diff --git a/src/common/db.cpp b/src/common/db.cpp
index e66f6ee..bbe8d70 100644
--- a/src/common/db.cpp
+++ b/src/common/db.cpp
@@ -143,10 +143,9 @@ void db::load(const buffer &b)
 
 void db::open(const path &p)
 {
-    std::string fn = p.string();
-    t.load(buffer(read_file(fn + ".tab")));
-    load(buffer(read_file(fn + ".ind")));
-    buffer b(read_file(fn + ".dat"));
+    t.load(buffer(read_file(path(p) += ".tab")));
+    load(buffer(read_file(path(p) += ".ind")));
+    buffer b(read_file(path(p) += ".dat"));
     for (auto &v : values)
         v.load_fields(t, b);
 }
diff --git a/src/db_add_language/db_add_language.cpp b/src/db_add_language/db_add_language.cpp
index 5389836..de085d1 100644
--- a/src/db_add_language/db_add_language.cpp
+++ b/src/db_add_language/db_add_language.cpp
@@ -219,7 +219,7 @@ void process_lang(polygon4::Storage &s, const path &p, polygon4::String polygon4
         AimKV kv1;
         if (db.number_of_values)
         {
-            kv1 = ::get_kv(db, get_cp(p.filename().string()));
+            kv1 = ::get_kv(db, get_cp(p.filename().u8string()));
             kvm.insert(kv1.begin(), kv1.end());
         }
     };
@@ -282,7 +282,7 @@ void process_lang(polygon4::Storage &s, const path &p, polygon4::String polygon4
         str += wstring2string(kv.second.s) + "\n";
         str += "\n================================================\n\n";
     }*/
-    write_file(p / (p.filename().string() + "_diff.txt"), str);
+    write_file(p / (p.filename() += "_diff.txt"), str);
 }
 
 int main(int argc, char *argv[])
@@ -313,7 +313,7 @@ int main(int argc, char *argv[])
 #undef ADD_LANGUAGE
         else
         {
-            std::cerr << "No such lang: " << p.filename().string() << "\n";
+            std::cerr << "No such lang: " << p.filename().u8string() << "\n";
             continue;
         }
     }
diff --git a/src/mmm_extractor/mmm_extractor.cpp b/src/mmm_extractor/mmm_extractor.cpp
index d05fe80..95eeb60 100644
--- a/src/mmm_extractor/mmm_extractor.cpp
+++ b/src/mmm_extractor/mmm_extractor.cpp
@@ -63,7 +63,7 @@ mmm read_mmm(const path &fn)
 void process_mmm(const path &fn)
 {
     auto m = read_mmm(fn);
-    write_mat_bmp(fn.string() + ".bmp", m.data.unpack_mmm());
+    write_mat_bmp(fn.u8string() + ".bmp", m.data.unpack_mmm());
 }
 
 int main(int argc, char *argv[])
diff --git a/src/mmo_extractor/mmo_extractor.cpp b/src/mmo_extractor/mmo_extractor.cpp
index 8ef7dde..5c69d4b 100644
--- a/src/mmo_extractor/mmo_extractor.cpp
+++ b/src/mmo_extractor/mmo_extractor.cpp
@@ -105,7 +105,7 @@ mmo_storage read_mmo(const path &fn)
 
 void write_mmo(Storage *storage, const mmo_storage &s)
 {
-    std::string map_name = s.name.filename().stem().string();
+    std::string map_name = s.name.filename().stem().u8string();
     if (!prefix.empty())
         map_name = prefix + "." + map_name;
     std::transform(map_name.begin(), map_name.end(), map_name.begin(), ::tolower);
@@ -303,7 +303,7 @@ int main(int argc, char *argv[])
                 std::cout << mg.name;
                 std::cout << " " << mg.org;
                 std::cout << " " << mg.mechanoids.size();
-                std::cout << " " << file.filename().stem().string();
+                std::cout << " " << file.filename().stem().u8string();
                 std::cout << "\n";
             }
         });
diff --git a/src/mmp_extractor/mmp.cpp b/src/mmp_extractor/mmp.cpp
index 9b99b3a..5e6aba5 100644
--- a/src/mmp_extractor/mmp.cpp
+++ b/src/mmp_extractor/mmp.cpp
@@ -393,7 +393,7 @@ void mmp::writeHeightMap()
         fclose(f);
     };
 
-    cv::imwrite((path(filename) += ".heightmap16.png").string(), toCvMat(heightmap));
+    cv::imwrite((path(filename) += ".heightmap16.png").u8string(), toCvMat(heightmap));
 
     //write_hm(".heightmap16.r16", heightmap, sizeof(decltype(heightmap)::type));
     write_hm(".heightmap32.r32", heightmap32, sizeof(decltype(heightmap32)::type));
diff --git a/src/mod_converter/mod_converter.cpp b/src/mod_converter/mod_converter.cpp
index 51a14d6..5b8e9ae 100644
--- a/src/mod_converter/mod_converter.cpp
+++ b/src/mod_converter/mod_converter.cpp
@@ -65,8 +65,8 @@ void convert_model(const model &m, const path &fn)
 {
     // write all
     if (all_formats)
-        m.print(fn.string());
-    m.printFbx(fn.string());
+        m.print(fn.u8string());
+    m.printFbx(fn.u8string());
 }
 
 void convert_model(const path &fn)
@@ -75,7 +75,7 @@ void convert_model(const path &fn)
 
     if (stats)
     {
-        m.save(root[fn.filename().string()]);
+        m.save(root[fn.filename().u8string()]);
         return;
     }
 
diff --git a/src/save_loader/save_loader.cpp b/src/save_loader/save_loader.cpp
index 9dc91b6..37e4584 100644
--- a/src/save_loader/save_loader.cpp
+++ b/src/save_loader/save_loader.cpp
@@ -47,7 +47,7 @@ int main(int argc, char *argv[])
         save s;
         s.load(f);
 
-        //writeFile(p.string(), save_changes.out.buf());
+        //writeFile(p.u8string(), save_changes.out.buf());
     };
 
     if (fs::is_regular_file(p))
diff --git a/src/tm_converter/tm_converter.cpp b/src/tm_converter/tm_converter.cpp
index 5b35917..184ee51 100644
--- a/src/tm_converter/tm_converter.cpp
+++ b/src/tm_converter/tm_converter.cpp
@@ -61,7 +61,7 @@ void convert(const path &fn)
     src._read(&dxt5_flag, 1);
     src.seek(0x4C);
 
-    auto s = fn.string() + ".bmp";
+    auto s = path(fn) += ".bmp";
     mat<uint32_t> m(width, height);
     if (dxt5_flag)
     {