diff --git a/gui/ThemeEngine.cpp b/gui/ThemeEngine.cpp
index 82104eb7ae0..e63724980e9 100644
--- a/gui/ThemeEngine.cpp
+++ b/gui/ThemeEngine.cpp
@@ -373,8 +373,8 @@ const char *ThemeEngine::findModeConfigName(GraphicsMode mode) {
 bool ThemeEngine::init() {
 	// reset everything and reload the graphics
 	_initOk = false;
-	setGraphicsMode(_graphicsMode);
 	_overlayFormat = _system->getOverlayFormat();
+	setGraphicsMode(_graphicsMode);
 
 	if (_screen.pixels && _backBuffer.pixels) {
 		_initOk = true;
@@ -499,10 +499,10 @@ void ThemeEngine::setGraphicsMode(GraphicsMode mode) {
 	uint32 height = _system->getOverlayHeight();
 
 	_backBuffer.free();
-	_backBuffer.create(width, height, _bytesPerPixel);
+	_backBuffer.create(width, height, _overlayFormat);
 
 	_screen.free();
-	_screen.create(width, height, _bytesPerPixel);
+	_screen.create(width, height, _overlayFormat);
 
 	delete _vectorRenderer;
 	_vectorRenderer = Graphics::createRenderer(mode);
diff --git a/gui/widget.cpp b/gui/widget.cpp
index 61f4a0e2491..7a694860d62 100644
--- a/gui/widget.cpp
+++ b/gui/widget.cpp
@@ -573,11 +573,12 @@ void GraphicsWidget::setGfx(int w, int h, int r, int g, int b) {
 	if (h == -1)
 		h = _h;
 
+	Graphics::PixelFormat overlayFormat = g_system->getOverlayFormat();
+
 	_gfx.free();
-	_gfx.create(w, h, sizeof(OverlayColor));
+	_gfx.create(w, h, overlayFormat);
 
 	OverlayColor *dst = (OverlayColor *)_gfx.pixels;
-	Graphics::PixelFormat overlayFormat = g_system->getOverlayFormat();
 	OverlayColor fillCol = overlayFormat.RGBToColor(r, g, b);
 	while (h--) {
 		for (int i = 0; i < w; ++i) {