diff --git a/stepmania/src/ActiveAttackList.cpp b/stepmania/src/ActiveAttackList.cpp
index 03330148b2..5aadaa6b0a 100644
--- a/stepmania/src/ActiveAttackList.cpp
+++ b/stepmania/src/ActiveAttackList.cpp
@@ -77,8 +77,10 @@ void ActiveAttackList::Update( float fDelta )
 				for( unsigned i=0; i<asTokens.size(); i++ )
 					asTokens[i] = Capitalize( asTokens[i] );
 
-				// Theme the mod name (the last string)
-				asTokens.back() = THEME->GetMetric( "OptionNames", asTokens.back() );
+				/* Theme the mod name (the last string).  Allow this to not exist, since
+				 * characters might use modifiers that don't exist in the theme. */
+				if( THEME->HasMetric( "OptionNames", asTokens.back() ) )
+					asTokens.back() = THEME->GetMetric( "OptionNames", asTokens.back() );
 			
 				sMod = join( " ", asTokens );
 
diff --git a/stepmania/src/GameManager.cpp b/stepmania/src/GameManager.cpp
index f2e0ad936f..b161425c86 100644
--- a/stepmania/src/GameManager.cpp
+++ b/stepmania/src/GameManager.cpp
@@ -2459,7 +2459,11 @@ CString GameManager::NotesTypeToString( StepsType nt )
 
 CString GameManager::NotesTypeToThemedString( StepsType nt )
 {
-	return THEME->GetMetric( "StepsType", NotesTypeToString(nt) );
+	CString s = NotesTypeToString(nt);
+	if( THEME->HasMetric( "StepsType", s ) )
+		return THEME->GetMetric( "StepsType", s );
+	else
+		return s;
 }
 
 Game GameManager::StringToGameType( CString sGameType )