diff --git a/nif/.gitignore b/nif/.gitignore
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..731498d9a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/nif/.gitignore
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+old_d
diff --git a/nif/nif_file.h b/nif/nif_file.h
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..cab3ff96c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/nif/nif_file.h
@@ -0,0 +1,180 @@
+/*
+  OpenMW - The completely unofficial reimplementation of Morrowind
+  Copyright (C) 2008-2010  Nicolay Korslund
+  Email: < korslund@gmail.com >
+  WWW: http://openmw.sourceforge.net/
+
+  This file (nif_file.h) is part of the OpenMW package.
+
+  OpenMW is distributed as free software: you can redistribute it
+  and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License
+  version 3, as published by the Free Software Foundation.
+
+  This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but
+  WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+  MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the GNU
+  General Public License for more details.
+
+  You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
+  version 3 along with this program. If not, see
+  http://www.gnu.org/licenses/ .
+
+ */
+
+#ifndef _NIF_FILE_H_
+#define _NIF_FILE_H_
+
+#include <string>
+#include "../mangle/stream/stream.h"
+#include "../mangle/stream/filters/buffer_stream.h"
+#include "../mangle/tools/str_exception.h"
+#include "../tools/stringops.h"
+
+#include <vector>
+
+// Only used during development. Remove later.
+#include <iostream>
+using namespace std;
+
+using namespace Mangle::Stream;
+
+// A simple array implementation containing a pointer and a
+// length. Used for holding slices into a data buffer.
+#include <string.h>
+template <class T>
+struct SliceArray
+{
+  const T* ptr;
+  size_t length;
+
+  SliceArray(const T* _ptr, size_t _length)
+    : ptr(_ptr), length(_length) {}
+
+  bool operator==(SliceArray &t)
+  {
+    return
+      length == t.length &&
+      (memcmp(ptr,t.ptr, length*sizeof(T)) == 0);
+  }
+
+  /// Only use this for stings
+  bool operator==(const char* str)
+  {
+    return
+      str[length] == 0 &&
+      (strncmp(ptr, str, length) == 0);
+  }
+
+  /** This allocates a copy of the data. Only use this for debugging
+      and error messages.
+  */
+  std::string toString()
+  { return std::string(ptr,length); }
+};
+
+typedef SliceArray<char> SString;
+typedef SliceArray<int> IntArray;
+typedef SliceArray<float> FloatArray;
+
+class NIFFile
+{
+  enum NIFVersion
+    {
+      VER_MW    = 0x04000002    // Morrowind NIFs
+    };
+
+  /// Nif file version
+  int ver;
+
+  /// Input stream
+  StreamPtr inp;
+
+  /// File name, used for error messages
+  std::string filename;
+
+  /// Record list
+  typedef void NifRecord;
+  std::vector<NifRecord*> records;
+
+  /// Used for error handling
+  void fail(const std::string &msg)
+    {
+      std::string err = "NIFFile Error: " + msg;
+      err += "\nFile: " + filename;
+      throw str_exception(err);
+    }
+
+  /// Parse the file
+  void parse()
+    {
+      // Check the header string
+      const char* head = getString(40);
+      if(!begins(head, "NetImmerse File Format"))
+        fail("Invalid NIF header");
+
+      // Get BCD version
+      ver = getInt();
+      if(ver != VER_MW)
+        fail("Unsupported NIF version");
+
+      // Number of records
+      int recNum = getInt();
+      records.resize(recNum);
+
+      for(int i=0;i<recNum;i++)
+        {
+          SString rec = getString();
+
+          cout << i << ": " << rec.toString() << endl;
+
+          if(rec == "NiNode") cout << " got a node!\n";
+
+          break;
+        }
+    }
+
+ public:
+  /// Open a NIF stream. The name is used for error messages.
+  NIFFile(StreamPtr nif, const std::string &name)
+    : filename(name)
+    {
+      /* Load the entire file into memory. This allows us to use
+         direct pointers to the data arrays in the NIF, instead of
+         individually allocating and copying each one.
+
+         The NIF data is only stored temporarily in memory, since once
+         the mesh data is loaded it is siphoned into OGRE and
+         deleted. For that reason, we might improve this further and
+         use a shared region/pool based allocation scheme in the
+         future, especially since only one NIFFile will ever be loaded
+         at any given time.
+      */
+      inp = StreamPtr(new BufferStream(nif));
+
+      parse();
+    }
+
+
+  /* ************************************************
+
+               Parser functions
+
+  ****************************************************/
+
+  template<class X> X getType() { return *((X*)inp->getPtr(sizeof(X))); }
+  int getInt() { return getType<int>(); }
+
+  template<class X>
+  SliceArray<X> getArray()
+    {
+      int len = getInt();
+      return SliceArray<X>((const X*)inp->getPtr(len), len);
+    }
+
+  SString getString() { return getArray<char>(); }
+
+  const char *getString(int size)
+    { return (const char*)inp->getPtr(size); }
+};
+
+#endif
diff --git a/nif/tests/.gitignore b/nif/tests/.gitignore
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..55c42ffa1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/nif/tests/.gitignore
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+niftool
+*_test
+*.nif
diff --git a/nif/tests/Makefile b/nif/tests/Makefile
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..cf5ccf390
--- /dev/null
+++ b/nif/tests/Makefile
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+GCC=g++
+
+all: niftool
+
+niftool: niftool.cpp ../nif_file.h
+	$(GCC) $< ../../tools/stringops.cpp -o $@
+
+clean:
+	rm niftool
diff --git a/nif/tests/niftool.cpp b/nif/tests/niftool.cpp
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..624231a99
--- /dev/null
+++ b/nif/tests/niftool.cpp
@@ -0,0 +1,23 @@
+#include "../nif_file.h"
+
+/*
+  Test of the NIFFile class
+ */
+
+#include <iostream>
+#include "../../mangle/stream/servers/file_stream.h"
+
+using namespace Mangle::Stream;
+using namespace std;
+
+int main(int argc, char **args)
+{
+  if(argc != 2)
+    {
+      cout << "Specify a NIF file on the command line\n";
+      return 1;
+    }
+
+  StreamPtr file(new FileStream(args[1]));
+  NIFFile nif(file, args[1]);
+}
diff --git a/nif/tests/test.sh b/nif/tests/test.sh
new file mode 100755
index 000000000..b1ca6f1a6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/nif/tests/test.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,18 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+
+make || exit
+
+mkdir -p output
+
+PROGS=*_test
+
+for a in $PROGS; do
+    if [ -f "output/$a.out" ]; then
+        echo "Running $a:"
+        $a | diff output/$a.out -
+    else
+        echo "Creating $a.out"
+        $a > "output/$a.out"
+        git add "output/$a.out"
+    fi
+done
diff --git a/tools/stringops.cpp b/tools/stringops.cpp
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..f009cabf6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tools/stringops.cpp
@@ -0,0 +1,14 @@
+#include "stringops.h"
+
+/// Returns true if str1 begins with substring str2
+bool begins(const char* str1, const char* str2)
+{
+  while(*str2)
+    {
+      if(*str1 == 0 || *str1 != *str2) return false;
+
+      str1++;
+      str2++;
+    }
+  return true;
+}
diff --git a/tools/stringops.h b/tools/stringops.h
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..575791dff
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tools/stringops.h
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+#ifndef __STRINGOPS_H
+#define __STRINGOPS_H
+
+/// Returns true if str1 begins with substring str2
+bool begins(const char* str1, const char* str2);
+
+#endif