diff --git a/stepmania/src/EnumHelper.h b/stepmania/src/EnumHelper.h
index c4790b37b1..1aeb03e72c 100644
--- a/stepmania/src/EnumHelper.h
+++ b/stepmania/src/EnumHelper.h
@@ -92,7 +92,9 @@ static const RString EMPTY_STRING;
 			if( !s2.CompareNoCase(X##Names[i]) )	\
 				return (X)i;	\
 		return (X)(i+1); /*invalid*/	\
-	}
+	} \
+	template<> X StringTo<X>( const RString& s ) { return StringTo##X( s ); }
+template<class T> T StringTo( const RString& s );
 
 #define LuaXToString(X)	\
 LuaFunction( X##ToString, X##ToString( (X) IArg(1) ) );
diff --git a/stepmania/src/ThemeMetric.h b/stepmania/src/ThemeMetric.h
index f047635aeb..9bfe9d795f 100644
--- a/stepmania/src/ThemeMetric.h
+++ b/stepmania/src/ThemeMetric.h
@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@ class ThemeMetric : public IThemeMetric
 protected:
 	RString		m_sGroup;
 	RString		m_sName;
-	T			m_currentValue;
+	T		m_currentValue;
 	bool		m_bIsLoaded;
 
 	/* HACK: If true, reload the metric each time it's read.  This is like DynamicThemeMetric,
@@ -219,16 +219,21 @@ public:
 	}
 };
 
-template <class T>
-class ThemeMetricEnum : public ThemeMetric<int>
+template<class T> T StringTo( const RString& s );
+template<class T>
+class ThemeMetricEnum : public ThemeMetric<RString>
 {
+	T m_Value;
 public:
-	ThemeMetricEnum() : ThemeMetric<int>() {}
-	ThemeMetricEnum( const RString& sGroup, const RString& sName ) : ThemeMetric<int>(sGroup,sName) {}
-	T GetValue() const { return (T)ThemeMetric<int>::GetValue(); }
-	bool operator ==( T other ) const { return GetValue() == other; }
+	ThemeMetricEnum() : ThemeMetric<RString>() {}
+	ThemeMetricEnum( const RString& sGroup, const RString& sName ) :
+	ThemeMetric<RString>( sGroup, sName ) {}
+	void Read() { ThemeMetric<RString>::Read(); m_Value = StringTo<T>(m_currentValue); }
+	T GetValue() const { ASSERT( !m_sName.empty() && m_bIsLoaded ); return m_Value; }
+	operator T () const { return GetValue(); }
 };
 
+
 /*
  * Like ThemeMetric, but allows evaluating Lua expressions each time.  This is
  * fast, since we only compile the expression once.  To evaluate every time,