diff --git a/OpenRA.Game/FieldLoader.cs b/OpenRA.Game/FieldLoader.cs
index 4bacabc8b1..2cb685a30f 100644
--- a/OpenRA.Game/FieldLoader.cs
+++ b/OpenRA.Game/FieldLoader.cs
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@
 
 using System;
 using System.Collections.Generic;
+using System.ComponentModel;
 using System.Drawing;
 using System.Globalization;
 using System.Linq;
@@ -374,6 +375,22 @@ namespace OpenRA
 				return InvalidValueAction(value, fieldType, fieldName);
 			}
 
+			else
+			{
+				var conv = TypeDescriptor.GetConverter(fieldType);
+				if (conv.CanConvertFrom(typeof(string)))
+				{
+					try
+					{
+						return conv.ConvertFromInvariantString(value);
+					}
+					catch
+					{
+						return InvalidValueAction(value, fieldType, fieldName);
+					}
+				}
+			}
+
 			UnknownFieldAction("[Type] {0}".F(value), fieldType);
 			return null;
 		}
diff --git a/OpenRA.Game/FieldSaver.cs b/OpenRA.Game/FieldSaver.cs
index 3c401870c7..50da9af1c7 100644
--- a/OpenRA.Game/FieldSaver.cs
+++ b/OpenRA.Game/FieldSaver.cs
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@
 
 using System;
 using System.Collections.Generic;
+using System.ComponentModel;
 using System.Drawing;
 using System.Globalization;
 using System.Linq;
@@ -88,6 +89,19 @@ namespace OpenRA
 			if (t == typeof(DateTime))
 				return ((DateTime)v).ToString("yyyy-MM-dd HH-mm-ss", CultureInfo.InvariantCulture);
 
+			// Try the TypeConverter
+			var conv = TypeDescriptor.GetConverter(t);
+			if (conv.CanConvertTo(typeof(string)))
+			{
+				try
+				{
+					return conv.ConvertToInvariantString(v);
+				}
+				catch
+				{
+				}
+			}
+
 			return v.ToString();
 		}