diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index de2061298..220ae7ca8 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -81,6 +81,9 @@ configure_file(${OpenMW_SOURCE_DIR}/files/plugins.cfg.linux
     "${OpenMW_BINARY_DIR}/plugins.cfg" COPYONLY)
 endif (WIN32)
 
+configure_file(${OpenMW_SOURCE_DIR}/files/openmw.cfg
+    "${OpenMW_BINARY_DIR}/openmw.cfg" COPYONLY)
+    
 # Main executable
 add_executable(openmw
     ${BSA} ${BSA_HEADER}
diff --git a/bsa/bsa_archive.cpp b/bsa/bsa_archive.cpp
index d1a8c150f..a025c2507 100644
--- a/bsa/bsa_archive.cpp
+++ b/bsa/bsa_archive.cpp
@@ -157,7 +157,7 @@ static void insertBSAFactory()
 
 // The function below is the only publicly exposed part of this file
 
-void addBSA(const char* name, const char* group)
+void addBSA(const std::string& name, const std::string& group)
 {
   insertBSAFactory();
   ResourceGroupManager::getSingleton().
diff --git a/bsa/bsa_archive.hpp b/bsa/bsa_archive.hpp
index 007fd5b36..bde6d9c3b 100644
--- a/bsa/bsa_archive.hpp
+++ b/bsa/bsa_archive.hpp
@@ -21,11 +21,13 @@
 
  */
 
+#include <string>
+
 #ifndef _BSA_ARCHIVE_H_
 #define _BSA_ARCHIVE_H_
 
 /// Add the given BSA file as an input archive in the Ogre resource
 /// system.
-void addBSA(const char* file, const char* group="General");
+void addBSA(const std::string& file, const std::string& group="General");
 
 #endif
diff --git a/files/openmw.cfg b/files/openmw.cfg
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..cd24a9443
--- /dev/null
+++ b/files/openmw.cfg
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+data=data
+
diff --git a/game/main.cpp b/game/main.cpp
index 164c258e0..f66fed2df 100644
--- a/game/main.cpp
+++ b/game/main.cpp
@@ -1,5 +1,8 @@
 #include <iostream>
 
+#include <string>
+#include <fstream>
+
 #include "boost/program_options.hpp"
 
 #include "esm_store/cell_store.hpp"
@@ -13,21 +16,28 @@
 
 using namespace std;
 
-void maintest()
+void maintest (std::string dataDir)
 {
-  const char* esmFile = "data/Morrowind.esm";
-  const char* bsaFile = "data/Morrowind.bsa";
+  assert (!dataDir.empty());
+  
+  if (dataDir[dataDir.size()-1]!='/' && dataDir[dataDir.size()-1]!='\\')
+    dataDir += "/";
+
+  const char* esmFile = "Morrowind.esm";
+  const char* bsaFile = "Morrowind.bsa";
 
   const char* plugCfg = "plugins.cfg";
 
   cout << "Hello, fellow traveler!\n";
+  
+  cout << "Your data directory for today is: " << dataDir << "\n";
 
   cout << "Initializing OGRE\n";
   Render::OgreRenderer ogre;
   ogre.configure(!isFile("ogre.cfg"), plugCfg, false);
 
   cout << "Adding " << bsaFile << endl;
-  addBSA(bsaFile);
+  addBSA(dataDir + bsaFile);
 
   cout << "Loading ESM " << esmFile << "\n";
   ESM::ESMReader esm;
@@ -35,7 +45,7 @@ void maintest()
   ESMS::CellStore cell;
 
   // This parses the ESM file and loads a sample cell
-  esm.open(esmFile);
+  esm.open(dataDir + esmFile);
   store.load(esm);
 
   cell.loadInt("Beshara", store, esm);
@@ -75,20 +85,30 @@ int main(int argc, char**argv)
       "Syntax: openmw <options>\nAllowed options");
 
     desc.add_options()
-      ("help", "print help message");
+      ("help", "print help message")
+      ("data", boost::program_options::value<std::string>()->default_value ("data"),
+        "set data directory"
+      );
   
     boost::program_options::variables_map variables;
+    
+    std::ifstream configFile ("openmw.cfg");
+
     boost::program_options::store (
       boost::program_options::parse_command_line (argc, argv, desc), variables);
     boost::program_options::notify (variables);
 
+    if (configFile.is_open())
+      boost::program_options::store (
+        boost::program_options::parse_config_file (configFile, desc), variables);
+
     if (variables.count ("help"))
     {
       std::cout << desc << std::endl;
     }
     else
     {          
-      maintest();
+      maintest (variables["data"].as<std::string>());
     }  
   }
   catch(exception &e)