diff --git a/OpenRA.Game/FieldLoader.cs b/OpenRA.Game/FieldLoader.cs
index 1d081f6d5a..5fff2b49ea 100644
--- a/OpenRA.Game/FieldLoader.cs
+++ b/OpenRA.Game/FieldLoader.cs
@@ -508,6 +508,26 @@ namespace OpenRA
 
 				return InvalidValueAction(value, fieldType, fieldName);
 			}
+			else if (fieldType == typeof(float3))
+			{
+				if (value != null)
+				{
+					var parts = value.Split(new char[] { ',' }, StringSplitOptions.RemoveEmptyEntries);
+					float x = 0;
+					float y = 0;
+					float z = 0;
+					float.TryParse(parts[0], NumberStyles.Float, NumberFormatInfo.InvariantInfo, out x);
+					float.TryParse(parts[1], NumberStyles.Float, NumberFormatInfo.InvariantInfo, out y);
+
+					// z component is optional for compatibility with older float2 definitions
+					if (parts.Length > 2)
+						float.TryParse(parts[2], NumberStyles.Float, NumberFormatInfo.InvariantInfo, out z);
+
+					return new float3(x, y, z);
+				}
+
+				return InvalidValueAction(value, fieldType, fieldName);
+			}
 			else if (fieldType == typeof(Rectangle))
 			{
 				if (value != null)
diff --git a/OpenRA.Game/Graphics/IGraphicsDevice.cs b/OpenRA.Game/Graphics/IGraphicsDevice.cs
index b21154faab..27c41814b8 100644
--- a/OpenRA.Game/Graphics/IGraphicsDevice.cs
+++ b/OpenRA.Game/Graphics/IGraphicsDevice.cs
@@ -95,6 +95,7 @@ namespace OpenRA
 		void SetBool(string name, bool value);
 		void SetVec(string name, float x);
 		void SetVec(string name, float x, float y);
+		void SetVec(string name, float x, float y, float z);
 		void SetVec(string name, float[] vec, int length);
 		void SetTexture(string param, ITexture texture);
 		void SetMatrix(string param, float[] mtx);
diff --git a/OpenRA.Game/Graphics/Vertex.cs b/OpenRA.Game/Graphics/Vertex.cs
index f514177119..0d8df05e3a 100644
--- a/OpenRA.Game/Graphics/Vertex.cs
+++ b/OpenRA.Game/Graphics/Vertex.cs
@@ -18,8 +18,8 @@ namespace OpenRA.Graphics
 	{
 		public readonly float X, Y, Z, U, V, P, C;
 
-		public Vertex(float2 xy, float u, float v, float p, float c)
-			: this(xy.X, xy.Y, 0, u, v, p, c) { }
+		public Vertex(float3 xyz, float u, float v, float p, float c)
+			: this(xyz.X, xyz.Y, xyz.Z, u, v, p, c) { }
 
 		public Vertex(float[] xyz, float u, float v, float p, float c)
 			: this(xyz[0], xyz[1], xyz[2], u, v, p, c) { }
diff --git a/OpenRA.Game/OpenRA.Game.csproj b/OpenRA.Game/OpenRA.Game.csproj
index d75b30c3ee..dd968f003f 100644
--- a/OpenRA.Game/OpenRA.Game.csproj
+++ b/OpenRA.Game/OpenRA.Game.csproj
@@ -254,6 +254,7 @@
     <Compile Include="Traits\Player\IndexedPlayerPalette.cs" />
     <Compile Include="Traits\ActivityUtils.cs" />
     <Compile Include="FileSystem\ZipFolder.cs" />
+    <Compile Include="Primitives\float3.cs" />
   </ItemGroup>
   <ItemGroup>
     <Compile Include="FileSystem\D2kSoundResources.cs" />
diff --git a/OpenRA.Game/Primitives/float3.cs b/OpenRA.Game/Primitives/float3.cs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..3012076471
--- /dev/null
+++ b/OpenRA.Game/Primitives/float3.cs
@@ -0,0 +1,54 @@
+#region Copyright & License Information
+/*
+ * Copyright 2007-2016 The OpenRA Developers (see AUTHORS)
+ * This file is part of OpenRA, which is free software. It is made
+ * available to you under the terms of the GNU General Public License
+ * as published by the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of
+ * the License, or (at your option) any later version. For more
+ * information, see COPYING.
+ */
+#endregion
+
+using System;
+using System.Diagnostics.CodeAnalysis;
+using System.Drawing;
+using System.Runtime.InteropServices;
+
+namespace OpenRA
+{
+	[SuppressMessage("StyleCop.CSharp.NamingRules", "SA1300:ElementMustBeginWithUpperCaseLetter", Justification = "Mimic a built-in type alias.")]
+	[StructLayout(LayoutKind.Sequential)]
+	public struct float3
+	{
+		public readonly float X, Y, Z;
+		public float2 XY { get { return new float2(X, Y); } }
+
+		public float3(float x, float y, float z) { X = x; Y = y; Z = z; }
+		public float3(float2 xy, float z) { X = xy.X; Y = xy.Y; Z = z; }
+
+		public static implicit operator float3(int2 src) { return new float3(src.X, src.Y, 0); }
+		public static implicit operator float3(float2 src) { return new float3(src.X, src.Y, 0); }
+
+		public static float3 operator +(float3 a, float3 b) { return new float3(a.X + b.X, a.Y + b.Y, a.Z + b.Z); }
+		public static float3 operator -(float3 a, float3 b) { return new float3(a.X - b.X, a.Y - b.Y, a.Z - b.Z); }
+		public static float3 operator -(float3 a) { return new float3(-a.X, -a.Y, -a.Z); }
+		public static float3 operator *(float3 a, float3 b) { return new float3(a.X * b.X, a.Y * b.Y, a.Z * b.Z); }
+		public static float3 operator *(float a, float3 b) { return new float3(a * b.X, a * b.Y, a * b.Z); }
+		public static float3 operator /(float3 a, float3 b) { return new float3(a.X / b.X, a.Y / b.Y, a.Z / b.Z); }
+		public static float3 operator /(float3 a, float b) { return new float3(a.X / b, a.Y / b, a.Z / b); }
+
+		public static bool operator ==(float3 me, float3 other) { return me.X == other.X && me.Y == other.Y && me.Z == other.Z; }
+		public static bool operator !=(float3 me, float3 other) { return !(me == other); }
+		public override int GetHashCode() { return X.GetHashCode() ^ Y.GetHashCode() ^ Z.GetHashCode(); }
+
+		public override bool Equals(object obj)
+		{
+			var o = obj as float3?;
+			return o != null && o == this;
+		}
+
+		public override string ToString() { return "{0},{1},{2}".F(X, Y, Z); }
+
+		public static readonly float3 Zero = new float3(0, 0, 0);
+	}
+}
diff --git a/OpenRA.Platforms.Default/OpenGL.cs b/OpenRA.Platforms.Default/OpenGL.cs
index 5d0ed06b51..b3cf3dc251 100644
--- a/OpenRA.Platforms.Default/OpenGL.cs
+++ b/OpenRA.Platforms.Default/OpenGL.cs
@@ -215,6 +215,9 @@ namespace OpenRA.Platforms.Default
 		public delegate void Uniform2f(int location, float v0, float v1);
 		public static Uniform2f glUniform2f { get; private set; }
 
+		public delegate void Uniform3f(int location, float v0, float v1, float v2);
+		public static Uniform3f glUniform3f { get; private set; }
+
 		public delegate void Uniform1fv(int location, int count, IntPtr value);
 		public static Uniform1fv glUniform1fv { get; private set; }
 
@@ -395,6 +398,7 @@ namespace OpenRA.Platforms.Default
 				glUniform1i = Bind<Uniform1i>("glUniform1i");
 				glUniform1f = Bind<Uniform1f>("glUniform1f");
 				glUniform2f = Bind<Uniform2f>("glUniform2f");
+				glUniform3f = Bind<Uniform3f>("glUniform3f");
 				glUniform1fv = Bind<Uniform1fv>("glUniform1fv");
 				glUniform2fv = Bind<Uniform2fv>("glUniform2fv");
 				glUniform3fv = Bind<Uniform3fv>("glUniform3fv");
diff --git a/OpenRA.Platforms.Default/Shader.cs b/OpenRA.Platforms.Default/Shader.cs
index 557dcc3127..9facf102f4 100644
--- a/OpenRA.Platforms.Default/Shader.cs
+++ b/OpenRA.Platforms.Default/Shader.cs
@@ -189,6 +189,17 @@ namespace OpenRA.Platforms.Default
 			OpenGL.CheckGLError();
 		}
 
+		public void SetVec(string name, float x, float y, float z)
+		{
+			VerifyThreadAffinity();
+			OpenGL.glUseProgram(program);
+			OpenGL.CheckGLError();
+			var param = OpenGL.glGetUniformLocation(program, name);
+			OpenGL.CheckGLError();
+			OpenGL.glUniform3f(param, x, y, z);
+			OpenGL.CheckGLError();
+		}
+
 		public void SetVec(string name, float[] vec, int length)
 		{
 			VerifyThreadAffinity();