diff --git a/OpenRA.Game/Game.cs b/OpenRA.Game/Game.cs
index 69f72664f8..89ebd21720 100644
--- a/OpenRA.Game/Game.cs
+++ b/OpenRA.Game/Game.cs
@@ -266,7 +266,7 @@ namespace OpenRA
 		static void Initialize(Arguments args)
 		{
 			var supportDirArg = args.GetValue("Engine.SupportDir", null);
-			if (supportDirArg != null)
+			if (!string.IsNullOrEmpty(supportDirArg))
 				Platform.OverrideSupportDir(supportDirArg);
 
 			Console.WriteLine("Platform is {0}", Platform.CurrentPlatform);
diff --git a/OpenRA.Server/Program.cs b/OpenRA.Server/Program.cs
index 48a0ec0c74..532e560a5a 100644
--- a/OpenRA.Server/Program.cs
+++ b/OpenRA.Server/Program.cs
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@ namespace OpenRA.Server
 		{
 			var arguments = new Arguments(args);
 			var supportDirArg = arguments.GetValue("Engine.SupportDir", null);
-			if (supportDirArg != null)
+			if (!string.IsNullOrEmpty(supportDirArg))
 				Platform.OverrideSupportDir(supportDirArg);
 
 			Log.AddChannel("debug", "dedicated-debug.log", true);