diff --git a/tools/quake3/common/aselib.c b/tools/quake3/common/aselib.c
index 6cb63d69..d9cf6b41 100644
--- a/tools/quake3/common/aselib.c
+++ b/tools/quake3/common/aselib.c
@@ -418,8 +418,8 @@ static void ASE_KeyMAP_DIFFUSE( const char *token ){
 		strClear( path_get_last_separator( filename ) );
 
 		/* replaces a relative path with a full path */
-		if ( !strncmp( bitmap, "../", 3 ) ) {
-			while ( !strncmp( bitmap, "../", 3 ) )
+		if ( strEqualPrefix( bitmap, "../" ) ) {
+			while ( strEqualPrefix( bitmap, "../" ) )
 			{
 				/* remove last item from path */
 				strClear( path_get_last_separator( filename ) );
diff --git a/tools/quake3/q3data/models.c b/tools/quake3/q3data/models.c
index a91203b0..533379bd 100644
--- a/tools/quake3/q3data/models.c
+++ b/tools/quake3/q3data/models.c
@@ -1308,7 +1308,7 @@ void Cmd_Cd( void ){
 	if ( !g_only[0] ) {
 		return;
 	}
-	if ( strncmp( token, g_only, strlen( g_only ) ) ) {
+	if ( !strEqualPrefix( token, g_only ) ) {
 		g_skipmodel = true;
 		printf( "skipping %s\n", token );
 	}
diff --git a/tools/quake3/q3data/video.c b/tools/quake3/q3data/video.c
index b548804c..dcb34323 100644
--- a/tools/quake3/q3data/video.c
+++ b/tools/quake3/q3data/video.c
@@ -106,7 +106,7 @@ void FindNextChunk( char *name ){
 //			Sys_Error ("FindNextChunk: %i length is past the 1 meg sanity limit", iff_chunk_len);
 		data_p -= 8;
 		last_chunk = data_p + 8 + ( ( iff_chunk_len + 1 ) & ~1 );
-		if ( !strncmp( (const char*)data_p, name, 4 ) ) {
+		if ( strEqualPrefix( (const char*)data_p, name ) ) {
 			return;
 		}
 	}
@@ -155,7 +155,7 @@ wavinfo_t GetWavinfo( char *name, byte *wav, int wavlength ){
 
 // find "RIFF" chunk
 	FindChunk( "RIFF" );
-	if ( !( data_p && !strncmp( (const char*)( data_p + 8 ), "WAVE", 4 ) ) ) {
+	if ( !( data_p && strEqualPrefix( (const char*)( data_p + 8 ), "WAVE" ) ) ) {
 		printf( "Missing RIFF/WAVE chunks\n" );
 		return info;
 	}
@@ -191,7 +191,7 @@ wavinfo_t GetWavinfo( char *name, byte *wav, int wavlength ){
 		// if the next chunk is a LIST chunk, look for a cue length marker
 		FindNextChunk( "LIST" );
 		if ( data_p ) {
-			if ( !strncmp( (const char*)( data_p + 28 ), "mark", 4 ) ) { // this is not a proper parse, but it works with cooledit...
+			if ( strEqualPrefix( (const char*)( data_p + 28 ), "mark" ) ) { // this is not a proper parse, but it works with cooledit...
 				data_p += 24;
 				i = GetLittleLong();    // samples in loop
 				info.samples = info.loopstart + i;
diff --git a/tools/quake3/q3map2/convert_bsp.c b/tools/quake3/q3map2/convert_bsp.c
index 9ab65048..33c39a8c 100644
--- a/tools/quake3/q3map2/convert_bsp.c
+++ b/tools/quake3/q3map2/convert_bsp.c
@@ -462,13 +462,13 @@ int ScaleBSPMain( int argc, char **argv ){
 		/* scale origin */
 		GetVectorForKey( &entities[ i ], "origin", vec );
 		if ( ( vec[ 0 ] || vec[ 1 ] || vec[ 2 ] ) ) {
-			if ( !strncmp( ValueForKey( &entities[i], "classname" ), "info_player_", 12 ) ) {
+			if ( striEqualPrefix( ValueForKey( &entities[i], "classname" ), "info_player_" ) ) {
 				vec[2] += spawn_ref;
 			}
 			vec[0] *= scale[0];
 			vec[1] *= scale[1];
 			vec[2] *= scale[2];
-			if ( !strncmp( ValueForKey( &entities[i], "classname" ), "info_player_", 12 ) ) {
+			if ( striEqualPrefix( ValueForKey( &entities[i], "classname" ), "info_player_" ) ) {
 				vec[2] -= spawn_ref;
 			}
 			sprintf( str, "%f %f %f", vec[ 0 ], vec[ 1 ], vec[ 2 ] );
@@ -702,13 +702,13 @@ int ShiftBSPMain( int argc, char **argv ){
 		/* shift origin */
 		GetVectorForKey( &entities[ i ], "origin", vec );
 		if ( ( vec[ 0 ] || vec[ 1 ] || vec[ 2 ] ) ) {
-			if ( !strncmp( ValueForKey( &entities[i], "classname" ), "info_player_", 12 ) ) {
+			if ( striEqualPrefix( ValueForKey( &entities[i], "classname" ), "info_player_" ) ) {
 				vec[2] += spawn_ref;
 			}
 			vec[0] += scale[0];
 			vec[1] += scale[1];
 			vec[2] += scale[2];
-			if ( !strncmp( ValueForKey( &entities[i], "classname" ), "info_player_", 12 ) ) {
+			if ( striEqualPrefix( ValueForKey( &entities[i], "classname" ), "info_player_" ) ) {
 				vec[2] -= spawn_ref;
 			}
 			sprintf( str, "%f %f %f", vec[ 0 ], vec[ 1 ], vec[ 2 ] );
diff --git a/tools/quake3/q3map2/convert_map.c b/tools/quake3/q3map2/convert_map.c
index 8e734155..d3dc56d4 100644
--- a/tools/quake3/q3map2/convert_map.c
+++ b/tools/quake3/q3map2/convert_map.c
@@ -156,7 +156,7 @@ exwinding:
 			;
 		}
 	}
-	//if(strncmp(buildSide->shaderInfo->shader, "textures/common/", 16))
+	//if(!striEqualPrefix(buildSide->shaderInfo->shader, "textures/common/"))
 	//	fprintf(stderr, "brushside with %s: %d matches (%f area)\n", buildSide->shaderInfo->shader, matches, best);
 }
 
@@ -713,7 +713,7 @@ static void ConvertBrush( FILE *f, int num, bspBrush_t *brush, vec3_t origin, bo
 		else
 		{
 			//vec3_t vecs[ 2 ];
-			if ( strncmp( buildSide->shaderInfo->shader, "textures/common/", 16 ) ) {
+			if ( !striEqualPrefix( buildSide->shaderInfo->shader, "textures/common/" ) ) {
 				if ( !strEqual( buildSide->shaderInfo->shader, "noshader" ) ) {
 					if ( !strEqual( buildSide->shaderInfo->shader, "default" ) ) {
 						//fprintf( stderr, "no matching triangle for brushside using %s (hopefully nobody can see this side anyway)\n", buildSide->shaderInfo->shader );
diff --git a/tools/quake3/q3map2/minimap.c b/tools/quake3/q3map2/minimap.c
index 444026ae..b039e3fb 100644
--- a/tools/quake3/q3map2/minimap.c
+++ b/tools/quake3/q3map2/minimap.c
@@ -438,7 +438,7 @@ void MergeRelativePath( char *out, const char *absolute, const char *relative ){
 	const char *endpos = absolute + strlen( absolute );
 	while ( endpos != absolute && path_separator( endpos[-1] ) )
 		--endpos;
-	while ( !strncmp( relative, "../", 3 ) || !strncmp( relative, "..\\", 3 ) )
+	while ( strEqualPrefix( relative, "../" ) || strEqualPrefix( relative, "..\\" ) )
 	{
 		relative += 3;
 		while ( endpos != absolute )