diff --git a/src/ini_load.cpp b/src/ini_load.cpp
new file mode 100644
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/ini_load.cpp
@@ -0,0 +1,311 @@
+/* $Id$ */
+
+/*
+ * This file is part of OpenTTD.
+ * OpenTTD is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation, version 2.
+ * OpenTTD 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 along with OpenTTD. If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
+ */
+
+/** @file ini_load.cpp Definition of the #IniLoadFile class, related to reading and storing '*.ini' files. */
+
+#include "stdafx.h"
+#include "core/alloc_func.hpp"
+#include "core/mem_func.hpp"
+#include "debug.h"
+#include "ini_type.h"
+#include "string_func.h"
+#include "fileio_func.h"
+
+/**
+ * Construct a new in-memory item of an Ini file.
+ * @param parent the group we belong to
+ * @param name   the name of the item
+ * @param len    the length of the name of the item
+ */
+IniItem::IniItem(IniGroup *parent, const char *name, size_t len) : next(NULL), value(NULL), comment(NULL)
+{
+	if (len == 0) len = strlen(name);
+
+	this->name = strndup(name, len);
+	*parent->last_item = this;
+	parent->last_item = &this->next;
+}
+
+/** Free everything we loaded. */
+IniItem::~IniItem()
+{
+	free(this->name);
+	free(this->value);
+	free(this->comment);
+
+	delete this->next;
+}
+
+/**
+ * Replace the current value with another value.
+ * @param value the value to replace with.
+ */
+void IniItem::SetValue(const char *value)
+{
+	free(this->value);
+	this->value = strdup(value);
+}
+
+/**
+ * Construct a new in-memory group of an Ini file.
+ * @param parent the file we belong to
+ * @param name   the name of the group
+ * @param len    the length of the name of the group
+ */
+IniGroup::IniGroup(IniLoadFile *parent, const char *name, size_t len) : next(NULL), type(IGT_VARIABLES), item(NULL), comment(NULL)
+{
+	if (len == 0) len = strlen(name);
+
+	this->name = strndup(name, len);
+	this->last_item = &this->item;
+	*parent->last_group = this;
+	parent->last_group = &this->next;
+
+	if (parent->list_group_names == NULL) return;
+
+	for (uint i = 0; parent->list_group_names[i] != NULL; i++) {
+		if (strcmp(this->name, parent->list_group_names[i]) == 0) {
+			this->type = IGT_LIST;
+			return;
+		}
+	}
+}
+
+/** Free everything we loaded. */
+IniGroup::~IniGroup()
+{
+	free(this->name);
+	free(this->comment);
+
+	delete this->item;
+	delete this->next;
+}
+
+/**
+ * Get the item with the given name, and if it doesn't exist
+ * and create is true it creates a new item.
+ * @param name   name of the item to find.
+ * @param create whether to create an item when not found or not.
+ * @return the requested item or NULL if not found.
+ */
+IniItem *IniGroup::GetItem(const char *name, bool create)
+{
+	for (IniItem *item = this->item; item != NULL; item = item->next) {
+		if (strcmp(item->name, name) == 0) return item;
+	}
+
+	if (!create) return NULL;
+
+	/* otherwise make a new one */
+	return new IniItem(this, name, strlen(name));
+}
+
+/**
+ * Clear all items in the group
+ */
+void IniGroup::Clear()
+{
+	delete this->item;
+	this->item = NULL;
+	this->last_item = &this->item;
+}
+
+/**
+ * Construct a new in-memory Ini file representation.
+ * @param list_group_names A NULL terminated list with groups that should be
+ *                         loaded as lists instead of variables.
+ */
+IniLoadFile::IniLoadFile(const char * const *list_group_names) : group(NULL), comment(NULL), list_group_names(list_group_names)
+{
+	this->last_group = &this->group;
+}
+
+/** Free everything we loaded. */
+IniLoadFile::~IniLoadFile()
+{
+	free(this->comment);
+	delete this->group;
+}
+
+/**
+ * Get the group with the given name, and if it doesn't exist
+ * create a new group.
+ * @param name name of the group to find.
+ * @param len  the maximum length of said name.
+ * @return the requested group.
+ */
+IniGroup *IniLoadFile::GetGroup(const char *name, size_t len)
+{
+	if (len == 0) len = strlen(name);
+
+	/* does it exist already? */
+	for (IniGroup *group = this->group; group != NULL; group = group->next) {
+		if (!strncmp(group->name, name, len) && group->name[len] == 0) {
+			return group;
+		}
+	}
+
+	/* otherwise make a new one */
+	IniGroup *group = new IniGroup(this, name, len);
+	group->comment = strdup("\n");
+	return group;
+}
+
+/**
+ * Remove the group with the given name.
+ * @param name name of the group to remove.
+ */
+void IniLoadFile::RemoveGroup(const char *name)
+{
+	size_t len = strlen(name);
+	IniGroup *prev = NULL;
+	IniGroup *group;
+
+	/* does it exist already? */
+	for (group = this->group; group != NULL; prev = group, group = group->next) {
+		if (strncmp(group->name, name, len) == 0) {
+			break;
+		}
+	}
+
+	if (group == NULL) return;
+
+	if (prev != NULL) {
+		prev->next = prev->next->next;
+		if (this->last_group == &group->next) this->last_group = &prev->next;
+	} else {
+		this->group = this->group->next;
+		if (this->last_group == &group->next) this->last_group = &this->group;
+	}
+
+	group->next = NULL;
+	delete group;
+}
+
+/**
+ * Load the Ini file's data from the disk.
+ * @param filename the file to load.
+ * @pre nothing has been loaded yet.
+ */
+void IniLoadFile::LoadFromDisk(const char *filename)
+{
+	assert(this->last_group == &this->group);
+
+	char buffer[1024];
+	IniGroup *group = NULL;
+
+	char *comment = NULL;
+	uint comment_size = 0;
+	uint comment_alloc = 0;
+
+	size_t end;
+	/*
+	 * Now we are going to open a file that contains no more than simple
+	 * plain text. That would raise the question: "why open the file as
+	 * if it is a binary file?". That's simple... Microsoft, in all
+	 * their greatness and wisdom decided it would be useful if ftell
+	 * is aware of '\r\n' and "sees" that as a single character. The
+	 * easiest way to test for that situation is by searching for '\n'
+	 * and decrease the value every time you encounter a '\n'. This will
+	 * thus also make ftell "see" the '\r' when it is not there, so the
+	 * result of ftell will be highly unreliable. So to work around this
+	 * marvel of wisdom we have to open in as a binary file.
+	 */
+	FILE *in = FioFOpenFile(filename, "rb", DATA_DIR, &end);
+	if (in == NULL) return;
+
+	end += ftell(in);
+
+	/* for each line in the file */
+	while ((size_t)ftell(in) < end && fgets(buffer, sizeof(buffer), in)) {
+		char c, *s;
+		/* trim whitespace from the left side */
+		for (s = buffer; *s == ' ' || *s == '\t'; s++) {}
+
+		/* trim whitespace from right side. */
+		char *e = s + strlen(s);
+		while (e > s && ((c = e[-1]) == '\n' || c == '\r' || c == ' ' || c == '\t')) e--;
+		*e = '\0';
+
+		/* skip comments and empty lines */
+		if (*s == '#' || *s == ';' || *s == '\0') {
+			uint ns = comment_size + (e - s + 1);
+			uint a = comment_alloc;
+			/* add to comment */
+			if (ns > a) {
+				a = max(a, 128U);
+				do a *= 2; while (a < ns);
+				comment = ReallocT(comment, comment_alloc = a);
+			}
+			uint pos = comment_size;
+			comment_size += (e - s + 1);
+			comment[pos + e - s] = '\n'; // comment newline
+			memcpy(comment + pos, s, e - s); // copy comment contents
+			continue;
+		}
+
+		/* it's a group? */
+		if (s[0] == '[') {
+			if (e[-1] != ']') {
+				ShowInfoF("ini: invalid group name '%s'", buffer);
+			} else {
+				e--;
+			}
+			s++; // skip [
+			group = new IniGroup(this, s, e - s);
+			if (comment_size != 0) {
+				group->comment = strndup(comment, comment_size);
+				comment_size = 0;
+			}
+		} else if (group != NULL) {
+			char *t;
+			/* find end of keyname */
+			if (*s == '\"') {
+				s++;
+				for (t = s; *t != '\0' && *t != '\"'; t++) {}
+				if (*t == '\"') *t = ' ';
+			} else {
+				for (t = s; *t != '\0' && *t != '=' && *t != '\t' && *t != ' '; t++) {}
+			}
+
+			/* it's an item in an existing group */
+			IniItem *item = new IniItem(group, s, t - s);
+			if (comment_size != 0) {
+				item->comment = strndup(comment, comment_size);
+				comment_size = 0;
+			}
+
+			/* find start of parameter */
+			while (*t == '=' || *t == ' ' || *t == '\t') t++;
+
+			bool quoted = (*t == '\"');
+			/* remove starting quotation marks */
+			if (*t == '\"') t++;
+			/* remove ending quotation marks */
+			e = t + strlen(t);
+			if (e > t && e[-1] == '\"') e--;
+			*e = '\0';
+
+			/* If the value was not quoted and empty, it must be NULL */
+			item->value = (!quoted && e == t) ? NULL : strndup(t, e - t);
+		} else {
+			/* it's an orphan item */
+			ShowInfoF("ini: '%s' outside of group", buffer);
+		}
+	}
+
+	if (comment_size > 0) {
+		this->comment = strndup(comment, comment_size);
+		comment_size = 0;
+	}
+
+	free(comment);
+	fclose(in);
+}
+