Index: intern/utfconv/utfconv.h
===================================================================
--- intern/utfconv/utfconv.h	(revision 45477)
+++ intern/utfconv/utfconv.h	(working copy)
@@ -91,11 +91,11 @@
 wchar_t * alloc_utf16_from_8(const char * in8, size_t add);
 
 /* Easy allocation and conversion of new utf-16 string. New string has _16 suffix. Must be deallocated with UTF16_UN_ENCODE in right order*/
-#define UTF16_ENCODE(in8str) if(1){\
+#define UTF16_ENCODE(in8str) do {\
 	wchar_t * in8str ## _16 = alloc_utf16_from_8((char*)in8str, 0);
 
 #define UTF16_UN_ENCODE(in8str) \
-	free(in8str ## _16 ); };
+	free(in8str ## _16 ); } while(0);
 
 #ifdef __cplusplus 
 }
Index: source/blender/blenlib/intern/fileops.c
===================================================================
--- source/blender/blenlib/intern/fileops.c	(revision 45476)
+++ source/blender/blenlib/intern/fileops.c	(working copy)
@@ -187,8 +187,17 @@
 	FILE *f = BLI_fopen(file,"r+b");
 	if (f != NULL) {
 		char c = getc(f);
+
 		rewind(f);
 		putc(c,f);
+
+		if (c == EOF) {
+#ifdef WIN32
+			_chsize(fileno(f), 0);
+#else
+			ftruncate(fileno(f), 0);
+#endif
+		}
 	}
 	else {
 		f = BLI_fopen(file,"wb");
@@ -202,8 +211,21 @@
 
 #ifdef WIN32
 
-static char str[MAXPATHLEN+12];
+static int is_ansi_compatible(const wchar_t *str)
+{
+	int i= 0;
 
+	while (str[i]) {
+		if (str[i] > 255) {
+			return 0;
+		}
+
+		i++;
+	}
+
+	return 1;
+}
+
 FILE *BLI_fopen(const char *filename, const char *mode)
 {
 	return ufopen(filename, mode);
@@ -212,33 +234,51 @@
 gzFile BLI_gzopen(const char *filename, const char *mode)
 {
 	gzFile gzfile;
-	int fi;
 
-	if (!filename || !mode) {return 0;}
-	else
+	if (!filename || !mode) {
+		gzfile= NULL;
+	}
+	else {
+		UTF16_ENCODE(filename);
 
-	{
-			
-		wchar_t short_name_16 [256];
-		char short_name [256];
-		int i=0;
+		if (is_ansi_compatible(filename_16)) {
+			gzfile= gzopen(filename, mode);
+		}
+		else {
+			wchar_t short_name_16[MAX_PATH];
 
-		/* xxx Creates file before transcribing the path */
-		if(mode[0]=='w')
-			fclose(ufopen(filename,"a"));
+			/* xxx Creates file before transcribing the path */
+			if (strchr(mode, 'w')) {
+				fclose(ufopen(filename,"a"));
+			}
 
-		UTF16_ENCODE(filename);
+			/* system generated short names are ansi compatible, so attempt to
+			   get such a name because zlib will not open the file properly
+			   otherwise. Only works if file exists.  Can still return a unicode
+			   name since short name generation may be turned off */
+			GetShortPathNameW(filename_16, short_name_16, MAX_PATH);
 
-		GetShortPathNameW(filename_16,short_name_16,256);
+			if (is_ansi_compatible(short_name_16)) {
+				char short_name[MAX_PATH];
+				int i;
 
-		for (i=0;i<256;i++) {short_name[i]=short_name_16[i];};
+				/* This is only this simple because it's confirmed ANSI */
+				for (i= 0;i < MAX_PATH; i++) {
+					short_name[i]= (char)short_name_16[i];
+				}
 
+				gzfile= gzopen(short_name, mode);
+			}
+			else {
+				/* user will need to rename the file without wide characters */
+				callLocalErrorCallBack("The file path contains wide characters that cannot be decoded.  As a work-around you may move or rename the file.");
+				gzfile= NULL;
+			}
+		}
 
-		gzfile = gzopen(short_name,mode);
-
 		UTF16_UN_ENCODE(filename);
+	}
 
-	}
 	return gzfile;
 }
 
@@ -274,6 +314,7 @@
 int BLI_move(const char *file, const char *to)
 {
 	int err;
+	char str[MAXPATHLEN+12];
 
 	// windows doesn't support moveing to a directory
 	// it has to be 'mv filename filename' and not
@@ -305,6 +346,7 @@
 int BLI_copy(const char *file, const char *to)
 {
 	int err;
+	char str[MAXPATHLEN+12];
 
 	// windows doesn't support copying to a directory
 	// it has to be 'cp filename filename' and not
@@ -334,10 +376,37 @@
 
 int BLI_create_symlink(const char *file, const char *to)
 {
-	callLocalErrorCallBack("Linking files is unsupported on Windows");
-	(void)file;
-	(void)to;
-	return 1;
+	typedef BOOLEAN (WINAPI *pfnCreateSymbolicLinkW_t)(LPCWSTR lpSymlinkFileName, LPCWSTR lpTargetFileName, DWORD dwFlags);
+
+	static int initialized = 0;
+	static pfnCreateSymbolicLinkW_t pfnCreateSymbolicLinkW = NULL;
+
+	if (!initialized) {
+		pfnCreateSymbolicLinkW=
+			(pfnCreateSymbolicLinkW_t)GetProcAddress(
+				GetModuleHandleA("kernel32.dll"),
+				"CreateSymbolicLinkW");
+
+		initialized = 1;
+	}
+
+	if (pfnCreateSymbolicLinkW) {
+		BOOLEAN success;
+
+		UTF16_ENCODE(file)
+		UTF16_ENCODE(to)
+
+		success= pfnCreateSymbolicLinkW(to_16, file_16, 0);
+
+		UTF16_UN_ENCODE(to)
+		UTF16_UN_ENCODE(file)
+
+		return success ? 0 : -1;
+	}
+	else {
+		callLocalErrorCallBack("Linking files is not supported by this version of Windows");
+		return -1;
+	}
 }
 
 void BLI_dir_create_recursive(const char *dirname)