diff --git a/OpenRA.Game/Game.cs b/OpenRA.Game/Game.cs
index 34b753e64e..4f63e84d36 100644
--- a/OpenRA.Game/Game.cs
+++ b/OpenRA.Game/Game.cs
@@ -248,12 +248,12 @@ namespace OpenRA
 
 			// Special case handling of Game.Mod argument: if it matches a real filesystem path
 			// then we use this to override the mod search path, and replace it with the mod id
-			var modArgument = args.GetValue("Game.Mod", null);
+			var modID = args.GetValue("Game.Mod", null);
 			var explicitModPaths = new string[0];
-			if (modArgument != null && (File.Exists(modArgument) || Directory.Exists(modArgument)))
+			if (modID != null && (File.Exists(modID) || Directory.Exists(modID)))
 			{
-				explicitModPaths = new[] { modArgument };
-				args.ReplaceValue("Game.Mod", Path.GetFileNameWithoutExtension(modArgument));
+				explicitModPaths = new[] { modID };
+				modID = Path.GetFileNameWithoutExtension(modID);
 			}
 
 			InitializeSettings(args);
@@ -330,7 +330,7 @@ namespace OpenRA
 			foreach (var mod in ExternalMods)
 				Console.WriteLine("\t{0}: {1} ({2})", mod.Key, mod.Value.Title, mod.Value.Version);
 
-			InitializeMod(Settings.Game.Mod, args);
+			InitializeMod(modID, args);
 		}
 
 		public static void InitializeMod(string mod, Arguments args)
@@ -360,12 +360,10 @@ namespace OpenRA
 
 			ModData = null;
 
-			// Fall back to default if the mod doesn't exist
 			if (mod == null)
-				mod = args.GetValue("Engine.DefaultMod", "modchooser");
+				throw new InvalidOperationException("Game.Mod argument missing or mod could not be found.");
 
 			Console.WriteLine("Loading mod: {0}", mod);
-			Settings.Game.Mod = mod;
 
 			Sound.StopVideo();
 
diff --git a/OpenRA.Game/Settings.cs b/OpenRA.Game/Settings.cs
index 464e7f2d3c..b46c7ce312 100644
--- a/OpenRA.Game/Settings.cs
+++ b/OpenRA.Game/Settings.cs
@@ -154,10 +154,6 @@ namespace OpenRA
 
 	public class GameSettings
 	{
-		[Desc("Load a specific mod on startup.")]
-		public string Mod = null;
-		public string PreviousMod = "ra";
-
 		public string Platform = "Default";
 
 		public bool ViewportEdgeScroll = true;
diff --git a/OpenRA.Mods.Common/Widgets/Logic/MainMenuLogic.cs b/OpenRA.Mods.Common/Widgets/Logic/MainMenuLogic.cs
index 7b98c42b00..fcca9bc248 100644
--- a/OpenRA.Mods.Common/Widgets/Logic/MainMenuLogic.cs
+++ b/OpenRA.Mods.Common/Widgets/Logic/MainMenuLogic.cs
@@ -93,7 +93,6 @@ namespace OpenRA.Mods.Common.Widgets.Logic
 				// so we can't do this inside the input handler.
 				Game.RunAfterTick(() =>
 				{
-					Game.Settings.Game.PreviousMod = modData.Manifest.Id;
 					Game.InitializeMod("modchooser", null);
 				});
 			};
diff --git a/OpenRA.Mods.Common/Widgets/Logic/ModBrowserLogic.cs b/OpenRA.Mods.Common/Widgets/Logic/ModBrowserLogic.cs
index d6e2e07f3e..583e296537 100644
--- a/OpenRA.Mods.Common/Widgets/Logic/ModBrowserLogic.cs
+++ b/OpenRA.Mods.Common/Widgets/Logic/ModBrowserLogic.cs
@@ -115,9 +115,7 @@ namespace OpenRA.Mods.Common.Widgets.Logic
 				catch (Exception) { }
 			}
 
-			Manifest initialMod;
-			Game.Mods.TryGetValue(Game.Settings.Game.PreviousMod, out initialMod);
-			SelectMod(initialMod != null && initialMod.Id != "modchooser" ? initialMod : Game.Mods["ra"]);
+			SelectMod(Game.Mods["ra"]);
 
 			RebuildModList();
 		}
diff --git a/OpenRA.Server/Program.cs b/OpenRA.Server/Program.cs
index 2cdbbda65a..c5c8509ae5 100644
--- a/OpenRA.Server/Program.cs
+++ b/OpenRA.Server/Program.cs
@@ -30,14 +30,17 @@ namespace OpenRA.Server
 
 			// Special case handling of Game.Mod argument: if it matches a real filesystem path
 			// then we use this to override the mod search path, and replace it with the mod id
-			var modArgument = arguments.GetValue("Game.Mod", null);
+			var modID = arguments.GetValue("Game.Mod", null);
 			var explicitModPaths = new string[0];
-			if (modArgument != null && (File.Exists(modArgument) || Directory.Exists(modArgument)))
+			if (modID != null && (File.Exists(modID) || Directory.Exists(modID)))
 			{
-				explicitModPaths = new[] { modArgument };
-				arguments.ReplaceValue("Game.Mod", Path.GetFileNameWithoutExtension(modArgument));
+				explicitModPaths = new[] { modID };
+				modID = Path.GetFileNameWithoutExtension(modID);
 			}
 
+			if (modID == null)
+				throw new InvalidOperationException("Game.Mod argument missing or mod could not be found.");
+
 			// HACK: The engine code assumes that Game.Settings is set.
 			// This isn't nearly as bad as ModData, but is still not very nice.
 			Game.InitializeSettings(arguments);
@@ -48,16 +51,15 @@ namespace OpenRA.Server
 				FieldLoader.GetValue<string[]>("MOD_SEARCH_PATHS", envModSearchPaths) :
 				new[] { Path.Combine(".", "mods") };
 
-			var mod = Game.Settings.Game.Mod;
 			var mods = new InstalledMods(modSearchPaths, explicitModPaths);
 
 			// HACK: The engine code *still* assumes that Game.ModData is set
-			var modData = Game.ModData = new ModData(mods[mod], mods);
+			var modData = Game.ModData = new ModData(mods[modID], mods);
 			modData.MapCache.LoadMaps();
 
 			settings.Map = modData.MapCache.ChooseInitialMap(settings.Map, new MersenneTwister());
 
-			Console.WriteLine("[{0}] Starting dedicated server for mod: {1}", DateTime.Now.ToString(settings.TimestampFormat), mod);
+			Console.WriteLine("[{0}] Starting dedicated server for mod: {1}", DateTime.Now.ToString(settings.TimestampFormat), modID);
 			while (true)
 			{
 				var server = new Server(new IPEndPoint(IPAddress.Any, settings.ListenPort), settings, modData, true);