diff --git a/OpenRA.Game/Map/MapCache.cs b/OpenRA.Game/Map/MapCache.cs
index b54151262c..70fefbaa93 100644
--- a/OpenRA.Game/Map/MapCache.cs
+++ b/OpenRA.Game/Map/MapCache.cs
@@ -54,12 +54,21 @@ namespace OpenRA
 					? MapClassification.Unknown : Enum<MapClassification>.Parse(kv.Value);
 
 				IReadOnlyPackage package;
-				var optional = name.StartsWith("~");
+				var optional = name.StartsWith("~", StringComparison.Ordinal);
 				if (optional)
 					name = name.Substring(1);
 
 				try
 				{
+					// HACK: If the path is inside the the support directory then we may need to create it
+					if (name.StartsWith("^", StringComparison.Ordinal))
+					{
+						// Assume that the path is a directory if there is not an existing file with the same name
+						var resolved = Platform.ResolvePath(name);
+						if (!File.Exists(resolved))
+							Directory.CreateDirectory(resolved);
+					}
+
 					package = modData.ModFiles.OpenPackage(name);
 				}
 				catch