diff --git a/pkgs/games/0ad/game.nix b/pkgs/games/0ad/game.nix
index bb3b7c0138af..81965b116be6 100644
--- a/pkgs/games/0ad/game.nix
+++ b/pkgs/games/0ad/game.nix
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 , pkg-config, spidermonkey_78, boost, icu, libxml2, libpng, libsodium
 , libjpeg, zlib, curl, libogg, libvorbis, enet, miniupnpc
 , openal, libGLU, libGL, xorgproto, libX11, libXcursor, nspr, SDL2
-, gloox, nvidia-texture-tools, zeroad-data
+, gloox, nvidia-texture-tools
 , withEditor ? true, wxGTK
 }:
 
@@ -50,6 +50,8 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
     "-I${fmt.dev}/include"
   ];
 
+  patches = [ ./rootdir_env.patch ];
+
   configurePhase = ''
     # Delete shipped libraries which we don't need.
     rm -rf libraries/source/{enet,miniupnpc,nvtt,spidermonkey}
@@ -62,7 +64,6 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
       ${lib.optionalString withEditor "--enable-atlas"} \
       --bindir="$out"/bin \
       --libdir="$out"/lib/0ad \
-      --datadir="$out"/share/0ad/data \
       --without-tests \
       -j $NIX_BUILD_CORES
     popd
@@ -85,11 +86,6 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
     # Copy l10n data.
     install -Dm755 -t $out/share/0ad/data/l10n binaries/data/l10n/*
 
-    # Link in game data from package
-    ln -s ${zeroad-data}/share/0ad/data/config $out/share/0ad/data/config
-    ln -s ${zeroad-data}/share/0ad/data/mods $out/share/0ad/data/mods
-    ln -s ${zeroad-data}/share/0ad/data/tools $out/share/0ad/data/tools
-
     # Copy libraries.
     install -Dm644 -t $out/lib/0ad        binaries/system/*.so
 
diff --git a/pkgs/games/0ad/rootdir_env.patch b/pkgs/games/0ad/rootdir_env.patch
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..95463c7e2df4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkgs/games/0ad/rootdir_env.patch
@@ -0,0 +1,39 @@
+diff --git a/source/ps/GameSetup/Paths.cpp b/source/ps/GameSetup/Paths.cpp
+index 474364e..bf084b4 100644
+--- a/source/ps/GameSetup/Paths.cpp
++++ b/source/ps/GameSetup/Paths.cpp
+@@ -155,32 +155,8 @@ Paths::Paths(const CmdLineArgs& args)
+ 
+ /*static*/ OsPath Paths::Root(const OsPath& argv0)
+ {
+-#if OS_ANDROID
+-	return OsPath("/sdcard/0ad"); // TODO: this is kind of bogus
+-#else
+-
+-	// get full path to executable
+-	OsPath pathname = sys_ExecutablePathname();	// safe, but requires OS-specific implementation
+-	if(pathname.empty())	// failed, use argv[0] instead
+-	{
+-		errno = 0;
+-		pathname = wrealpath(argv0);
+-		if(pathname.empty())
+-			WARN_IF_ERR(StatusFromErrno());
+-	}
+-
+-	// make sure it's valid
+-	if(!FileExists(pathname))
+-	{
+-		LOGERROR("Cannot find executable (expected at '%s')", pathname.string8());
+-		WARN_IF_ERR(StatusFromErrno());
+-	}
+-
+-	for(size_t i = 0; i < 2; i++)	// remove "system/name.exe"
+-		pathname = pathname.Parent();
+-	return pathname;
+-
+-#endif
++        UNUSED2(argv0);
++        return OsPath(getenv("ZEROAD_ROOTDIR"));
+ }
+ 
+ /*static*/ OsPath Paths::RootData(const OsPath& argv0)