diff --git a/apps/openmw/mwgui/loadingscreen.cpp b/apps/openmw/mwgui/loadingscreen.cpp
index 9b63dfa76d..4bd383c2f3 100644
--- a/apps/openmw/mwgui/loadingscreen.cpp
+++ b/apps/openmw/mwgui/loadingscreen.cpp
@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@ namespace MWGui
         , mLastWallpaperChangeTime(0.f)
         , mFirstLoad(true)
         , mProgress(0)
+        , mVSyncWasEnabled(false)
     {
         getWidget(mLoadingText, "LoadingText");
         getWidget(mProgressBar, "ProgressBar");
@@ -67,6 +68,14 @@ namespace MWGui
 
     void LoadingScreen::loadingOn()
     {
+        // Temporarily turn off VSync, we want to do actual loading rather than waiting for the screen to sync.
+        // Threaded loading would be even better, of course - especially because some drivers force VSync to on and we can't change it.
+        // In Ogre 1.8, the swapBuffers argument is useless and setVSyncEnabled is bugged with GLX, nothing we can do :/
+        mVSyncWasEnabled = mWindow->isVSyncEnabled();
+        #if OGRE_VERSION >= (1 << 16 | 9 << 8 | 0)
+        mWindow->setVSyncEnabled(false);
+        #endif
+
         setVisible(true);
 
         if (mFirstLoad)
@@ -83,6 +92,12 @@ namespace MWGui
 
     void LoadingScreen::loadingOff()
     {
+        // Re-enable vsync now.
+        // In Ogre 1.8, the swapBuffers argument is useless and setVSyncEnabled is bugged with GLX, nothing we can do :/
+        #if OGRE_VERSION >= (1 << 16 | 9 << 8 | 0)
+        mWindow->setVSyncEnabled(mVSyncWasEnabled);
+        #endif
+
         setVisible(false);
 
         MWBase::Environment::get().getWindowManager()->removeGuiMode(GM_Loading);
@@ -212,7 +227,8 @@ namespace MWGui
             // caused a sync / flush and would be expensive).
             // We're doing this so we can do some actual loading while the GPU is busy with the render.
             // This means the render is lagging a frame behind, but this is hardly noticable.
-            mWindow->swapBuffers(false); // never Vsync, makes no sense here
+            mWindow->swapBuffers();
+
             mWindow->update(false);
 
             if (!hasCompositor)
diff --git a/apps/openmw/mwgui/loadingscreen.hpp b/apps/openmw/mwgui/loadingscreen.hpp
index dde8ff63aa..2d1d7431f8 100644
--- a/apps/openmw/mwgui/loadingscreen.hpp
+++ b/apps/openmw/mwgui/loadingscreen.hpp
@@ -57,6 +57,8 @@ namespace MWGui
 
         Ogre::StringVector mResources;
 
+        bool mVSyncWasEnabled;
+
         void changeWallpaper();
 
         void draw();
diff --git a/apps/openmw/mwgui/settingswindow.cpp b/apps/openmw/mwgui/settingswindow.cpp
index 3dfa17badc..923b9d01d6 100644
--- a/apps/openmw/mwgui/settingswindow.cpp
+++ b/apps/openmw/mwgui/settingswindow.cpp
@@ -363,8 +363,12 @@ namespace MWGui
         else if (_sender == mVSyncButton)
         {
             Settings::Manager::setBool("vsync", "Video", newState);
+            // Ogre::Window::setVSyncEnabled is bugged in 1.8
+#if OGRE_VERSION < (1 << 16 | 9 << 8 | 0)
             MWBase::Environment::get().getWindowManager()->
                 messageBox("VSync will be applied after a restart", std::vector<std::string>());
+#endif
+            apply();
         }
         else
         {
diff --git a/apps/openmw/mwrender/renderingmanager.cpp b/apps/openmw/mwrender/renderingmanager.cpp
index 261fd45c88..93425191dd 100644
--- a/apps/openmw/mwrender/renderingmanager.cpp
+++ b/apps/openmw/mwrender/renderingmanager.cpp
@@ -769,6 +769,13 @@ void RenderingManager::processChangedSettings(const Settings::CategorySettingVec
                 || it->second == "resolution y"
                 || it->second == "fullscreen"))
             changeRes = true;
+        else if (it->first == "Video" && it->second == "vsync")
+        {
+            // setVSyncEnabled is bugged in 1.8
+#if OGRE_VERSION >= (1 << 16 | 9 << 8 | 0)
+            mRendering.getWindow()->setVSyncEnabled(Settings::Manager::getBool("vsync", "Video"));
+#endif
+        }
         else if (it->second == "field of view" && it->first == "General")
             mRendering.setFov(Settings::Manager::getFloat("field of view", "General"));
         else if ((it->second == "texture filtering" && it->first == "General")
diff --git a/extern/sdl4ogre/sdlinputwrapper.cpp b/extern/sdl4ogre/sdlinputwrapper.cpp
index 931d6aca30..df74bba3b6 100644
--- a/extern/sdl4ogre/sdlinputwrapper.cpp
+++ b/extern/sdl4ogre/sdlinputwrapper.cpp
@@ -30,9 +30,6 @@ namespace SFO
 
     InputWrapper::~InputWrapper()
     {
-        if(mSDLWindow != NULL)
-            SDL_DestroyWindow(mSDLWindow);
-        mSDLWindow = NULL;
     }
 
     void InputWrapper::capture(bool windowEventsOnly)