diff --git a/src/PowderToySDL.cpp b/src/PowderToySDL.cpp
index 258f52849..9b34c5702 100644
--- a/src/PowderToySDL.cpp
+++ b/src/PowderToySDL.cpp
@@ -337,6 +337,10 @@ std::map<ByteString, ByteString> readArguments(int argc, char * argv[])
 			i++;
 			break;
 		}
+		else if (!strncmp(argv[i], "disable-network", 16))
+		{
+			arguments["disable-network"] = "true";
+		}
 	}
 	return arguments;
 }
@@ -689,7 +693,11 @@ int main(int argc, char * argv[])
 		proxyString = (Client::Ref().GetPrefByteString("Proxy", ""));
 	}
 
-	Client::Ref().Initialise(proxyString);
+	bool disableNetwork = false;
+	if (arguments.find("disable-network") != arguments.end())
+		disableNetwork = true;
+
+	Client::Ref().Initialise(proxyString, disableNetwork);
 
 	// TODO: maybe bind the maximum allowed scale to screen size somehow
 	if(scale < 1 || scale > 10)
diff --git a/src/client/Client.cpp b/src/client/Client.cpp
index 3bed0fa58..4163ef3a4 100644
--- a/src/client/Client.cpp
+++ b/src/client/Client.cpp
@@ -102,7 +102,7 @@ Client::Client():
 		firstRun = true;
 }
 
-void Client::Initialise(ByteString proxyString)
+void Client::Initialise(ByteString proxyString, bool disableNetwork)
 {
 	if (GetPrefBool("version.update", false))
 	{
@@ -110,7 +110,8 @@ void Client::Initialise(ByteString proxyString)
 		update_finish();
 	}
 
-	http::RequestManager::Ref().Initialise(proxyString);
+	if (!disableNetwork)
+		http::RequestManager::Ref().Initialise(proxyString);
 
 	//Read stamps library
 	std::ifstream stampsLib;
diff --git a/src/client/Client.h b/src/client/Client.h
index e5a6c55e9..a958d3b2c 100644
--- a/src/client/Client.h
+++ b/src/client/Client.h
@@ -114,7 +114,7 @@ public:
 	void SetMessageOfTheDay(String message);
 	String GetMessageOfTheDay();
 
-	void Initialise(ByteString proxyString);
+	void Initialise(ByteString proxyString, bool disableNetwork);
 	bool IsFirstRun();
 
 	int MakeDirectory(const char * dirname);
diff --git a/src/client/http/Request.cpp b/src/client/http/Request.cpp
index e66a9ed6e..6301bc23a 100644
--- a/src/client/http/Request.cpp
+++ b/src/client/http/Request.cpp
@@ -22,7 +22,11 @@ namespace http
 #endif
 	{
 		easy = curl_easy_init();
-		RequestManager::Ref().AddRequest(this);
+		if (!RequestManager::Ref().AddRequest(this))
+		{
+			status = 604;
+			rm_finished = true;
+		}
 	}
 
 	Request::~Request()
diff --git a/src/client/http/RequestManager.cpp b/src/client/http/RequestManager.cpp
index ea53758c1..5ba90fd1c 100644
--- a/src/client/http/RequestManager.cpp
+++ b/src/client/http/RequestManager.cpp
@@ -14,19 +14,6 @@ namespace http
 	ByteString proxy;
 	ByteString user_agent;
 
-	RequestManager::RequestManager():
-		requests_added_to_multi(0),
-		requests_to_start(false),
-		requests_to_remove(false),
-		rt_shutting_down(false),
-		multi(NULL)
-	{
-	}
-
-	RequestManager::~RequestManager()
-	{
-	}
-
 	void RequestManager::Shutdown()
 	{
 		{
@@ -35,11 +22,14 @@ namespace http
 		}
 		rt_cv.notify_one();
 
-		worker_thread.join();
-		
-		curl_multi_cleanup(multi);
-		multi = NULL;
-		curl_global_cleanup();
+		if (initialized)
+		{
+			worker_thread.join();
+
+			curl_multi_cleanup(multi);
+			multi = NULL;
+			curl_global_cleanup();
+		}
 	}
 
 	void RequestManager::Initialise(ByteString Proxy)
@@ -56,6 +46,7 @@ namespace http
 		user_agent = ByteString::Build("PowderToy/", SAVE_VERSION, ".", MINOR_VERSION, " (", IDENT_PLATFORM, "; ", IDENT_BUILD, "; M", MOD_ID, ") TPTPP/", SAVE_VERSION, ".", MINOR_VERSION, ".", BUILD_NUM, IDENT_RELTYPE, ".", SNAPSHOT_ID);
 
 		worker_thread = std::thread([this]() { Worker(); });
+		initialized = true;
 	}
 
 	void RequestManager::Worker()
@@ -233,13 +224,16 @@ namespace http
 		}
 	}
 
-	void RequestManager::AddRequest(Request *request)
+	bool RequestManager::AddRequest(Request *request)
 	{
+		if (!initialized)
+			return false;
 		{
 			std::lock_guard<std::mutex> g(rt_mutex);
 			requests_to_add.insert(request);
 		}
 		rt_cv.notify_one();
+		return true;
 	}
 
 	void RequestManager::StartRequest(Request *request)
diff --git a/src/client/http/RequestManager.h b/src/client/http/RequestManager.h
index a9010a668..3c2acb52f 100644
--- a/src/client/http/RequestManager.h
+++ b/src/client/http/RequestManager.h
@@ -17,28 +17,29 @@ namespace http
 	{
 		std::thread worker_thread;
 		std::set<Request *> requests;
-		int requests_added_to_multi;
+		int requests_added_to_multi = 0;
 
 		std::set<Request *> requests_to_add;
-		bool requests_to_start;
-		bool requests_to_remove;
-		bool rt_shutting_down;
+		bool requests_to_start = false;
+		bool requests_to_remove = false;
+		bool initialized = false;
+		bool rt_shutting_down = false;
 		std::mutex rt_mutex;
 		std::condition_variable rt_cv;
 
-		CURLM *multi;
+		CURLM *multi = nullptr;
 
 		void Start();
 		void Worker();
 		void MultiAdd(Request *request);
 		void MultiRemove(Request *request);
-		void AddRequest(Request *request);
+		bool AddRequest(Request *request);
 		void StartRequest(Request *request);
 		void RemoveRequest(Request *request);
 
 	public:
-		RequestManager();
-		~RequestManager();
+		RequestManager() { }
+		~RequestManager() { }
 
 		void Initialise(ByteString proxy);
 		void Shutdown();