diff --git a/tools/quake3/q3map2/autopk3.cpp b/tools/quake3/q3map2/autopk3.cpp
index 36fdd3b6..18bc0fb9 100644
--- a/tools/quake3/q3map2/autopk3.cpp
+++ b/tools/quake3/q3map2/autopk3.cpp
@@ -986,10 +986,7 @@ int repackBSPMain( Args& args ){
 
 		bspShaders.clear();
 
-		free( bspEntData );
-		bspEntData = NULL;
-		bspEntDataSize = 0;
-		allocatedBSPEntData = 0;
+		bspEntData.clear();
 
 		numBSPFogs = 0;
 	}
diff --git a/tools/quake3/q3map2/bspfile_abstract.cpp b/tools/quake3/q3map2/bspfile_abstract.cpp
index 1681c349..13aa1ac3 100644
--- a/tools/quake3/q3map2/bspfile_abstract.cpp
+++ b/tools/quake3/q3map2/bspfile_abstract.cpp
@@ -474,8 +474,8 @@ void PrintBSPFileSizes( void ){
 	            numBSPFogs, (int) ( numBSPFogs * sizeof( bspFog_t ) ) );
 	Sys_Printf( "%9d planes        %9d\n",
 	            numBSPPlanes, (int) ( numBSPPlanes * sizeof( bspPlane_t ) ) );
-	Sys_Printf( "%9zu entdata       %9d\n",
-	            entities.size(), bspEntDataSize );
+	Sys_Printf( "%9zu entdata       %9zu\n",
+	            entities.size(), bspEntData.size() );
 	Sys_Printf( "\n" );
 
 	Sys_Printf( "%9d nodes         %9d\n",
@@ -597,7 +597,7 @@ bool ParseEntity( void ){
 
 void ParseEntities( void ){
 	entities.clear();
-	ParseFromMemory( bspEntData, bspEntDataSize );
+	ParseFromMemory( bspEntData.data(), bspEntData.size() );
 	while ( ParseEntity() ) ;
 
 	/* ydnar: set number of bsp entities in case a map is loaded on top */
@@ -666,9 +666,7 @@ void UnparseEntities( void ){
 	}
 
 	/* save out */
-	bspEntDataSize = data.end() - data.begin() + 1;
-	AUTOEXPAND_BY_REALLOC( bspEntData, bspEntDataSize, allocatedBSPEntData, 1024 );
-	strcpy( bspEntData, data );
+	bspEntData = { data.begin(), data.end() + 1 }; // include '\0'
 }
 
 
diff --git a/tools/quake3/q3map2/bspfile_ibsp.cpp b/tools/quake3/q3map2/bspfile_ibsp.cpp
index 65b13a9c..01fcd12f 100644
--- a/tools/quake3/q3map2/bspfile_ibsp.cpp
+++ b/tools/quake3/q3map2/bspfile_ibsp.cpp
@@ -465,7 +465,7 @@ void LoadIBSPFile( const char *filename ){
 	bspLightBytes = safe_malloc( numBSPLightBytes );
 	CopyLump( (bspHeader_t*) header, LUMP_LIGHTMAPS, bspLightBytes, 1 );
 
-	bspEntDataSize = CopyLump_Allocate( (bspHeader_t*) header, LUMP_ENTITIES, (void **) &bspEntData, 1, &allocatedBSPEntData );
+	CopyLump( (bspHeader_t*) header, LUMP_ENTITIES, bspEntData );
 
 	CopyLightGridLumps( header );
 
@@ -511,7 +511,7 @@ void PartialLoadIBSPFile( const char *filename ){
 
 	numBSPFogs = CopyLump( (bspHeader_t*) header, LUMP_FOGS, bspFogs, sizeof( bspFog_t ) ); // TODO fix overflow
 
-	bspEntDataSize = CopyLump_Allocate( (bspHeader_t*) header, LUMP_ENTITIES, (void **) &bspEntData, 1, &allocatedBSPEntData );
+	CopyLump( (bspHeader_t*) header, LUMP_ENTITIES, bspEntData );
 
 	/* free the file buffer */
 	free( header );
@@ -565,7 +565,7 @@ void WriteIBSPFile( const char *filename ){
 	AddLump( file, (bspHeader_t*) header, LUMP_VISIBILITY, bspVisBytes, numBSPVisBytes );
 	AddLump( file, (bspHeader_t*) header, LUMP_LIGHTMAPS, bspLightBytes, numBSPLightBytes );
 	AddLightGridLumps( file, header );
-	AddLump( file, (bspHeader_t*) header, LUMP_ENTITIES, bspEntData, bspEntDataSize );
+	AddLump( file, header->lumps[LUMP_ENTITIES], bspEntData );
 	AddLump( file, (bspHeader_t*) header, LUMP_FOGS, bspFogs, numBSPFogs * sizeof( bspFog_t ) );
 	AddLump( file, (bspHeader_t*) header, LUMP_DRAWINDEXES, bspDrawIndexes, numBSPDrawIndexes * sizeof( bspDrawIndexes[ 0 ] ) );
 
diff --git a/tools/quake3/q3map2/bspfile_rbsp.cpp b/tools/quake3/q3map2/bspfile_rbsp.cpp
index 7c275f3e..59fde573 100644
--- a/tools/quake3/q3map2/bspfile_rbsp.cpp
+++ b/tools/quake3/q3map2/bspfile_rbsp.cpp
@@ -260,7 +260,7 @@ void LoadRBSPFile( const char *filename ){
 	bspLightBytes = safe_malloc( numBSPLightBytes );
 	CopyLump( (bspHeader_t*) header, LUMP_LIGHTMAPS, bspLightBytes, 1 );
 
-	bspEntDataSize = CopyLump_Allocate( (bspHeader_t*) header, LUMP_ENTITIES, (void **) &bspEntData, 1, &allocatedBSPEntData );
+	CopyLump( (bspHeader_t*) header, LUMP_ENTITIES, bspEntData );
 
 	CopyLightGridLumps( header );
 
@@ -318,7 +318,7 @@ void WriteRBSPFile( const char *filename ){
 	AddLump( file, (bspHeader_t*) header, LUMP_VISIBILITY, bspVisBytes, numBSPVisBytes );
 	AddLump( file, (bspHeader_t*) header, LUMP_LIGHTMAPS, bspLightBytes, numBSPLightBytes );
 	AddLightGridLumps( file, header );
-	AddLump( file, (bspHeader_t*) header, LUMP_ENTITIES, bspEntData, bspEntDataSize );
+	AddLump( file, header->lumps[LUMP_ENTITIES], bspEntData );
 	AddLump( file, (bspHeader_t*) header, LUMP_FOGS, bspFogs, numBSPFogs * sizeof( bspFog_t ) );
 	AddLump( file, (bspHeader_t*) header, LUMP_DRAWINDEXES, bspDrawIndexes, numBSPDrawIndexes * sizeof( bspDrawIndexes[ 0 ] ) );
 
diff --git a/tools/quake3/q3map2/exportents.cpp b/tools/quake3/q3map2/exportents.cpp
index c1308abc..1cd1259e 100644
--- a/tools/quake3/q3map2/exportents.cpp
+++ b/tools/quake3/q3map2/exportents.cpp
@@ -50,7 +50,7 @@ void ExportEntities( void ){
 	Sys_FPrintf( SYS_VRB, "--- ExportEntities ---\n" );
 
 	/* sanity check */
-	if ( bspEntData == NULL || bspEntDataSize == 0 ) {
+	if ( bspEntData.empty() ) {
 		Sys_Warning( "No BSP entity data. aborting...\n" );
 		return;
 	}
@@ -58,10 +58,10 @@ void ExportEntities( void ){
 	/* write it */
 	auto filename = StringOutputStream( 256 )( PathExtensionless( source ), ".ent" );
 	Sys_Printf( "Writing %s\n", filename.c_str() );
-	Sys_FPrintf( SYS_VRB, "(%d bytes)\n", bspEntDataSize );
+	Sys_FPrintf( SYS_VRB, "(%zu bytes)\n", bspEntData.size() );
 	FILE *file = SafeOpenWrite( filename, "wt" );
 
-	fprintf( file, "%s\n", bspEntData );
+	fprintf( file, "%s\n", bspEntData.data() );
 	fclose( file );
 }
 
diff --git a/tools/quake3/q3map2/q3map2.h b/tools/quake3/q3map2/q3map2.h
index 68720faa..e1420a1c 100644
--- a/tools/quake3/q3map2/q3map2.h
+++ b/tools/quake3/q3map2/q3map2.h
@@ -2338,9 +2338,7 @@ Q_EXTERN std::vector<bspModel_t> bspModels;
 
 Q_EXTERN std::vector<bspShader_t> bspShaders;
 
-Q_EXTERN int bspEntDataSize Q_ASSIGN( 0 );
-Q_EXTERN int allocatedBSPEntData Q_ASSIGN( 0 );
-Q_EXTERN char               *bspEntData Q_ASSIGN( 0 );
+Q_EXTERN std::vector<char> bspEntData;
 
 Q_EXTERN int numBSPLeafs Q_ASSIGN( 0 );
 Q_EXTERN bspLeaf_t bspLeafs[ MAX_MAP_LEAFS ];