content from zip, write to new config file
+                        delete zf;
                         conoutf("created %s from template %s", fname, templatezip);
                     }
-                    delete[] buf;
                 }
             }
-            delete[] files[i];
         }
-        removezip(templatezip);
+        zipmanualclose(mz);
     }
     findfile(AUTOSTARTPATH "dummy", "w"); // create empty autostart directory, if it doesn't exist yet
-#endif
 }
 
 extern void connectserv(char *, int *, char *);
@@ -1180,7 +1173,7 @@ int main(int argc, char **argv)
     initclientlog();
     if(quitdirectly) return EXIT_SUCCESS;
 
-    createconfigtemplates("config/configtemplates.zip");
+    createconfigtemplates("config" PATHDIVS "configtemplates.zip");
 
     initing = NOT_INITING;
 
diff --git a/source/src/stream.cpp b/source/src/stream.cpp
index 9ffd3819..5e066ef9 100644
--- a/source/src/stream.cpp
+++ b/source/src/stream.cpp
@@ -958,6 +958,14 @@ char *loadfile(const char *fn, int *size, const char *mode)
     return buf;
 }
 
+int streamcopy(stream *dest, stream *source, int maxlen)
+{
+    int got = 0, len;
+    uchar copybuf[1024];
+    while(got < maxlen && (len = source->read(copybuf, 1024))) got += dest->write(copybuf, len);
+    return got;
+}
+
 #ifndef STANDALONE
 void filerotate(const char *basename, const char *ext, int keepold, const char *oldformat)  // rotate old logfiles
 {
diff --git a/source/src/tools.h b/source/src/tools.h
index 489eec3d..ba8e8bff 100644
--- a/source/src/tools.h
+++ b/source/src/tools.h
@@ -955,6 +955,7 @@ extern stream *openfile(const char *filename, const char *mode);
 extern stream *opentempfile(const char *filename, const char *mode);
 extern stream *opengzfile(const char *filename, const char *mode, stream *file = NULL, int level = Z_BEST_COMPRESSION);
 extern char *loadfile(const char *fn, int *size, const char *mode = NULL);
+extern int streamcopy(stream *dest, stream *source, int maxlen = INT_MAX);
 extern void filerotate(const char *basename, const char *ext, int keepold, const char *oldformat = NULL);
 extern bool listdir(const char *dir, const char *ext, vector<char *> &files);
 extern void listfiles(const char *dir, const char *ext, vector<char *> &files);
@@ -962,6 +963,10 @@ extern void listfilesrecursive(const char *dir, vector<char *> &files, int level
 extern void listzipfiles(const char *dir, const char *ext, vector<char *> &files);
 extern bool delfile(const char *path);
 extern void backup(char *name, char *backupname);
+extern void *zipmanualopen(stream *f, vector<const char *> &files);
+extern stream *zipmanualstream(void *a, int n);
+extern int zipmanualread(void *a, int n, stream *f, int maxlen = INT_MAX);
+extern void zipmanualclose(void *a);
 extern struct mapstats *loadmapstats(const char *filename, bool getlayout);
 extern bool cmpb(void *b, int n, enet_uint32 c);
 extern bool cmpf(char *fn, enet_uint32 c);
diff --git a/source/src/zip.cpp b/source/src/zip.cpp
index 5a288a38..b1b6e125 100644
--- a/source/src/zip.cpp
+++ b/source/src/zip.cpp
@@ -679,6 +679,54 @@ void writezipmodconfig(stream *f)
 
 #endif
 
+// simple interface to read zip contents without mounting them first
+
+void *zipmanualopen(stream *f, vector<const char *> &files)
+{
+    if(!f) return NULL;
+    zipdirectoryheader h;
+    ziparchive *arch = new ziparchive;
+    if(!findzipdirectory(f, h) || !readzipdirectory(f, h.entries, h.offset, h.size, arch->files))
+    {
+        delete arch;
+        delete f;
+        return NULL;
+    }
+    arch->data = f;
+    loopv(arch->files) files.add(arch->files[i].name);
+    return (void *)arch;
+}
+
+stream *zipmanualstream(void *a, int n)
+{
+    ziparchive *arch = (ziparchive *)a;
+    if(arch->files.inrange(n))
+    {
+        zipstream *s = new zipstream;
+        if(s->open(arch, &arch->files[n])) return s;
+        delete s;
+    }
+    return NULL;
+}
+
+int zipmanualread(void *a, int n, stream *f, int maxlen)
+{
+    int got = -1;
+    stream *s = zipmanualstream(a, n);
+    if(s)
+    {
+        got = streamcopy(f, s, maxlen);
+        delete s;
+    }
+    return got;
+}
+
+void zipmanualclose(void *a)
+{
+    ziparchive *arch = (ziparchive *)a;
+    delete arch; // also closes arch->data, the associated file stream!
+}
+
 // AC virtual filesystem
 
 bool findzipfile(const char *name)