diff --git a/stepmania/src/RageBitmapTexture.cpp b/stepmania/src/RageBitmapTexture.cpp
index 52888fb0ed..69cbb6af78 100644
--- a/stepmania/src/RageBitmapTexture.cpp
+++ b/stepmania/src/RageBitmapTexture.cpp
@@ -138,6 +138,24 @@ SDL_Surface *RageBitmapTexture::CreateImg(int &pixfmt)
 	if(img == NULL)
 		RageException::Throw( "Couldn't load %s: %s", GetFilePath().GetString(), SDL_GetError() );
 
+	if(m_ActualID.bHotPinkColorKey)
+	{
+		/* Annoying: SDL will do a nearest-match on paletted images if
+		 * they don't have the color we ask for, so images without HOT PINK
+		 * will get some other random color transparent.  We have to make
+		 * sure the value returned for paletted images is exactly #FF00FF. */
+		int color = SDL_MapRGB(img->format, 0xFF, 0, 0xFF);
+		if( img->format->BitsPerPixel == 8 ) {
+			if(img->format->palette->colors[color].r != 0xFF ||
+			   img->format->palette->colors[color].g != 0x00 ||
+			   img->format->palette->colors[color].b != 0xFF )
+			   color = -1;
+		}
+
+		if( color != -1 )
+			SDL_SetColorKey( img, SDL_SRCCOLORKEY, color);
+	}
+
 	GLenum fmtTexture;
 	/* Figure out which texture format to use. */
 	if( m_ActualID.iColorDepth == 16 )
@@ -243,7 +261,7 @@ SDL_Surface *RageBitmapTexture::CreateImg(int &pixfmt)
 	 */
 	/* We could check to see if we happen to simply be in a reversed
 	 * pixel order, and tell OpenGL to do the switch for us. */
-	ConvertSDLSurface(img, m_iTextureWidth, m_iTextureHeight, PixFmtMasks[pixfmt].bpp,
+	ConvertSDLSurface(img, img->w, img->h, PixFmtMasks[pixfmt].bpp,
 			PixFmtMasks[pixfmt].masks[0], PixFmtMasks[pixfmt].masks[1],
 			PixFmtMasks[pixfmt].masks[2], PixFmtMasks[pixfmt].masks[3]);
 
@@ -275,8 +293,14 @@ void RageBitmapTexture::Create()
 	glPixelStorei(GL_UNPACK_ROW_LENGTH, img->pitch / img->format->BytesPerPixel);
 	glTexParameteri(GL_TEXTURE_2D, GL_TEXTURE_MAG_FILTER, GL_LINEAR);
 	glTexParameteri(GL_TEXTURE_2D, GL_TEXTURE_MIN_FILTER, GL_LINEAR);
-	glTexImage2D(GL_TEXTURE_2D, 0, PixFmtMasks[pixfmt].internalfmt, img->w, img->h, 0,
-			GL_RGBA, PixFmtMasks[pixfmt].type, img->pixels);
+
+	/* Here's a trick for loading a texture that doesn't necessarily have power-of-two
+	 * dimensions into a texture, without wasting time converting it: */
+	glTexImage2D(GL_TEXTURE_2D, 0, PixFmtMasks[pixfmt].internalfmt, power_of_two(img->w), power_of_two(img->h), 0,
+			GL_RGBA, PixFmtMasks[pixfmt].type, NULL);
+	glTexSubImage2D(GL_TEXTURE_2D, 0, 0, 0, 
+                    img->w, img->h, GL_RGBA, PixFmtMasks[pixfmt].type, img->pixels); 
+
 	glPixelStorei(GL_UNPACK_ROW_LENGTH, 0);
 	glFlush();
 
diff --git a/stepmania/src/SDL_utils.cpp b/stepmania/src/SDL_utils.cpp
index b2f8e28379..6e7a5e0fce 100644
--- a/stepmania/src/SDL_utils.cpp
+++ b/stepmania/src/SDL_utils.cpp
@@ -140,6 +140,7 @@ void mySDL_GetBitsPerChannel(const SDL_PixelFormat *fmt, Uint32 bits[4])
 	bits[2] = 8 - fmt->Bloss;
 	bits[3] = 8 - fmt->Aloss;
 }
+#include "RageLog.h"
 
 void ConvertSDLSurface(SDL_Surface *&image,
 		int width, int height, int bpp,
@@ -149,35 +150,18 @@ void ConvertSDLSurface(SDL_Surface *&image,
             SDL_SWSURFACE, width, height, bpp, R, G, B, A);
 	ASSERT(ret_image != NULL);
 
-	/* If the formats are the same, no conversion is needed. */
-/*	if(width == image->w && height == image->h &&
+	/* If the formats are the same, no conversion is needed.  One exception:
+	 * if we have a color key and we're not paletted (8-bit).  (If we have
+	 * a color key but we're paletted, we'll handle this on texture load.) xxx unimplemented */
+	if(!(image->flags & SDL_SRCCOLORKEY) &&
+		width == image->w && height == image->h &&
 	   !memcmp(image->format, ret_image->format, sizeof(SDL_PixelFormat)))
 	{
+		LOG->Trace("noconv");
 		SDL_FreeSurface(ret_image);
 		return;
 	}
 
-	It's needed because of the color key; the blit converts it to alpha.  (Gah.) */
-
-	/* I'd really like to do away with this, but a lot of song images use it.
-	 * I suppose this should be yet another hint, but they're getting cumbersome ... */
-	if(!(image->flags & SDL_SRCCOLORKEY)) {
-		/* Annoying: SDL will do a nearest-match on paletted images if
-		 * they don't have the color we ask for, so images without HOT PINK
-		 * will get some other random color transparent; so we have to make
-		 * sure the value returned for paletted images is exactly #FF00FF. */
-		int color = SDL_MapRGB(image->format, 0xFF, 0, 0xFF);
-		if( image->format->BitsPerPixel == 8 ) {
-			if(image->format->palette->colors[color].r != 0xFF ||
-			   image->format->palette->colors[color].g != 0x00 ||
-			   image->format->palette->colors[color].b != 0xFF )
-			   color = -1;
-		}
-
-		if( color != -1 )
-			SDL_SetColorKey( image, SDL_SRCCOLORKEY, color);
-	}
-
 	/* We don't want to actually blend the alpha channel over the destination converted
 	 * surface; we want to simply blit it, so make sure SDL_SRCALPHA is not on. */
 	SDL_SetAlpha( image, 0, SDL_ALPHA_OPAQUE );