diff --git a/common/config-file.cpp b/common/config-file.cpp
index 42d67109fad..b01f7597822 100644
--- a/common/config-file.cpp
+++ b/common/config-file.cpp
@@ -88,7 +88,7 @@ bool ConfigFile::loadFromStream(SeekableReadStream &stream) {
 
 	while (!stream.eos()) {
 		lineno++;
-		if (!stream.readLine(buf, MAXLINELEN))
+		if (!stream.readLine_OLD(buf, MAXLINELEN))
 			break;
 
 		if (buf[0] == '#') {
diff --git a/common/stream.cpp b/common/stream.cpp
index e06cc284158..1ca741483e7 100644
--- a/common/stream.cpp
+++ b/common/stream.cpp
@@ -86,7 +86,7 @@ void MemoryReadStream::seek(int32 offs, int whence) {
 #define LF 0x0A
 #define CR 0x0D
 
-char *SeekableReadStream::readLine(char *buf, size_t bufSize) {
+char *SeekableReadStream::readLine_OLD(char *buf, size_t bufSize) {
 	assert(buf && bufSize > 0);
 	char *p = buf;
 	size_t len = 0;
@@ -202,6 +202,20 @@ char *SeekableReadStream::readLine_NEW(char *buf, size_t bufSize) {
 	return buf;
 }
 
+String SeekableReadStream::readLine() {
+	// Read a line
+	String line;
+	while (line.lastChar() != '\n') {
+		char buf[256];
+		if (!readLine_NEW(buf, 256))
+			break;
+		line += buf;
+	}
+
+	return line;
+}
+
+
 
 uint32 SubReadStream::read(void *dataPtr, uint32 dataSize) {
 	dataSize = MIN(dataSize, _end - _pos);
diff --git a/common/stream.h b/common/stream.h
index 01a946e6856..81bb3dc91a4 100644
--- a/common/stream.h
+++ b/common/stream.h
@@ -320,9 +320,10 @@ public:
 	 * Read one line of text from a CR or CR/LF terminated plain text file.
 	 * This method is a rough analog of the (f)gets function.
 	 *
-	 * @bug A main difference (and flaw) in this function is that there is no
-	 * way to detect that a line exceeeds the length of the buffer.
-	 * Code which needs this should use the new readLine_NEW() method instead.
+	 * @deprecated This method has a major flaw: There is no way to detect
+	 * whether a line exceeeds the length of the buffer, resulting in breakage
+	 * when overlong lines are encountered.
+	 * Use readLine_NEW() or readline() instead.
 	 *
 	 * @param buf	the buffer to store into
 	 * @param bufSize	the size of the buffer
@@ -331,16 +332,16 @@ public:
 	 * @note The line terminator (CR or CR/LF) is stripped and not inserted
 	 *       into the buffer.
 	 */
-	virtual char *readLine(char *buf, size_t bufSize);
+	virtual char *readLine_OLD(char *buf, size_t bufSize);
 
 	/**
 	 * Reads at most one less than the number of characters specified
 	 * by bufSize from the and stores them in the string buf. Reading
-	 * stops when the end of a line is reached (CR, CR/LF or LF), at
-	 * end-of-file or error.  The newline, if any, is retained (CR and
-	 * CR/LF are translated to LF = 0xA = '\n').  If any characters are
-	 * read and there is no error, a `\0' character is appended to end
-	 * the string.
+	 * stops when the end of a line is reached (CR, CR/LF or LF), and
+	 * at end-of-file or error. The newline, if any, is retained (CR
+	 * and CR/LF are translated to LF = 0xA = '\n'). If any characters
+	 * are read and there is no error, a `\0' character is appended
+	 * to end the string.
 	 *
 	 * Upon successful completion, return a pointer to the string. If
 	 * end-of-file occurs before any characters are read, returns NULL
@@ -354,6 +355,19 @@ public:
 	 * @return a pointer to the read string, or NULL if an error occurred
 	 */
 	virtual char *readLine_NEW(char *s, size_t bufSize);
+
+
+	/**
+	 * Reads a full line and returns it as a Common::String. Reading
+	 * stops when the end of a line is reached (CR, CR/LF or LF), and
+	 * at end-of-file or error. 
+	 *
+	 * Upon successful completion, return a string with the content
+	 * of the line, *without* the end of a line marker. This method
+	 * does not indicate whether an error occured. Callers muse use
+	 * ioFailed() or eos() to determine whether an exception occurred.
+	 */
+	virtual String readLine();
 };
 
 /**
diff --git a/engines/drascula/saveload.cpp b/engines/drascula/saveload.cpp
index d3e4d0dd312..5e3885b7027 100644
--- a/engines/drascula/saveload.cpp
+++ b/engines/drascula/saveload.cpp
@@ -50,7 +50,7 @@ bool DrasculaEngine::saveLoadScreen() {
 		}
 	}
 	for (n = 0; n < NUM_SAVES; n++)
-		sav->readLine(names[n], 23);
+		sav->readLine_OLD(names[n], 23);
 	delete sav;
 
 	loadPic("savescr.alg", bgSurface, HALF_PAL);
diff --git a/engines/m4/mads_anim.cpp b/engines/m4/mads_anim.cpp
index c51daa84c48..e028f5e0f1b 100644
--- a/engines/m4/mads_anim.cpp
+++ b/engines/m4/mads_anim.cpp
@@ -251,7 +251,7 @@ void TextviewView::processLines() {
 		error("Attempted to read past end of response file");
 
 	while (!_script->eos()) {
-		_script->readLine(_currentLine, 79);
+		_script->readLine_OLD(_currentLine, 79);
 
 		// Commented out line, so go loop for another
 		if (_currentLine[0] == '#')
@@ -601,7 +601,7 @@ void AnimviewView::processLines() {
 	}
 
 	while (!_script->eos()) {
-		_script->readLine(_currentLine, 79);
+		_script->readLine_OLD(_currentLine, 79);
 
 		// Process the line
 		char *cStart = strchr(_currentLine, '-');
diff --git a/engines/parallaction/detection.cpp b/engines/parallaction/detection.cpp
index bde4f7f6d6a..7611adcddd9 100644
--- a/engines/parallaction/detection.cpp
+++ b/engines/parallaction/detection.cpp
@@ -293,7 +293,7 @@ SaveStateList ParallactionMetaEngine::listSaves(const char *target) const {
 		if (slotNum >= 0 && slotNum <= 99) {
 			Common::InSaveFile *in = saveFileMan->openForLoading(file->c_str());
 			if (in) {
-				in->readLine(saveDesc, 199);
+				in->readLine_OLD(saveDesc, 199);
 				saveList.push_back(SaveStateDescriptor(slotNum, saveDesc, *file));
 				delete in;
 			}
diff --git a/engines/parallaction/saveload.cpp b/engines/parallaction/saveload.cpp
index b59863947ea..9c6173775d4 100644
--- a/engines/parallaction/saveload.cpp
+++ b/engines/parallaction/saveload.cpp
@@ -114,25 +114,25 @@ void SaveLoad_ns::doLoadGame(uint16 slot) {
 	char n[16];
 	char l[16];
 
-	f->readLine(s, 199);
+	f->readLine_OLD(s, 199);
 
-	f->readLine(n, 15);
+	f->readLine_OLD(n, 15);
 
-	f->readLine(l, 15);
+	f->readLine_OLD(l, 15);
 
-	f->readLine(s, 15);
+	f->readLine_OLD(s, 15);
 	_vm->_location._startPosition.x = atoi(s);
 
-	f->readLine(s, 15);
+	f->readLine_OLD(s, 15);
 	_vm->_location._startPosition.y = atoi(s);
 
-	f->readLine(s, 15);
+	f->readLine_OLD(s, 15);
 	_score = atoi(s);
 
-	f->readLine(s, 15);
+	f->readLine_OLD(s, 15);
 	_globalFlags = atoi(s);
 
-	f->readLine(s, 15);
+	f->readLine_OLD(s, 15);
 
 	// TODO (LIST): unify (and parametrize) calls to freeZones.
 	// We aren't calling freeAnimations because it is not needed, since
@@ -147,12 +147,12 @@ void SaveLoad_ns::doLoadGame(uint16 slot) {
 
 	uint16 _si;
 	for (_si = 0; _si < _vm->_numLocations; _si++) {
-		f->readLine(s, 20);
+		f->readLine_OLD(s, 20);
 		s[strlen(s)] = '\0';
 
 		strcpy(_vm->_locationNames[_si], s);
 
-		f->readLine(s, 15);
+		f->readLine_OLD(s, 15);
 		_vm->_localFlags[_si] = atoi(s);
 	}
 
@@ -161,10 +161,10 @@ void SaveLoad_ns::doLoadGame(uint16 slot) {
 	uint32 value;
 
 	for (_si = 0; _si < 30; _si++) {
-		f->readLine(s, 15);
+		f->readLine_OLD(s, 15);
 		value = atoi(s);
 
-		f->readLine(s, 15);
+		f->readLine_OLD(s, 15);
 		name = atoi(s);
 
 		_vm->addInventoryItem(name, value);
@@ -351,7 +351,7 @@ int SaveLoad_ns::buildSaveFileList(Common::StringList& l) {
 
 		Common::InSaveFile *f = getInSaveFile(i);
 		if (f) {
-			f->readLine(buf, 199);
+			f->readLine_OLD(buf, 199);
 			delete f;
 
 			count++;
@@ -431,7 +431,7 @@ void SaveLoad_ns::setPartComplete(const char *part) {
 
 	Common::InSaveFile *inFile = getInSaveFile(SPECIAL_SAVESLOT);
 	if (inFile) {
-		inFile->readLine(buf, 29);
+		inFile->readLine_OLD(buf, 29);
 		delete inFile;
 
 		if (strstr(buf, part)) {
@@ -455,7 +455,7 @@ void SaveLoad_ns::getGamePartProgress(bool *complete, int size) {
 
 	char buf[30];
 	Common::InSaveFile *inFile = getInSaveFile(SPECIAL_SAVESLOT);
-	inFile->readLine(buf, 29);
+	inFile->readLine_OLD(buf, 29);
 	delete inFile;
 
 	complete[0] = strstr(buf, "dino");
diff --git a/engines/queen/resource.cpp b/engines/queen/resource.cpp
index b3bd663baf3..38d841e96aa 100644
--- a/engines/queen/resource.cpp
+++ b/engines/queen/resource.cpp
@@ -132,7 +132,7 @@ void Resource::loadTextFile(const char *filename, Common::StringList &stringList
 	seekResourceFile(re->bundle, re->offset);
 	char buf[512];
 	Common::SeekableSubReadStream stream(&_resourceFile, re->offset, re->offset + re->size);
-	while (stream.readLine(buf, 512)) {
+	while (stream.readLine_OLD(buf, 512)) {
 		stringList.push_back(buf);
 	}
 }
diff --git a/engines/sword1/animation.cpp b/engines/sword1/animation.cpp
index caf766ed9fc..3e15429e44d 100644
--- a/engines/sword1/animation.cpp
+++ b/engines/sword1/animation.cpp
@@ -189,7 +189,7 @@ bool MoviePlayer::load(uint32 id) {
 			int lastEnd = -1;
 
 			_movieTexts.clear();
-			while (f.readLine(line, sizeof(line))) {
+			while (f.readLine_OLD(line, sizeof(line))) {
 				lineNo++;
 				if (line[0] == '#' || line[0] == 0) {
 					continue;
diff --git a/engines/sword2/resman.cpp b/engines/sword2/resman.cpp
index 880234aab00..326f90cd826 100644
--- a/engines/sword2/resman.cpp
+++ b/engines/sword2/resman.cpp
@@ -113,7 +113,7 @@ bool ResourceManager::init() {
 	// The resource.inf file is a simple text file containing the names of
 	// all the resource files.
 
-	while (file.readLine(_resFiles[_totalClusters].fileName, sizeof(_resFiles[_totalClusters].fileName))) {
+	while (file.readLine_OLD(_resFiles[_totalClusters].fileName, sizeof(_resFiles[_totalClusters].fileName))) {
 		_resFiles[_totalClusters].numEntries = -1;
 		_resFiles[_totalClusters].entryTab = NULL;
 		if (++_totalClusters >= MAX_res_files) {
diff --git a/engines/sword2/screen.cpp b/engines/sword2/screen.cpp
index b2fcc45c9c9..1faef01939a 100644
--- a/engines/sword2/screen.cpp
+++ b/engines/sword2/screen.cpp
@@ -919,7 +919,7 @@ void Screen::rollCredits() {
 
 	while (1) {
 		char buffer[80];
-		char *line = f.readLine(buffer, sizeof(buffer));
+		char *line = f.readLine_OLD(buffer, sizeof(buffer));
 
 		if (!line || *line == 0) {
 			if (!hasCenterMark) {
diff --git a/engines/sword2/startup.cpp b/engines/sword2/startup.cpp
index 18413848972..2d19ed6bf95 100644
--- a/engines/sword2/startup.cpp
+++ b/engines/sword2/startup.cpp
@@ -68,7 +68,7 @@ bool Sword2Engine::initStartMenu() {
 
 	int lineno = 0;
 
-	while (fp.readLine(buf, sizeof(buf))) {
+	while (fp.readLine_OLD(buf, sizeof(buf))) {
 		char *errptr;
 		int id;