diff --git a/src/ByteBuffer.cpp b/src/ByteBuffer.cpp
index 96a135562..a7553786e 100644
--- a/src/ByteBuffer.cpp
+++ b/src/ByteBuffer.cpp
@@ -767,7 +767,7 @@ bool cByteBuffer::ReadUTF16String(AString & a_String, int a_NumChars)
 	{
 		return false;
 	}
-	RawBEToUTF8((short *)(RawData.data()), a_NumChars, a_String);
+	RawBEToUTF8((RawData.data()), a_NumChars, a_String);
 	return true;
 }
 
diff --git a/src/StringUtils.cpp b/src/StringUtils.cpp
index 3fe75d611..3e047fb5c 100644
--- a/src/StringUtils.cpp
+++ b/src/StringUtils.cpp
@@ -288,13 +288,13 @@ void ReplaceString(AString & iHayStack, const AString & iNeedle, const AString &
 
 
 // Converts a stream of BE shorts into UTF-8 string; returns a ref to a_UTF8
-AString & RawBEToUTF8(short * a_RawData, int a_NumShorts, AString & a_UTF8)
+AString & RawBEToUTF8(const char * a_RawData, int a_NumShorts, AString & a_UTF8)
 {
 	a_UTF8.clear();
 	a_UTF8.reserve(3 * a_NumShorts / 2);  // a quick guess of the resulting size
 	for (int i = 0; i < a_NumShorts; i++)
 	{
-		int c = ntohs(*(a_RawData + i));
+		int c = GetBEShort(a_RawData + i*2);
 		if (c < 0x80)
 		{
 			a_UTF8.push_back((char)c);
@@ -364,10 +364,7 @@ Notice from the original file:
 
 #define UNI_MAX_BMP         0x0000FFFF
 #define UNI_MAX_UTF16       0x0010FFFF
-#define UNI_MAX_UTF32       0x7FFFFFFF
-#define UNI_MAX_LEGAL_UTF32 0x0010FFFF
 #define UNI_SUR_HIGH_START  0xD800
-#define UNI_SUR_HIGH_END    0xDBFF
 #define UNI_SUR_LOW_START   0xDC00
 #define UNI_SUR_LOW_END     0xDFFF
 
diff --git a/src/StringUtils.h b/src/StringUtils.h
index dfbfc2a75..b64108409 100644
--- a/src/StringUtils.h
+++ b/src/StringUtils.h
@@ -58,7 +58,7 @@ extern unsigned int RateCompareString(const AString & s1, const AString & s2 );
 extern void ReplaceString(AString & iHayStack, const AString & iNeedle, const AString & iReplaceWith);  // tolua_export
 
 /// Converts a stream of BE shorts into UTF-8 string; returns a ref to a_UTF8
-extern AString & RawBEToUTF8(short * a_RawData, int a_NumShorts, AString & a_UTF8);
+extern AString & RawBEToUTF8(const char * a_RawData, int a_NumShorts, AString & a_UTF8);
 
 /// Converts a UTF-8 string into a UTF-16 BE string, packing that back into AString; return a ref to a_UTF16
 extern AString & UTF8ToRawBEUTF16(const char * a_UTF8, size_t a_UTF8Length, AString & a_UTF16);