diff --git a/src/pc/configfile.c b/src/pc/configfile.c
index 05693ed4..0bf121b0 100644
--- a/src/pc/configfile.c
+++ b/src/pc/configfile.c
@@ -357,10 +357,11 @@ static const struct FunctionConfigOption functionOptions[] = {
 
 // Reads an entire line from a file (excluding the newline character) and returns an allocated string
 // Returns NULL if no lines could be read from the file
-static char *read_file_line(fs_file_t *file) {
+static char *read_file_line(fs_file_t *file, bool* error) {
     char *buffer;
     size_t bufferSize = 8;
     size_t offset = 0; // offset in buffer to write
+    *error = false;
 
     buffer = malloc(bufferSize);
     buffer[0] = '\0';
@@ -373,6 +374,7 @@ static char *read_file_line(fs_file_t *file) {
         offset = strlen(buffer);
         if (offset <= 0) {
             LOG_ERROR("Configfile offset <= 0");
+            *error = true;
             return NULL;
         }
 
@@ -440,11 +442,16 @@ const char *configfile_name(void) {
     return (gCLIOpts.ConfigFile[0]) ? gCLIOpts.ConfigFile : CONFIGFILE_DEFAULT;
 }
 
+const char *configfile_backup_name(void) {
+    return CONFIGFILE_BACKUP;
+}
+
 // Loads the config file specified by 'filename'
-void configfile_load(const char *filename) {
+void configfile_load(const char *filename, bool* error) {
     fs_file_t *file;
     char *line;
     unsigned int temp;
+    *error = false;
 
     printf("Loading configuration from '%s'\n", filename);
 
@@ -457,7 +464,7 @@ void configfile_load(const char *filename) {
     }
 
     // Go through each line in the file
-    while ((line = read_file_line(file)) != NULL) {
+    while ((line = read_file_line(file, error)) != NULL && !*error) {
         char *p = line;
         char *tokens[20];
         int numTokens;
@@ -539,6 +546,11 @@ void configfile_load(const char *filename) {
         }
 NEXT_OPTION:
         free(line);
+        line = NULL;
+    }
+
+    if (line) {
+        free(line);
     }
 
     fs_close(file);
diff --git a/src/pc/configfile.h b/src/pc/configfile.h
index dbe9a9e9..484c851e 100644
--- a/src/pc/configfile.h
+++ b/src/pc/configfile.h
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@
 #include "game/characters.h"
 
 #define CONFIGFILE_DEFAULT "sm64config.txt"
+#define CONFIGFILE_BACKUP "sm64config-backup.txt"
 
 #define MAX_BINDS  3
 #define MAX_VOLUME 127
@@ -111,8 +112,9 @@ extern bool         configDebugInfo;
 extern bool         configDebugError;
 extern char         configLanguage[];
 
-void configfile_load(const char *filename);
+void configfile_load(const char *filename, bool* error);
 void configfile_save(const char *filename);
 const char *configfile_name(void);
+const char *configfile_backup_name(void);
 
 #endif
diff --git a/src/pc/pc_main.c b/src/pc/pc_main.c
index f4caa7cc..a1ce19f8 100644
--- a/src/pc/pc_main.c
+++ b/src/pc/pc_main.c
@@ -278,7 +278,16 @@ void main_func(void) {
     sync_objects_init_system();
     djui_unicode_init();
     mods_init();
-    configfile_load(configfile_name());
+
+    // load config
+    bool configReadError = false;
+    configfile_load(configfile_name(), &configReadError);
+    if (configReadError) {
+        configfile_load(configfile_backup_name(), &configReadError);
+    } else {
+        configfile_save(configfile_backup_name());
+    }
+
     if (!djui_language_init(configLanguage)) {
         snprintf(configLanguage, MAX_CONFIG_STRING, "%s", "");
     }