diff --git a/components/nif/niffile.cpp b/components/nif/niffile.cpp
index c689e27b3..9a544f3c4 100644
--- a/components/nif/niffile.cpp
+++ b/components/nif/niffile.cpp
@@ -131,9 +131,9 @@ void NIFFile::parse()
     NIFStream nif (this, Ogre::ResourceGroupManager::getSingleton().openResource(filename));
 
   // Check the header string
-  std::string head = nif.getString(40);
+  std::string head = nif.getVersionString();
   if(head.compare(0, 22, "NetImmerse File Format") != 0)
-    fail("Invalid NIF header");
+    fail("Invalid NIF header:  " + head);
 
   // Get BCD version
   ver = nif.getUInt();
diff --git a/components/nif/nifstream.cpp b/components/nif/nifstream.cpp
index 878b6b75f..e5699db7b 100644
--- a/components/nif/nifstream.cpp
+++ b/components/nif/nifstream.cpp
@@ -101,6 +101,10 @@ std::string NIFStream::getString()
     size_t size = read_le32();
     return getString(size);
 }
+std::string NIFStream::getVersionString()
+{
+    return inp->getLine();
+}
 
 void NIFStream::getShorts(std::vector<short> &vec, size_t size)
 {
diff --git a/components/nif/nifstream.hpp b/components/nif/nifstream.hpp
index 3d6a1319a..cc14971fd 100644
--- a/components/nif/nifstream.hpp
+++ b/components/nif/nifstream.hpp
@@ -81,6 +81,8 @@ public:
     std::string getString(size_t length);
     ///Read in a string of the length specified in the file
     std::string getString();
+    ///This is special since the version string doesn't start with a number, and ends with "\n"
+    std::string getVersionString();
 
     void getShorts(std::vector<short> &vec, size_t size);
     void getFloats(std::vector<float> &vec, size_t size);