diff --git a/lib/ivis_opengl/textdraw.cpp b/lib/ivis_opengl/textdraw.cpp
index c75727d91..7458de63f 100644
--- a/lib/ivis_opengl/textdraw.cpp
+++ b/lib/ivis_opengl/textdraw.cpp
@@ -462,8 +462,8 @@ void iV_SetTextColour(PIELIGHT colour)
  */
 int iV_DrawFormattedText(const char* String, UDWORD x, UDWORD y, UDWORD Width, UDWORD Justify)
 {
-	char FString[256];
-	char FWord[256];
+	std::string FString;
+	std::string FWord;
 	int i;
 	int jx = x;		// Default to left justify.
 	int jy = y;
@@ -477,7 +477,7 @@ int iV_DrawFormattedText(const char* String, UDWORD x, UDWORD y, UDWORD Width, U
 		bool NewLine = false;
 
 		// Reset text draw buffer
-		FString[0] = 0;
+		FString.clear();
 
 		WWidth = 0;
 
@@ -485,10 +485,11 @@ int iV_DrawFormattedText(const char* String, UDWORD x, UDWORD y, UDWORD Width, U
 		while (*curChar != 0 && WWidth < Width && !NewLine)
 		{
 			const char* startOfWord = curChar;
-			const unsigned int FStringWidth = iV_GetTextWidth(FString);
+			const unsigned int FStringWidth = iV_GetTextWidth(FString.c_str());
 
 			// Get the next word.
 			i = 0;
+			FWord.clear();
 			for (; *curChar != 0
 			    && *curChar != ASCII_SPACE
 			    && *curChar != ASCII_NEWLINE
@@ -497,14 +498,15 @@ int iV_DrawFormattedText(const char* String, UDWORD x, UDWORD y, UDWORD Width, U
 			{
 				if (*curChar == ASCII_COLOURMODE) // If it's a colour mode toggle char then just add it to the word.
 				{
-					FWord[i] = *curChar;
+					FWord.push_back(*curChar);
 
 					// this character won't be drawn so don't deal with its width
 					continue;
 				}
 
 				// Update this line's pixel width.
-				WWidth = FStringWidth + iV_GetCountedTextWidth(FWord, i + 1);
+				//WWidth = FStringWidth + iV_GetCountedTextWidth(FWord.c_str(), i + 1);  // This triggers tonnes of valgrind warnings, if the string contains unicode. Adding lots of trailing garbage didn't help... Using iV_GetTextWidth with a null-terminated string, instead.
+				WWidth = FStringWidth + iV_GetTextWidth(FWord.c_str());
 
 				// If this word doesn't fit on the current line then break out
 				if (WWidth > Width)
@@ -513,7 +515,7 @@ int iV_DrawFormattedText(const char* String, UDWORD x, UDWORD y, UDWORD Width, U
 				}
 
 				// If width ok then add this character to the current word.
-				FWord[i] = *curChar;
+				FWord.push_back(*curChar);
 			}
 
 			// Don't forget the space.
@@ -524,7 +526,7 @@ int iV_DrawFormattedText(const char* String, UDWORD x, UDWORD y, UDWORD Width, U
 				WWidth += iV_GetCharWidth('-');
 				if (WWidth <= Width)
 				{
-					FWord[i] = ' ';
+					FWord.push_back(' ');
 					++i;
 					++curChar;
 					GotSpace = true;
@@ -554,33 +556,18 @@ int iV_DrawFormattedText(const char* String, UDWORD x, UDWORD y, UDWORD Width, U
 				break;
 			}
 
-			// Terminate the word.
-			FWord[i] = 0;
-
 			// And add it to the output string.
-			sstrcat(FString, FWord);
+			FString.append(FWord);
 		}
 
 
 		// Remove trailing spaces, useful when doing center alignment.
+		while (!FString.empty() && FString[FString.size() - 1] == ' ')
 		{
-			// Find the string length (the "minus one" part
-			// guarantees that we get the length of the string, not
-			// the buffer size required to contain it).
-			size_t len = strnlen1(FString, sizeof(FString)) - 1;
-
-			for (; len != 0; --len)
-			{
-				// As soon as we encounter a non-space character, break out
-				if (FString[len] != ASCII_SPACE)
-					break;
-
-				// Cut off the current space character from the string
-				FString[len] = '\0';
-			}
+			FString.erase(FString.size() - 1);  // std::string has no pop_back().
 		}
 
-		TWidth = iV_GetTextWidth(FString);
+		TWidth = iV_GetTextWidth(FString.c_str());
 
 		// Do justify.
 		switch (Justify)
@@ -599,7 +586,7 @@ int iV_DrawFormattedText(const char* String, UDWORD x, UDWORD y, UDWORD Width, U
 		}
 
 		// draw the text.
-		iV_DrawText(FString, jx, jy);
+		iV_DrawText(FString.c_str(), jx, jy);
 
 		// and move down a line.
 		jy += iV_GetTextLineSize();