diff --git a/stepmania/src/ThemeManager.cpp b/stepmania/src/ThemeManager.cpp
index 3e128e1a54..fcb3c7d486 100644
--- a/stepmania/src/ThemeManager.cpp
+++ b/stepmania/src/ThemeManager.cpp
@@ -31,7 +31,7 @@ ThemeManager::ThemeManager()
 	m_pIniMetrics = new IniFile;
 
 	/* Update the metric cache on the first call to GetMetric. */
-	m_uNextReloadTicks = -1;
+	m_uNextReloadTicks = 0;
 
 	m_sCurThemeName = BASE_THEME_NAME;	// Use te base theme for now.  It's up to PrefsManager to change this.
 
@@ -217,7 +217,7 @@ try_metric_again:
 	CString sDefaultMetricPath = GetMetricsPathFromName(BASE_THEME_NAME);
 
 	// Is our metric cache out of date?
-	if (m_uNextReloadTicks == -1 || ::GetTickCount() > m_uNextReloadTicks)
+	if (m_uNextReloadTicks == 0 || ::GetTickCount() > m_uNextReloadTicks)
 	{
 		m_uNextReloadTicks = GetTickCount()+1000;
 		if( m_iHashForCurThemeMetrics != GetHashForFile(sCurMetricPath)  ||