diff --git a/apps/openmw/mwscript/interpretercontext.cpp b/apps/openmw/mwscript/interpretercontext.cpp
index 121b07e34..e401318d6 100644
--- a/apps/openmw/mwscript/interpretercontext.cpp
+++ b/apps/openmw/mwscript/interpretercontext.cpp
@@ -111,7 +111,7 @@ namespace MWScript
         const std::string& name, char type) const
     {
         int index = MWBase::Environment::get().getScriptManager()->getLocals (scriptId).
-            search (type, name);
+            searchIndex (type, name);
 
         if (index!=-1)
             return index;
diff --git a/apps/openmw/mwscript/statsextensions.cpp b/apps/openmw/mwscript/statsextensions.cpp
index 49a483f27..c012cb12e 100644
--- a/apps/openmw/mwscript/statsextensions.cpp
+++ b/apps/openmw/mwscript/statsextensions.cpp
@@ -528,11 +528,12 @@ namespace MWScript
 
                 virtual void execute (Interpreter::Runtime& runtime, unsigned int arg0)
                 {
+                    MWWorld::Ptr actor = R()(runtime, false);
+
                     std::string factionID = "";
 
                     if(arg0==0)
                     {
-                        MWWorld::Ptr actor = R()(runtime);
                         factionID = getDialogueActorFaction(actor);
                     }
                     else
@@ -562,11 +563,12 @@ namespace MWScript
 
                 virtual void execute (Interpreter::Runtime& runtime, unsigned int arg0)
                 {
+                    MWWorld::Ptr actor = R()(runtime, false);
+
                     std::string factionID = "";
 
                     if(arg0==0)
                     {
-                        MWWorld::Ptr actor = R()(runtime);
                         factionID = getDialogueActorFaction(actor);
                     }
                     else
@@ -602,11 +604,12 @@ namespace MWScript
 
                 virtual void execute (Interpreter::Runtime& runtime, unsigned int arg0)
                 {
+                    MWWorld::Ptr actor = R()(runtime, false);
+
                     std::string factionID = "";
 
                     if(arg0==0)
                     {
-                        MWWorld::Ptr actor = R()(runtime);
                         factionID = getDialogueActorFaction(actor);
                     }
                     else
@@ -637,6 +640,8 @@ namespace MWScript
 
                 virtual void execute (Interpreter::Runtime& runtime, unsigned int arg0)
                 {
+                    MWWorld::Ptr ptr = R()(runtime, false);
+
                     std::string factionID = "";
                     if(arg0 >0)
                     {
@@ -645,8 +650,6 @@ namespace MWScript
                     }
                     else
                     {
-                        MWWorld::Ptr ptr = R()(runtime);
-
                         if(ptr.getClass().getNpcStats(ptr).getFactionRanks().empty())
                         {
                             factionID = "";
@@ -750,6 +753,8 @@ namespace MWScript
 
                 virtual void execute (Interpreter::Runtime& runtime, unsigned int arg0)
                 {
+                    MWWorld::Ptr ptr = R()(runtime, false);
+
                     std::string factionId;
 
                     if (arg0==1)
@@ -759,8 +764,6 @@ namespace MWScript
                     }
                     else
                     {
-                        MWWorld::Ptr ptr = R()(runtime);
-
                         if (!ptr.getClass().getNpcStats (ptr).getFactionRanks().empty())
                             factionId = ptr.getClass().getNpcStats (ptr).getFactionRanks().begin()->first;
                     }
@@ -783,6 +786,8 @@ namespace MWScript
 
                 virtual void execute (Interpreter::Runtime& runtime, unsigned int arg0)
                 {
+                    MWWorld::Ptr ptr = R()(runtime, false);
+
                     Interpreter::Type_Integer value = runtime[0].mInteger;
                     runtime.pop();
 
@@ -795,8 +800,6 @@ namespace MWScript
                     }
                     else
                     {
-                        MWWorld::Ptr ptr = R()(runtime);
-
                         if (!ptr.getClass().getNpcStats (ptr).getFactionRanks().empty())
                             factionId = ptr.getClass().getNpcStats (ptr).getFactionRanks().begin()->first;
                     }
@@ -818,6 +821,8 @@ namespace MWScript
 
                 virtual void execute (Interpreter::Runtime& runtime, unsigned int arg0)
                 {
+                    MWWorld::Ptr ptr = R()(runtime, false);
+
                     Interpreter::Type_Integer value = runtime[0].mInteger;
                     runtime.pop();
 
@@ -830,8 +835,6 @@ namespace MWScript
                     }
                     else
                     {
-                        MWWorld::Ptr ptr = R()(runtime);
-
                         if (!ptr.getClass().getNpcStats (ptr).getFactionRanks().empty())
                             factionId = ptr.getClass().getNpcStats (ptr).getFactionRanks().begin()->first;
                     }
@@ -913,6 +916,8 @@ namespace MWScript
 
                 virtual void execute (Interpreter::Runtime& runtime, unsigned int arg0)
                 {
+                    MWWorld::Ptr ptr = R()(runtime, false);
+
                     std::string factionID = "";
                     if(arg0 >0 )
                     {
@@ -921,8 +926,6 @@ namespace MWScript
                     }
                     else
                     {
-                        MWWorld::Ptr ptr = R()(runtime);
-
                         if(ptr.getClass().getNpcStats(ptr).getFactionRanks().empty())
                         {
                             factionID = "";
@@ -952,6 +955,8 @@ namespace MWScript
 
                 virtual void execute (Interpreter::Runtime& runtime, unsigned int arg0)
                 {
+                    MWWorld::Ptr ptr = R()(runtime, false);
+
                     std::string factionID = "";
                     if(arg0 >0 )
                     {
@@ -960,7 +965,6 @@ namespace MWScript
                     }
                     else
                     {
-                        MWWorld::Ptr ptr = R()(runtime);
                         if(ptr.getClass().getNpcStats(ptr).getFactionRanks().empty())
                         {
                             factionID = "";
@@ -985,6 +989,8 @@ namespace MWScript
 
                 virtual void execute (Interpreter::Runtime& runtime, unsigned int arg0)
                 {
+                    MWWorld::Ptr ptr = R()(runtime, false);
+
                     std::string factionID = "";
                     if(arg0 >0 )
                     {
@@ -993,7 +999,6 @@ namespace MWScript
                     }
                     else
                     {
-                        MWWorld::Ptr ptr = R()(runtime);
                         if(ptr.getClass().getNpcStats(ptr).getFactionRanks().empty())
                         {
                             factionID = "";
diff --git a/components/compiler/lineparser.cpp b/components/compiler/lineparser.cpp
index 0a3629912..2f835924d 100644
--- a/components/compiler/lineparser.cpp
+++ b/components/compiler/lineparser.cpp
@@ -1,6 +1,8 @@
 
 #include "lineparser.hpp"
 
+#include <memory>
+
 #include <components/misc/stringops.hpp>
 
 #include "scanner.hpp"
@@ -120,7 +122,7 @@ namespace Compiler
 
         if (mState==SetMemberVarState)
         {
-            mMemberName = name;
+            mMemberName = Misc::StringUtils::lowerCase (name);
             std::pair<char, bool> type = getContext().getMemberType (mMemberName, mName);
 
             if (type.first!=' ')
@@ -297,7 +299,12 @@ namespace Compiler
 
                     try
                     {
-                        ErrorDowngrade errorDowngrade (getErrorHandler());
+                        // workaround for broken positioncell instructions.
+                        /// \todo add option to disable this
+                        std::auto_ptr<ErrorDowngrade> errorDowngrade (0);
+                        if (Misc::StringUtils::lowerCase (loc.mLiteral)=="positioncell")
+                            errorDowngrade.reset (new ErrorDowngrade (getErrorHandler()));
+
                         std::vector<Interpreter::Type_Code> code;
                         optionals = mExprParser.parseArguments (argumentType, scanner, code);
                         mCode.insert (mCode.begin(), code.begin(), code.end());
diff --git a/components/compiler/locals.hpp b/components/compiler/locals.hpp
index cf7899b5c..1b2ae6042 100644
--- a/components/compiler/locals.hpp
+++ b/components/compiler/locals.hpp
@@ -15,8 +15,6 @@ namespace Compiler
             std::vector<std::string> mLongs;
             std::vector<std::string> mFloats;
 
-            int searchIndex (char type, const std::string& name) const;
-
             std::vector<std::string>& get (char type);
 
         public:
@@ -27,9 +25,11 @@ namespace Compiler
             int getIndex (const std::string& name) const;
             ///< return index for local variable \a name (-1: does not exist).
 
+            bool search (char type, const std::string& name) const;
+
             /// Return index for local variable \a name of type \a type (-1: variable does not
             /// exit).
-            bool search (char type, const std::string& name) const;
+            int searchIndex (char type, const std::string& name) const;
 
             const std::vector<std::string>& get (char type) const;