diff --git a/apps/openmw/main.cpp b/apps/openmw/main.cpp
index a4bf1fe5b..e4a918271 100644
--- a/apps/openmw/main.cpp
+++ b/apps/openmw/main.cpp
@@ -69,7 +69,8 @@ bool parseOptions (int argc, char** argv, OMW::Engine& engine, Files::Configurat
 {
     // Create a local alias for brevity
     namespace bpo = boost::program_options;
-    typedef std::vector<std::string> StringsVector;
+	typedef Files::EscapeHashString string;
+    typedef std::vector<string> StringsVector;
 
     bpo::options_description desc("Syntax: openmw <options>\nAllowed options");
 
@@ -79,13 +80,13 @@ bool parseOptions (int argc, char** argv, OMW::Engine& engine, Files::Configurat
         ("data", bpo::value<Files::PathContainer>()->default_value(Files::PathContainer(), "data")
             ->multitoken()->composing(), "set data directories (later directories have higher priority)")
 
-        ("data-local", bpo::value<std::string>()->default_value(""),
+        ("data-local", bpo::value<string>()->default_value(""),
             "set local data directory (highest priority)")
 
         ("fallback-archive", bpo::value<StringsVector>()->default_value(StringsVector(), "fallback-archive")
             ->multitoken(), "set fallback BSA archives (later archives have higher priority)")
 
-        ("resources", bpo::value<std::string>()->default_value("resources"),
+        ("resources", bpo::value<string>()->default_value("resources"),
             "set resources directory")
 
         ("start", bpo::value<std::string>()->default_value(""),
@@ -109,7 +110,7 @@ bool parseOptions (int argc, char** argv, OMW::Engine& engine, Files::Configurat
         ("script-console", bpo::value<bool>()->implicit_value(true)
             ->default_value(false), "enable console-only script functionality")
 
-        ("script-run", bpo::value<std::string>()->default_value(""),
+        ("script-run", bpo::value<string>()->default_value(""),
             "select a file containing a list of console commands that is executed on startup")
 
         ("script-warn", bpo::value<int>()->implicit_value (1)
@@ -125,7 +126,7 @@ bool parseOptions (int argc, char** argv, OMW::Engine& engine, Files::Configurat
         ("script-blacklist-use", bpo::value<bool>()->implicit_value(true)
             ->default_value(true), "enable script blacklisting")
 
-        ("load-savegame", bpo::value<std::string>()->default_value(""),
+        ("load-savegame", bpo::value<string>()->default_value(""),
             "load a save game file on game startup (specify an absolute filename or a filename relative to the current working directory)")
 
         ("skip-menu", bpo::value<bool>()->implicit_value(true)
@@ -137,7 +138,7 @@ bool parseOptions (int argc, char** argv, OMW::Engine& engine, Files::Configurat
         ("fs-strict", bpo::value<bool>()->implicit_value(true)
             ->default_value(false), "strict file system handling (no case folding)")
 
-        ( "encoding", bpo::value<std::string>()->
+        ( "encoding", bpo::value<string>()->
             default_value("win1252"),
             "Character encoding used in OpenMW game messages:\n"
             "\n\twin1250 - Central and Eastern European such as Polish, Czech, Slovak, Hungarian, Slovene, Bosnian, Croatian, Serbian (Latin script), Romanian and Albanian languages\n"
diff --git a/components/fallback/validate.hpp b/components/fallback/validate.hpp
index 3b6398d6a..531711544 100644
--- a/components/fallback/validate.hpp
+++ b/components/fallback/validate.hpp
@@ -3,6 +3,8 @@
 
 #include <boost/program_options.hpp>
 
+#include <components\files\configurationmanager.hpp>
+
 // Parses and validates a fallback map from boost program_options.
 // Note: for boost to pick up the validate function, you need to pull in the namespace e.g.
 // by using namespace Fallback;
@@ -11,7 +13,7 @@ namespace Fallback
 {
 
     struct FallbackMap {
-        std::map<std::string,std::string> mMap;
+        std::map<Files::EscapeHashString, Files::EscapeHashString> mMap;
     };
 
     void validate(boost::any &v, std::vector<std::string> const &tokens, FallbackMap*, int)
diff --git a/components/files/configurationmanager.cpp b/components/files/configurationmanager.cpp
index 5ac3dd695..c50303d97 100644
--- a/components/files/configurationmanager.cpp
+++ b/components/files/configurationmanager.cpp
@@ -3,9 +3,11 @@
 #include <string>
 #include <iostream>
 #include <algorithm>
+#include <ctype.h>
 
 #include <boost/bind.hpp>
 #include <boost/algorithm/string/erase.hpp>
+#include <boost/algorithm/string/replace.hpp>
 #include <boost/filesystem/fstream.hpp>
 
 /**
@@ -139,8 +141,11 @@ bool ConfigurationManager::loadConfig(const boost::filesystem::path& path,
         if (!mSilent)
             std::cout << "Loading config file: " << cfgFile.string() << "... ";
 
-        boost::filesystem::ifstream configFileStream(cfgFile);
-        if (configFileStream.is_open())
+        boost::filesystem::ifstream configFileStreamUnfiltered(cfgFile);
+		boost::iostreams::filtering_istream configFileStream;
+		configFileStream.push(escape_hash_filter());
+		configFileStream.push(configFileStreamUnfiltered);
+        if (configFileStreamUnfiltered.is_open())
         {
             boost::program_options::store(boost::program_options::parse_config_file(
                 configFileStream, description, true), variables);
@@ -159,6 +164,111 @@ bool ConfigurationManager::loadConfig(const boost::filesystem::path& path,
     return false;
 }
 
+escape_hash_filter::escape_hash_filter() : mNext()
+{
+}
+
+escape_hash_filter::~escape_hash_filter()
+{
+}
+
+template <typename Source>
+int escape_hash_filter::get(Source & src)
+{
+	if (mNext.empty())
+	{
+		int character = boost::iostreams::get(src);
+		bool record = true;
+		if (character == boost::iostreams::WOULD_BLOCK)
+		{
+			mNext.push(character);
+			record = false;
+		}
+		else if (character == EOF)
+		{
+			seenNonWhitespace = false;
+			finishLine = false;
+			mNext.push(character);
+		}
+		else if (character == '\n')
+		{
+			seenNonWhitespace = false;
+			finishLine = false;
+			mNext.push(character);
+		}
+		else if (finishLine)
+		{
+			mNext.push(character);
+		}
+		else if (character == '#')
+		{
+			if (seenNonWhitespace)
+			{
+				mNext.push(sEscape);
+				mNext.push(sHashIdentifier);
+			}
+			else
+			{
+				//it's fine being interpreted by Boost as a comment, and so is anything afterwards
+				mNext.push(character);
+				finishLine = true;
+			}
+		}
+		else if (mPrevious == sEscape)
+		{
+			mNext.push(sEscape);
+			mNext.push(sEscapeIdentifier);
+		}
+		else
+		{
+			mNext.push(character);
+		}
+		if (!seenNonWhitespace && !isspace(character))
+			seenNonWhitespace = true;
+		if (record)
+			mPrevious = character;
+	}
+	int retval = mNext.front();
+	mNext.pop();
+	return retval;
+}
+
+std::string EscapeHashString::processString(const std::string & str)
+{
+	std::string temp = boost::replace_all_copy<std::string>(str, std::string() + (char)escape_hash_filter::sEscape + (char)escape_hash_filter::sHashIdentifier, "#");
+	boost::replace_all(temp, std::string() + (char)escape_hash_filter::sEscape + (char)escape_hash_filter::sEscapeIdentifier, std::string((char) escape_hash_filter::sEscape, 1));
+	return temp;
+}
+
+EscapeHashString::EscapeHashString()
+{
+}
+
+EscapeHashString::EscapeHashString(const std::string & str) : std::string(EscapeHashString::processString(str))
+{
+}
+
+EscapeHashString::EscapeHashString(const std::string & str, size_t pos, size_t len) : std::string(EscapeHashString::processString(str), pos, len)
+{
+}
+
+EscapeHashString::EscapeHashString(const char * s) : std::string(EscapeHashString::processString(std::string(s)))
+{
+}
+
+EscapeHashString::EscapeHashString(const char * s, size_t n) : std::string(EscapeHashString::processString(std::string(s)), 0, n)
+{
+}
+
+EscapeHashString::EscapeHashString(size_t n, char c) : std::string(n, c)
+{
+}
+
+template <class InputIterator>
+EscapeHashString::EscapeHashString(InputIterator first, InputIterator last) : std::string(EscapeHashString::processString(std::string(first, last)))
+{
+}
+
 const boost::filesystem::path& ConfigurationManager::getGlobalPath() const
 {
     return mFixedPath.getGlobalConfigPath();
diff --git a/components/files/configurationmanager.hpp b/components/files/configurationmanager.hpp
index c05dbbb45..7ef7d6fae 100644
--- a/components/files/configurationmanager.hpp
+++ b/components/files/configurationmanager.hpp
@@ -2,8 +2,10 @@
 #define COMPONENTS_FILES_CONFIGURATIONMANAGER_HPP
 
 #include <map>
+#include <queue>
 
 #include <boost/program_options.hpp>
+#include <boost/iostreams/filtering_stream.hpp>
 
 #include <components/files/fixedpath.hpp>
 #include <components/files/collections.hpp>
@@ -63,6 +65,47 @@ struct ConfigurationManager
         bool mSilent;
 };
 
+
+/**
+ * \struct escape_hash_filter
+ */
+struct escape_hash_filter : public boost::iostreams::input_filter
+{
+	static const int sEscape = '@';
+	static const int sHashIdentifier = 'h';
+	static const int sEscapeIdentifier = 'a';
+
+	escape_hash_filter();
+	virtual ~escape_hash_filter();
+
+	template <typename Source> int get(Source & src);
+
+	private:
+		std::queue<int> mNext;
+		int mPrevious;
+
+		bool seenNonWhitespace = false;
+		bool finishLine = false;
+};
+
+/**
+ * \class EscapeHashString
+ */
+class EscapeHashString : public std::string
+{
+	public:
+		static std::string processString(const std::string & str);
+
+		EscapeHashString();
+		EscapeHashString(const std::string & str);
+		EscapeHashString(const std::string & str, size_t pos, size_t len = std::string::npos);
+		EscapeHashString(const char * s);
+		EscapeHashString(const char * s, size_t n);
+		EscapeHashString(size_t n, char c);
+		template <class InputIterator>
+		EscapeHashString(InputIterator first, InputIterator last);
+};
+
 } /* namespace Cfg */
 
 #endif /* COMPONENTS_FILES_CONFIGURATIONMANAGER_HPP */