diff --git a/apps/openmw/mwworld/cellstore.cpp b/apps/openmw/mwworld/cellstore.cpp
index 821c7035d..87a836f71 100644
--- a/apps/openmw/mwworld/cellstore.cpp
+++ b/apps/openmw/mwworld/cellstore.cpp
@@ -194,7 +194,7 @@ namespace MWWorld
         else
         {
             std::cerr
-                << "Error: could not resolve cell reference " << ref.mRefID
+                << "Error: could not resolve cell reference '" << ref.mRefID << "'"
                 << " (dropping reference)" << std::endl;
         }
     }
@@ -612,7 +612,7 @@ namespace MWWorld
             case ESM::REC_WEAP: mWeapons.load(ref, deleted, store); break;
             case ESM::REC_BODY: mBodyParts.load(ref, deleted, store); break;
 
-            case 0: std::cerr << "Cell reference " + ref.mRefID + " not found!\n"; break;
+            case 0: std::cerr << "Cell reference '" + ref.mRefID + "' not found!\n"; break;
 
             default:
                 std::cerr
diff --git a/components/esm/cellref.cpp b/components/esm/cellref.cpp
index 7acaed86d..14fb14dd4 100644
--- a/components/esm/cellref.cpp
+++ b/components/esm/cellref.cpp
@@ -1,5 +1,7 @@
 #include "cellref.hpp"
 
+#include <iostream>
+
 #include "esmreader.hpp"
 #include "esmwriter.hpp"
 
@@ -43,7 +45,13 @@ void ESM::CellRef::loadId (ESMReader& esm, bool wideRefNum)
 
     mRefNum.load (esm, wideRefNum);
 
-    mRefID = esm.getHNString ("NAME");
+    mRefID = esm.getHNOString ("NAME");
+    if (mRefID.empty())
+    {
+        std::ios::fmtflags f(std::cerr.flags());
+        std::cerr << "Warning: got CellRef with empty RefId in " << esm.getName() << " 0x" << std::hex << esm.getFileOffset() << std::endl;
+        std::cerr.flags(f);
+    }
 }
 
 void ESM::CellRef::loadData(ESMReader &esm, bool &isDeleted)