diff -Nru bzflag-1.7g0/src/bzflag/bzflag.cxx bzflag-1.7g0.new/src/bzflag/bzflag.cxx
--- bzflag-1.7g0/src/bzflag/bzflag.cxx	Thu Dec  5 17:22:44 2002
+++ bzflag-1.7g0.new/src/bzflag/bzflag.cxx	Sun Mar 23 19:21:11 2003
@@ -117,12 +117,18 @@
 #if !defined(_WIN32) & !defined(macintosh)
 
   BzfString name;
-  struct passwd* pwent = getpwuid(getuid());
-  if (pwent && pwent->pw_dir) {
-    name += BzfString(pwent->pw_dir);
-    name += "/";
+  char *etc_dir = getenv("ETC_DIR");
+  if (etc_dir != NULL) {
+    name += BzfString(etc_dir);
+    name += "/bzflag";
+  } else {
+    struct passwd* pwent = getpwuid(getuid());
+    if (pwent && pwent->pw_dir) {
+      name += BzfString(pwent->pw_dir);
+      name += "/";
+    }
+    name += ".bzflag";
   }
-  name += ".bzflag";
 
   // add in hostname on UNIX
   if (getenv("HOST")) {
@@ -168,12 +174,18 @@
 static BzfString	getConfigFileName2()
 {
   BzfString name;
-  struct passwd* pwent = getpwuid(getuid());
-  if (pwent && pwent->pw_dir) {
-    name += BzfString(pwent->pw_dir);
-    name += "/";
+  const char *etc_dir = getenv("ETC_DIR");
+  if (etc_dir) {
+    name += BzfString(etc_dir);
+    name += "/bzflag";
+  } else {
+    struct passwd* pwent = getpwuid(getuid());
+    if (pwent && pwent->pw_dir) {
+      name += BzfString(pwent->pw_dir);
+      name += "/";
+    }
+    name += ".bzflag";
   }
-  name += ".bzflag";
   return name;
 }
 #endif
diff -Nru bzflag-1.7g0/src/bzflag/playing.cxx bzflag-1.7g0.new/src/bzflag/playing.cxx
--- bzflag-1.7g0/src/bzflag/playing.cxx	Sat Dec  7 08:25:08 2002
+++ bzflag-1.7g0.new/src/bzflag/playing.cxx	Sun Mar 23 19:23:20 2003
@@ -3419,12 +3419,18 @@
   return "";
 #else
   BzfString name;
-  struct passwd *pwent = getpwuid(getuid());
-  if (pwent && pwent->pw_dir) {
-    name += BzfString(pwent->pw_dir);
-    name += "/";
+  const char *etc_dir = getenv("ETC_DIR");
+  if (etc_dir) {
+    name += BzfString(etc_dir);
+    name += "/bzflag-cache";
+  } else {
+    struct passwd *pwent = getpwuid(getuid());
+    if (pwent && pwent->pw_dir) {
+      name += BzfString(pwent->pw_dir);
+      name += "/";
+    }
+    name += ".bzflag-cache";
   }
-  name += ".bzflag-cache";
 
   // add in hostname on UNIX
   if (getenv("HOST")) {