diff --git a/stepmania/src/RageTimer.cpp b/stepmania/src/RageTimer.cpp
index 381eab659b..ed5b27da59 100644
--- a/stepmania/src/RageTimer.cpp
+++ b/stepmania/src/RageTimer.cpp
@@ -23,13 +23,18 @@ const float SECS_IN_DAY	=	60*60*24;
 
 /* XXX: SDL_GetTicks() wraps every month or so.  Handle it. */
 RageTimer::RageTimer()
+{
+	Init();
+	GetDeltaTime(); /* so the next call to GetDeltaTime is from the construction of this object */
+}
+
+void RageTimer::Init()
 {
 	static bool SDL_Initialized = false;
 	if(!SDL_Initialized) {
 		SDL_InitSubSystem(SDL_INIT_TIMER);
 		SDL_Initialized = true;
 	}
-	GetDeltaTime(); /* so the next call to GetDeltaTime is from the construction of this object */
 }
 
 float RageTimer::GetDeltaTime()
@@ -46,7 +51,7 @@ float RageTimer::PeekDeltaTime() const
 	return (SDL_GetTicks() - m_iLastDeltaTime) / 1000.f;
 }
 
-float RageTimer::GetTimeSinceStart() const
+float RageTimer::GetTimeSinceStart()
 {
 	return SDL_GetTicks() / 1000.f;
 }
diff --git a/stepmania/src/RageTimer.h b/stepmania/src/RageTimer.h
index f300d7f953..97fa9766ae 100644
--- a/stepmania/src/RageTimer.h
+++ b/stepmania/src/RageTimer.h
@@ -19,9 +19,10 @@ public:
 	unsigned int GetTicks();
 	float GetDeltaTime();	// time between last call to GetDeltaTime()
 	float PeekDeltaTime() const;
-	float GetTimeSinceStart() const;	// seconds since the program was started
+	static float GetTimeSinceStart();	// seconds since the program was started
 
 private:
+	static void Init();
 	int m_iLastDeltaTime;
 };