diff --git a/src/irrlicht_changes/irrUString.h b/src/irrlicht_changes/irrUString.h
index fce49e71..b628c092 100644
--- a/src/irrlicht_changes/irrUString.h
+++ b/src/irrlicht_changes/irrUString.h
@@ -2916,13 +2916,13 @@ public:
 				ret[0] = unicode::BOM;
 			else if (endian == unicode::EUTFEE_LITTLE)
 			{
-				uchar8_t* ptr8 = reinterpret_cast<uchar8_t*>(ret.c_str());
+				uchar8_t* ptr8 = reinterpret_cast<uchar8_t*>(&ret[0]);
 				*ptr8++ = unicode::BOM_ENCODE_UTF16_LE[0];
 				*ptr8 = unicode::BOM_ENCODE_UTF16_LE[1];
 			}
 			else
 			{
-				uchar8_t* ptr8 = reinterpret_cast<uchar8_t*>(ret.c_str());
+				uchar8_t* ptr8 = reinterpret_cast<uchar8_t*>(&ret[0]);
 				*ptr8++ = unicode::BOM_ENCODE_UTF16_BE[0];
 				*ptr8 = unicode::BOM_ENCODE_UTF16_BE[1];
 			}