diff --git a/include/light/entities.hh b/include/light/entities.hh
index a592cacc..4da6389c 100644
--- a/include/light/entities.hh
+++ b/include/light/entities.hh
@@ -155,8 +155,8 @@ void GetVectorForKey(const entity_t *ent, const char *key, vec3_t vec);
 std::string EntDict_StringForKey(const entdict_t &dict, const std::string key);
 float EntDict_FloatForKey(const entdict_t &dict, const std::string key);
 
-void SetWorldKeyValue(const char *key, const char *value);
-const char *WorldValueForKey(const char *key);
+void SetWorldKeyValue(const std::string &key, const std::string &value);
+std::string WorldValueForKey(const std::string &key);
 
 void LoadEntities(const bsp2_t *bsp);
 void SetupLights(const bsp2_t *bsp);
diff --git a/light/entities.cc b/light/entities.cc
index 038d5636..b674352f 100644
--- a/light/entities.cc
+++ b/light/entities.cc
@@ -79,21 +79,22 @@ SetKeyValue(entity_t *ent, const char *key, const char *value)
     ent->epairs[key] = value;
 }
 
-static entity_t *WorldEnt()
+static entdict_t &WorldEnt()
 {
-    if (0 != strcmp("worldspawn", ValueForKey(entities, "classname"))) {
+    if (entdicts.size() == 0
+        || entdicts.at(0)["classname"] != "worldspawn") {
         Error("WorldEnt() failed to get worldspawn");
     }
-    return entities;
+    return entdicts.at(0);
 }
 
-void SetWorldKeyValue(const char *key, const char *value)
+void SetWorldKeyValue(const std::string &key, const std::string &value)
 {
-    SetKeyValue(WorldEnt(), key, value);
+    WorldEnt()[key] = value;
 }
-const char *WorldValueForKey(const char *key)
+std::string WorldValueForKey(const std::string &key)
 {
-    return ValueForKey(WorldEnt(), key);
+    return EntDict_StringForKey(WorldEnt(), key);
 }
 
 static int
diff --git a/light/light.cc b/light/light.cc
index 4b6be2ba..7eff89f3 100644
--- a/light/light.cc
+++ b/light/light.cc
@@ -351,7 +351,7 @@ FindModelInfo(const bsp2_t *bsp, const char *lmscaleoverride)
     if (lmscaleoverride)
         SetWorldKeyValue("_lightmap_scale", lmscaleoverride);
 
-    lightmapscale = atoi(WorldValueForKey("_lightmap_scale"));
+    lightmapscale = atoi(WorldValueForKey("_lightmap_scale").c_str());
     if (!lightmapscale)
         lightmapscale = 16; /* the default */
     if (lightmapscale <= 0)