diff --git a/Moviesandbox.exe b/Moviesandbox.exe
index 5b024c5..36f8088 100644
Binary files a/Moviesandbox.exe and b/Moviesandbox.exe differ
diff --git a/classes/sceneData.cpp b/classes/sceneData.cpp
index 0a08248..b3479fb 100644
--- a/classes/sceneData.cpp
+++ b/classes/sceneData.cpp
@@ -1369,7 +1369,14 @@ void SceneData::loadMeshes(std::string path, std::string fileName){
       for ( ; element!=NULL ;element=element->NextSiblingElement("ColladaMesh")){
         string meshID=element->Attribute("meshID");
         string meshFileName=element->Attribute("meshFilename");
-        colladaLoader->loadColladaMesh(path+meshFileName, meshID);
+        //try relative path first
+        bool worked = colladaLoader->loadColladaMesh(path+meshFileName, meshID);
+        if (!worked){
+            worked = colladaLoader->loadColladaMesh(meshFileName, meshID);
+        //then try absolute path
+            if (!worked)
+                cout <<"ERROR loading colladaMesh:" << meshFileName << endl;
+        }
         cout << "loaded mesh " << meshID << " from path " << path+meshFileName << endl;
       }
 
@@ -1380,8 +1387,16 @@ void SceneData::loadMeshes(std::string path, std::string fileName){
       for ( ; element!=NULL ;element=element->NextSiblingElement("SpriteMesh")){
         string meshID=element->Attribute("meshID");
         string meshFileName=element->Attribute("meshFilename");
-        spriteMeshLoader->loadSpriteMesh(path+meshFileName, meshID);
-        cout << "loaded sprite mesh " << meshID << " from path " << path+meshFileName << endl;
+        //try relative path first
+        bool worked = spriteMeshLoader->loadSpriteMesh(path+meshFileName, meshID);
+        //the try absolute path
+        if (!worked){
+            worked = spriteMeshLoader->loadSpriteMesh(meshFileName, meshID);
+            if (!worked)
+                cout <<"ERROR loading spriteMesh:" << meshFileName << endl;
+        }
+        if (worked)
+            cout << "loaded sprite mesh " << meshID << " from path " << path+meshFileName << endl;
       }
 
       element=hRoot.FirstChild( "SpriteMeshXML" ).Element();
diff --git a/projects/emptyProject/blank.scene b/projects/emptyProject/blank.scene
index 45e176c..a4b8ea1 100644
--- a/projects/emptyProject/blank.scene
+++ b/projects/emptyProject/blank.scene
@@ -122,7 +122,7 @@
         <TEXTRANSLATION>vec3f 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000</TEXTRANSLATION>
         <TEXTUREID>string NULL</TEXTUREID>
         <TRANSFORMMATRIX>mat4f 1.000000 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 1.000000 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 1.000000 0.000000 4.368554 0.205743 3.747671 1.000000</TRANSFORMMATRIX>
-        <VBOMESHID>string untitled4</VBOMESHID>
+        <VBOMESHID>string chair</VBOMESHID>
     </Actor>
     <Actor name="SkeletalActor3">13SkeletalActor
         <BASE>actor* -1</BASE>
diff --git a/projects/emptyProject/my.project b/projects/emptyProject/my.project
index cf70203..7e48ee4 100644
--- a/projects/emptyProject/my.project
+++ b/projects/emptyProject/my.project
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 <?xml version="1.0" ?>
 <Moviesandbox>
     <untitled amount="5" />
-    <StartScene name="blank.scene" />
+    <StartScene name="chair.scene" />
     <SpriteMesh meshID="chair" meshFilename="C:/Moviesandbox/projects/emptyProject/chair.spriteMesh" />
     <SpriteMesh meshID="untitled1" meshFilename="untitled/untitled1.spriteMesh" />
     <SpriteMesh meshID="untitled4" meshFilename="untitled/untitled4.spriteMesh" />