diff --git a/source/lib/byte_order.cpp b/source/lib/byte_order.cpp
index e9159ee080..8d42dcb314 100644
--- a/source/lib/byte_order.cpp
+++ b/source/lib/byte_order.cpp
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 #include "precompiled.h"
 
 #include "byte_order.h"
+#include "sdl.h"
 
 
 u16 read_le16(const void* p)
diff --git a/source/lib/byte_order.h b/source/lib/byte_order.h
index 782b76d0bb..5b8cda41da 100644
--- a/source/lib/byte_order.h
+++ b/source/lib/byte_order.h
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-#include "sdl.h"
+#include "config.h"
 
 // converts 4 character string to u32 for easy comparison
 // can't pass code as string, and use s[0]..s[3], because
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@
 // the additional u8 cast ensures each character is treated as unsigned
 // (otherwise, they'd be promoted to signed int before the u32 cast,
 // which would break things).
-#if SDL_BYTE_ORDER == SDL_BIG_ENDIAN
+#ifdef BIG_ENDIAN
 #define FOURCC(a,b,c,d) ( ((u32)(u8)a) << 24 | ((u32)(u8)b) << 16 | \
 	((u32)(u8)c) << 8  | ((u32)(u8)d) << 0  )
 #else
diff --git a/source/lib/config.h b/source/lib/config.h
index c2af33d43b..91c8b75921 100755
--- a/source/lib/config.h
+++ b/source/lib/config.h
@@ -74,6 +74,18 @@
 # error "unknown OS - add define here"
 #endif
 
+// byte order
+#if defined(__i386__) || defined(__i386) || defined(_M_IX86) || \
+    defined(__ia64__) || defined(__ia64) || defined(_M_IA64) || \
+	defined(__alpha__) || defined(__alpha) || defined(_M_ALPHA) || \
+	defined(__arm__) || \
+	defined(__MIPSEL__) || \
+	defined(__LITTLE_ENDIAN__)
+# define LITTLE_ENDIAN
+#else
+# define BIG_ENDIAN
+#endif
+
 
 //-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 // auto-detect platform features, given the above information
@@ -133,4 +145,6 @@
 # undef HAVE_VC_DEBUG_ALLOC
 #endif
 
+// _CPPLIB_VER
+
 #endif	// #ifndef CONFIG_H_INCLUDED
diff --git a/source/lib/precompiled.h b/source/lib/precompiled.h
index 6fd59219f6..e22e6c990b 100755
--- a/source/lib/precompiled.h
+++ b/source/lib/precompiled.h
@@ -56,36 +56,65 @@
 
 #ifdef HAVE_PCH
 
+// all new-form C library headers
 #include <cassert>
 #include <cctype>
-#include <climits>
-#include <cmath>
+#include <cerrno>
 #include <cfloat>
+//#include <ciso646>
+	// defines e.g. "and" to "&". unnecessary and causes trouble with asm.
+#include <climits>
+#include <clocale>
+#include <cmath>
 #include <csetjmp>
+#include <csignal>
 #include <cstdarg>
 #include <cstddef>
 #include <cstdio>
 #include <cstdlib>
+#include <cstring>
 #include <ctime>
 #include <cwchar>
+#include <cwctype>
 
+// all C++98 STL headers
 #include <algorithm>
 #include <deque>
+#include <functional>
+#include <iterator>
+#include <list>
+#include <map>
+#include <memory>
+#include <numeric>
+#include <queue>
+#include <set>
+#include <stack>
+#include <utility>
+#include <vector>
+
+// all other C++98 headers
+#include <bitset>
+#include <complex>
 #include <exception>
 #include <fstream>
-#include <functional>
+#include <iomanip>
 #include <ios>
 #include <iosfwd>
 #include <iostream>
-#include <list>
-#include <map>
-#include <numeric>
-#include <set>
+#include <istream>
+#include <limits>
+#include <locale>
+#include <new>
+#include <ostream>
 #include <sstream>
-#include <stack>
+#include <stdexcept>
+#include <streambuf>
 #include <string>
-#include <vector>
+#include <strstream>
+#include <typeinfo>
+#include <valarray>
 
+// STL extensions
 #ifdef __GNUC__
 # include <ext/hash_map>
 # include <ext/hash_set>
@@ -94,6 +123,7 @@
 # include <hash_set>
 #endif
 
+
 // CStr is included very frequently, so a reasonable amount of time is saved
 // by including it here. (~10% in a full rebuild, as of r2365)
 #include "ps/CStr.h"