diff --git a/PlayerAttributes.cpp b/PlayerAttributes.cpp
index 4bbedea..865e115 100644
--- a/PlayerAttributes.cpp
+++ b/PlayerAttributes.cpp
@@ -10,8 +10,10 @@
 #include <dirent.h>
 #include <fstream>
 #include <sstream>
+
 #include "config.h"
 #include "PlayerAttributes.h"
+#include "util.h"
 
 using namespace std;
 
@@ -21,39 +23,36 @@ PlayerAttributes::PlayerAttributes(const std::string &sourceDirectory)
 	string playersPath = sourceDirectory + "players";
 	DIR *dir;
 	dir = opendir (playersPath.c_str());
-	if (dir == NULL) {
+	if (dir == NULL)
 		return;
-	}
 
 	struct dirent *ent;
 	while ((ent = readdir (dir)) != NULL) {
-		if (ent->d_name[0] == '.') {
+		if (ent->d_name[0] == '.')
 			continue;
-		}
 
 		string path = playersPath + PATH_SEPARATOR + ent->d_name;
+		ifstream in(path.c_str());
+		if(!in.good())
+			continue;
+
+		string name, position;
+		name = read_setting("name", in);
+		in.seekg(0);
+		position = read_setting("position", in);
 
-		ifstream in;
-		in.open(path.c_str(), ifstream::in);
-		string buffer;
-		string name;
-		string position;
-		while (getline(in, buffer)) {
-			if (buffer.find("name = ") == 0) {
-				name = buffer.substr(7);
-			}
-			else if (buffer.find("position = ") == 0) {
-				position = buffer.substr(12, buffer.length() - 13);
-			}
-		}
-		char comma;
 		Player player;
-		istringstream positionStream(position, istringstream::in);
-		positionStream >> player.x;
-		positionStream >> comma;
-		positionStream >> player.y;
-		positionStream >> comma;
-		positionStream >> player.z;
+		istringstream iss(position);
+		char tmp;
+		iss >> tmp; // '('
+		iss >> player.x;
+		iss >> tmp; // ','
+		iss >> player.y;
+		iss >> tmp; // ','
+		iss >> player.z;
+		iss >> tmp; // ')'
+		if(tmp != ')')
+			continue;
 		player.name = name;
 
 		player.x /= 10.0;
diff --git a/TileGenerator.cpp b/TileGenerator.cpp
index 9135bfc..4369af3 100644
--- a/TileGenerator.cpp
+++ b/TileGenerator.cpp
@@ -290,7 +290,7 @@ void TileGenerator::openDb(const std::string &input)
 		std::ifstream ifs((input + "/world.mt").c_str());
 		if(!ifs.good())
 			throw std::runtime_error("Failed to read world.mt");
-		backend = get_setting("backend", ifs);
+		backend = read_setting("backend", ifs);
 		ifs.close();
 	}
 
diff --git a/db-redis.cpp b/db-redis.cpp
index d6e2561..53a5660 100644
--- a/db-redis.cpp
+++ b/db-redis.cpp
@@ -28,35 +28,24 @@ static inline std::string i64tos(int64_t i)
 	return os.str();
 }
 
-std::string get_setting_default(std::string name, std::istream &is, const std::string def)
-{
-	try {
-		return get_setting(name, is);
-	} catch(std::runtime_error e) {
-		return def;
-	}
-}
-
 DBRedis::DBRedis(const std::string &mapdir)
 {
 	std::ifstream ifs((mapdir + "/world.mt").c_str());
 	if(!ifs.good())
 		throw std::runtime_error("Failed to read world.mt");
 	std::string tmp;
-	try {
-		tmp = get_setting("redis_address", ifs);
-		ifs.seekg(0);
-		hash = get_setting("redis_hash", ifs);
-		ifs.seekg(0);
-	} catch(std::runtime_error e) {
-		throw std::runtime_error("Set redis_address and redis_hash in world.mt to use the redis backend");
-	}
+
+	tmp = read_setting("redis_address", ifs);
+	ifs.seekg(0);
+	hash = read_setting("redis_hash", ifs);
+	ifs.seekg(0);
+
 	const char *addr = tmp.c_str();
-	int port = stoi64(get_setting_default("redis_port", ifs, "6379"));
+	int port = stoi64(read_setting_default("redis_port", ifs, "6379"));
 	ctx = tmp.find('/') != std::string::npos ? redisConnectUnix(addr) : redisConnect(addr, port);
-	if(!ctx)
+	if(!ctx) {
 		throw std::runtime_error("Cannot allocate redis context");
-	else if(ctx->err) {
+	} else if(ctx->err) {
 		std::string err = std::string("Connection error: ") + ctx->errstr;
 		redisFree(ctx);
 		throw std::runtime_error(err);
diff --git a/include/util.h b/include/util.h
index 4d4ce00..1c7d397 100644
--- a/include/util.h
+++ b/include/util.h
@@ -1,10 +1,18 @@
-#ifndef _UTIL_H
-#define _UTIL_H
+#ifndef UTIL_H
+#define UTIL_H
 
 #include <string>
-#include <stdexcept>
 #include <fstream>
 
-std::string get_setting(std::string name, std::istream &is);
+std::string read_setting(const std::string &name, std::istream &is);
 
-#endif // _UTIL_H
+inline std::string read_setting_default(const std::string &name, std::istream &is, const std::string &def)
+{
+	try {
+		return read_setting(name, is);
+	} catch(std::runtime_error e) {
+		return def;
+	}
+}
+
+#endif // UTIL_H
diff --git a/util.cpp b/util.cpp
index f515ca2..12f1b1c 100644
--- a/util.cpp
+++ b/util.cpp
@@ -1,3 +1,6 @@
+#include <stdexcept>
+#include <sstream>
+
 #include "util.h"
 
 inline std::string trim(const std::string &s)
@@ -23,11 +26,15 @@ inline std::string trim(const std::string &s)
   return s.substr(front, back - front);
 }
 
-#define EOFCHECK() \
-   if(is.eof()) \
-    throw std::runtime_error(((std::string) "Setting '") + name + "' not found");
+#define EOFCHECK() do { \
+    if (is.eof()) { \
+      std::ostringstream oss; \
+      oss << "Setting '" << name << "' not found."; \
+      throw std::runtime_error(oss.str()); \
+    } \
+  } while(0)
 
-std::string get_setting(std::string name, std::istream &is)
+std::string read_setting(const std::string &name, std::istream &is)
 {
   char c;
   char s[256];