diff --git a/.travis/postgresql_settings.py b/.travis/postgresql_settings.py
index 292cb9cc70..c12927af3a 100644
--- a/.travis/postgresql_settings.py
+++ b/.travis/postgresql_settings.py
@@ -40,7 +40,7 @@ SERVERNAME = "testing_mygame"
 
 DATABASES = {
     "default": {
-        "ENGINE": "django.db.backends.postgresql_psycopg2",
+        "ENGINE": "django.db.backends.postgresql",
         "NAME": "evennia",
         "USER": "evennia",
         "PASSWORD": "password",
diff --git a/evennia/accounts/accounts.py b/evennia/accounts/accounts.py
index f1bc45acf6..f3217e88ea 100644
--- a/evennia/accounts/accounts.py
+++ b/evennia/accounts/accounts.py
@@ -37,7 +37,7 @@ from evennia.scripts.scripthandler import ScriptHandler
 from evennia.commands.cmdsethandler import CmdSetHandler
 from evennia.utils.optionhandler import OptionHandler
 
-from django.utils.translation import ugettext as _
+from django.utils.translation import gettext as _
 from random import getrandbits
 
 __all__ = ("DefaultAccount",)
diff --git a/evennia/commands/cmdhandler.py b/evennia/commands/cmdhandler.py
index 8ccbcbae93..6f8f247a72 100644
--- a/evennia/commands/cmdhandler.py
+++ b/evennia/commands/cmdhandler.py
@@ -48,7 +48,7 @@ from evennia.comms.channelhandler import CHANNELHANDLER
 from evennia.utils import logger, utils
 from evennia.utils.utils import string_suggestions
 
-from django.utils.translation import ugettext as _
+from django.utils.translation import gettext as _
 
 _IN_GAME_ERRORS = settings.IN_GAME_ERRORS
 
diff --git a/evennia/commands/cmdset.py b/evennia/commands/cmdset.py
index 5bb3ec8d28..f124bbbb06 100644
--- a/evennia/commands/cmdset.py
+++ b/evennia/commands/cmdset.py
@@ -27,7 +27,7 @@ Set theory.
 
 """
 from weakref import WeakKeyDictionary
-from django.utils.translation import ugettext as _
+from django.utils.translation import gettext as _
 from evennia.utils.utils import inherits_from, is_iter
 
 __all__ = ("CmdSet",)
diff --git a/evennia/commands/cmdsethandler.py b/evennia/commands/cmdsethandler.py
index e855d551e9..395c9c2ba3 100644
--- a/evennia/commands/cmdsethandler.py
+++ b/evennia/commands/cmdsethandler.py
@@ -72,7 +72,7 @@ from evennia.utils import logger, utils
 from evennia.commands.cmdset import CmdSet
 from evennia.server.models import ServerConfig
 
-from django.utils.translation import ugettext as _
+from django.utils.translation import gettext as _
 
 __all__ = ("import_cmdset", "CmdSetHandler")
 
diff --git a/evennia/comms/channelhandler.py b/evennia/comms/channelhandler.py
index feea9f6e33..98e28786a0 100644
--- a/evennia/comms/channelhandler.py
+++ b/evennia/comms/channelhandler.py
@@ -27,7 +27,7 @@ from django.conf import settings
 from evennia.commands import cmdset, command
 from evennia.utils.logger import tail_log_file
 from evennia.utils.utils import class_from_module
-from django.utils.translation import ugettext as _
+from django.utils.translation import gettext as _
 
 # we must late-import these since any overloads are likely to
 # themselves be using these classes leading to a circular import.
diff --git a/evennia/locks/lockhandler.py b/evennia/locks/lockhandler.py
index 22f5844e31..ac8c85abc8 100644
--- a/evennia/locks/lockhandler.py
+++ b/evennia/locks/lockhandler.py
@@ -107,7 +107,7 @@ to any other identifier you can use.
 import re
 from django.conf import settings
 from evennia.utils import logger, utils
-from django.utils.translation import ugettext as _
+from django.utils.translation import gettext as _
 
 __all__ = ("LockHandler", "LockException")
 
diff --git a/evennia/objects/objects.py b/evennia/objects/objects.py
index d980b88303..25731923e6 100644
--- a/evennia/objects/objects.py
+++ b/evennia/objects/objects.py
@@ -31,7 +31,7 @@ from evennia.utils.utils import (
     list_to_string,
     to_str,
 )
-from django.utils.translation import ugettext as _
+from django.utils.translation import gettext as _
 
 _INFLECT = inflect.engine()
 _MULTISESSION_MODE = settings.MULTISESSION_MODE
diff --git a/evennia/scripts/scripthandler.py b/evennia/scripts/scripthandler.py
index d2298a7ce2..d924636f8c 100644
--- a/evennia/scripts/scripthandler.py
+++ b/evennia/scripts/scripthandler.py
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ from evennia.scripts.models import ScriptDB
 from evennia.utils import create
 from evennia.utils import logger
 
-from django.utils.translation import ugettext as _
+from django.utils.translation import gettext as _
 
 
 class ScriptHandler(object):
diff --git a/evennia/scripts/scripts.py b/evennia/scripts/scripts.py
index 42bb1c8797..2f9bb5d5e2 100644
--- a/evennia/scripts/scripts.py
+++ b/evennia/scripts/scripts.py
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ ability to run timers.
 from twisted.internet.defer import Deferred, maybeDeferred
 from twisted.internet.task import LoopingCall
 from django.core.exceptions import ObjectDoesNotExist
-from django.utils.translation import ugettext as _
+from django.utils.translation import gettext as _
 from evennia.typeclasses.models import TypeclassBase
 from evennia.scripts.models import ScriptDB
 from evennia.scripts.manager import ScriptManager
diff --git a/evennia/server/deprecations.py b/evennia/server/deprecations.py
index 45eefd160b..6cf3ab1af7 100644
--- a/evennia/server/deprecations.py
+++ b/evennia/server/deprecations.py
@@ -115,3 +115,7 @@ def check_warnings(settings):
         print(" [Devel: settings.IN_GAME_ERRORS is True. Turn off in production.]")
     if settings.ALLOWED_HOSTS == ["*"]:
         print(" [Devel: settings.ALLOWED_HOSTS set to '*' (all). Limit in production.]")
+    for k,v in settings.DATABASES.items():
+        if "psycopg" in v.get("ENGINE",None):
+            print(" [Devel: postgresql_psycopg2 backend is deprecated. This module is now called postgresql")
+            print("  Switch settings.DATABASES to use \"ENGINE\": \"django.db.backends.postgresql\"")
diff --git a/evennia/server/initial_setup.py b/evennia/server/initial_setup.py
index 8f7fd3300f..e0845c0859 100644
--- a/evennia/server/initial_setup.py
+++ b/evennia/server/initial_setup.py
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ Everything starts at handle_setup()
 
 import time
 from django.conf import settings
-from django.utils.translation import ugettext as _
+from django.utils.translation import gettext as _
 from evennia.accounts.models import AccountDB
 from evennia.server.models import ServerConfig
 from evennia.utils import create, logger
diff --git a/evennia/server/server.py b/evennia/server/server.py
index 1c1783bef1..2093b5b88c 100644
--- a/evennia/server/server.py
+++ b/evennia/server/server.py
@@ -38,7 +38,7 @@ from evennia.utils import logger
 from evennia.comms import channelhandler
 from evennia.server.sessionhandler import SESSIONS
 
-from django.utils.translation import ugettext as _
+from django.utils.translation import gettext as _
 
 _SA = object.__setattr__
 
diff --git a/evennia/server/serversession.py b/evennia/server/serversession.py
index 6ae0ec4b63..2443758b12 100644
--- a/evennia/server/serversession.py
+++ b/evennia/server/serversession.py
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@ _ObjectDB = None
 _ANSI = None
 
 # i18n
-from django.utils.translation import ugettext as _
+from django.utils.translation import gettext as _
 
 # Handlers for Session.db/ndb operation
 
diff --git a/evennia/server/sessionhandler.py b/evennia/server/sessionhandler.py
index 1bf43746d6..0d099d6d30 100644
--- a/evennia/server/sessionhandler.py
+++ b/evennia/server/sessionhandler.py
@@ -67,7 +67,7 @@ PSTATUS = chr(18)  # ping server or portal status
 SRESET = chr(19)  # server shutdown in reset mode
 
 # i18n
-from django.utils.translation import ugettext as _
+from django.utils.translation import gettext as _
 
 _SERVERNAME = settings.SERVERNAME
 _MULTISESSION_MODE = settings.MULTISESSION_MODE
diff --git a/evennia/settings_default.py b/evennia/settings_default.py
index b2a06e328e..5ecafb75b5 100644
--- a/evennia/settings_default.py
+++ b/evennia/settings_default.py
@@ -245,7 +245,7 @@ IN_GAME_ERRORS = True
 # ENGINE - path to the the database backend. Possible choices are:
 #            'django.db.backends.sqlite3', (default)
 #            'django.db.backends.mysql',
-#            'django.db.backends.postgresql_psycopg2',
+#            'django.db.backends.postgresql',
 #            'django.db.backends.oracle' (untested).
 # NAME - database name, or path to the db file for sqlite3
 # USER - db admin (unused in sqlite3)
diff --git a/evennia/typeclasses/migrations/0010_delete_old_player_tables.py b/evennia/typeclasses/migrations/0010_delete_old_player_tables.py
index 0732f0fe99..32e1f80923 100644
--- a/evennia/typeclasses/migrations/0010_delete_old_player_tables.py
+++ b/evennia/typeclasses/migrations/0010_delete_old_player_tables.py
@@ -27,7 +27,7 @@ def _drop_table(db_cursor, table_name):
             db_cursor.execute("SET FOREIGN_KEY_CHECKS=0;")
             db_cursor.execute("DROP TABLE {table};".format(table=table_name))
             db_cursor.execute("SET FOREIGN_KEY_CHECKS=1;")
-        elif _ENGINE == "postgresql_psycopg2":
+        elif _ENGINE == "postgresql":
             db_cursor.execute("ALTER TABLE {table} DISABLE TRIGGER ALL;".format(table=table_name))
             db_cursor.execute("DROP TABLE {table};".format(table=table_name))
             db_cursor.execute("ALTER TABLE {table} ENABLE TRIGGER ALL;".format(table=table_name))
diff --git a/evennia/utils/dbserialize.py b/evennia/utils/dbserialize.py
index b3e55d1ca6..27fc43e1a1 100644
--- a/evennia/utils/dbserialize.py
+++ b/evennia/utils/dbserialize.py
@@ -28,11 +28,12 @@ except ImportError:
     from pickle import dumps, loads
 from django.core.exceptions import ObjectDoesNotExist
 from django.contrib.contenttypes.models import ContentType
-from django.utils.safestring import SafeString, SafeBytes
+from django.utils.safestring import SafeString
 from evennia.utils.utils import uses_database, is_iter, to_str, to_bytes
 from evennia.utils import logger
 
-__all__ = ("to_pickle", "from_pickle", "do_pickle", "do_unpickle", "dbserialize", "dbunserialize")
+__all__ = ("to_pickle", "from_pickle", "do_pickle",
+           "do_unpickle", "dbserialize", "dbunserialize")
 
 PICKLE_PROTOCOL = 2
 
@@ -116,13 +117,15 @@ def _init_globals():
     global _FROM_MODEL_MAP, _TO_MODEL_MAP, _SESSION_HANDLER, _IGNORE_DATETIME_MODELS
     if not _FROM_MODEL_MAP:
         _FROM_MODEL_MAP = defaultdict(str)
-        _FROM_MODEL_MAP.update(dict((c.model, c.natural_key()) for c in ContentType.objects.all()))
+        _FROM_MODEL_MAP.update(dict((c.model, c.natural_key())
+                                    for c in ContentType.objects.all()))
     if not _TO_MODEL_MAP:
         from django.conf import settings
 
         _TO_MODEL_MAP = defaultdict(str)
         _TO_MODEL_MAP.update(
-            dict((c.natural_key(), c.model_class()) for c in ContentType.objects.all())
+            dict((c.natural_key(), c.model_class())
+                 for c in ContentType.objects.all())
         )
         _IGNORE_DATETIME_MODELS = []
         for src_key, dst_key in settings.ATTRIBUTE_STORED_MODEL_RENAME:
@@ -185,7 +188,8 @@ class _SaverMutable(object):
                 )
             self._db_obj.value = self
         else:
-            logger.log_err("_SaverMutable %s has no root Attribute to save to." % self)
+            logger.log_err(
+                "_SaverMutable %s has no root Attribute to save to." % self)
 
     def _convert_mutables(self, data):
         """converts mutables to Saver* variants and assigns ._parent property"""
@@ -201,7 +205,8 @@ class _SaverMutable(object):
                 return dat
             elif dtype == dict:
                 dat = _SaverDict(_parent=parent)
-                dat._data.update((key, process_tree(val, dat)) for key, val in item.items())
+                dat._data.update((key, process_tree(val, dat))
+                                 for key, val in item.items())
                 return dat
             elif dtype == set:
                 dat = _SaverSet(_parent=parent)
@@ -549,7 +554,7 @@ def to_pickle(data):
     def process_item(item):
         """Recursive processor and identification of data"""
         dtype = type(item)
-        if dtype in (str, int, float, bool, bytes, SafeString, SafeBytes):
+        if dtype in (str, int, float, bool, bytes, SafeString):
             return item
         elif dtype == tuple:
             return tuple(process_item(val) for val in item)
@@ -577,7 +582,8 @@ def to_pickle(data):
         except TypeError:
             return item
         except Exception:
-            logger.log_error(f"The object {item} of type {type(item)} could not be stored.")
+            logger.log_error(
+                f"The object {item} of type {type(item)} could not be stored.")
             raise
 
     return process_item(data)
@@ -609,7 +615,7 @@ def from_pickle(data, db_obj=None):
     def process_item(item):
         """Recursive processor and identification of data"""
         dtype = type(item)
-        if dtype in (str, int, float, bool, bytes, SafeString, SafeBytes):
+        if dtype in (str, int, float, bool, bytes, SafeString):
             return item
         elif _IS_PACKED_DBOBJ(item):
             # this must be checked before tuple
@@ -638,7 +644,7 @@ def from_pickle(data, db_obj=None):
     def process_tree(item, parent):
         """Recursive processor, building a parent-tree from iterable data"""
         dtype = type(item)
-        if dtype in (str, int, float, bool, bytes, SafeString, SafeBytes):
+        if dtype in (str, int, float, bool, bytes, SafeString):
             return item
         elif _IS_PACKED_DBOBJ(item):
             # this must be checked before tuple
diff --git a/evennia/utils/evmenu.py b/evennia/utils/evmenu.py
index 0bc5b37475..ccf2840f91 100644
--- a/evennia/utils/evmenu.py
+++ b/evennia/utils/evmenu.py
@@ -187,7 +187,7 @@ _CMD_NOINPUT = cmdhandler.CMD_NOINPUT
 # Return messages
 
 # i18n
-from django.utils.translation import ugettext as _
+from django.utils.translation import gettext as _
 
 _ERR_NOT_IMPLEMENTED = _(
     "Menu node '{nodename}' is either not implemented or " "caused an error. Make another choice."
diff --git a/evennia/utils/picklefield.py b/evennia/utils/picklefield.py
index c2b5abb98a..084fc6d638 100644
--- a/evennia/utils/picklefield.py
+++ b/evennia/utils/picklefield.py
@@ -43,7 +43,7 @@ from django.forms.fields import CharField
 from django.forms.widgets import Textarea
 
 from pickle import loads, dumps
-from django.utils.encoding import force_text
+from django.utils.encoding import force_str
 
 
 DEFAULT_PROTOCOL = 4
@@ -210,10 +210,10 @@ class PickledObjectField(models.Field):
         """
         Returns the default value for this field.
 
-        The default implementation on models.Field calls force_text
+        The default implementation on models.Field calls force_str
         on the default, which means you can't set arbitrary Python
         objects as the default. To fix this, we just return the value
-        without calling force_text on it. Note that if you set a
+        without calling force_str on it. Note that if you set a
         callable as a default, the field will still call it. It will
         *not* try to pickle and encode it.
 
@@ -267,13 +267,13 @@ class PickledObjectField(models.Field):
 
         """
         if value is not None and not isinstance(value, PickledObject):
-            # We call force_text here explicitly, so that the encoded string
-            # isn't rejected by the postgresql_psycopg2 backend. Alternatively,
+            # We call force_str here explicitly, so that the encoded string
+            # isn't rejected by the postgresql backend. Alternatively,
             # we could have just registered PickledObject with the psycopg
             # marshaller (telling it to store it like it would a string), but
             # since both of these methods result in the same value being stored,
             # doing things this way is much easier.
-            value = force_text(dbsafe_encode(value, self.compress, self.protocol))
+            value = force_str(dbsafe_encode(value, self.compress, self.protocol))
         return value
 
     def value_to_string(self, obj):
diff --git a/evennia/utils/utils.py b/evennia/utils/utils.py
index 49c8af1e7b..cc191fdd53 100644
--- a/evennia/utils/utils.py
+++ b/evennia/utils/utils.py
@@ -27,7 +27,7 @@ from collections import defaultdict, OrderedDict
 from twisted.internet import threads, reactor
 from django.conf import settings
 from django.utils import timezone
-from django.utils.translation import ugettext as _
+from django.utils.translation import gettext as _
 from django.apps import apps
 from evennia.utils import logger
 
@@ -1036,7 +1036,7 @@ def uses_database(name="sqlite3"):
     shortcut to having to use the full backend name.
 
     Args:
-        name (str): One of 'sqlite3', 'mysql', 'postgresql_psycopg2'
+        name (str): One of 'sqlite3', 'mysql', 'postgresql'
         or 'oracle'.
 
     Returns:
diff --git a/evennia/web/urls.py b/evennia/web/urls.py
index 6d9e28f6df..22db55cde6 100644
--- a/evennia/web/urls.py
+++ b/evennia/web/urls.py
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@
 # http://diveintopython.org/regular_expressions/street_addresses.html#re.matching.2.3
 #
 
-from django.conf.urls import url, include
+from django.urls import path, include
 from django.views.generic import RedirectView
 
 # Setup the root url tree from /
@@ -14,9 +14,10 @@ from django.views.generic import RedirectView
 urlpatterns = [
     # Front page (note that we shouldn't specify namespace here since we will
     # not be able to load django-auth/admin stuff (will probably work in Django>1.9)
-    url(r"^", include("evennia.web.website.urls")),  # , namespace='website', app_name='website')),
+    path("", include("evennia.web.website.urls")),
     # webclient
-    url(r"^webclient/", include("evennia.web.webclient.urls", namespace="webclient")),
+    path("webclient/", include("evennia.web.webclient.urls")),
     # favicon
-    url(r"^favicon\.ico$", RedirectView.as_view(url="/media/images/favicon.ico", permanent=False)),
+    path("favicon.ico", RedirectView.as_view(
+        url="/media/images/favicon.ico", permanent=False))
 ]
diff --git a/evennia/web/webclient/templates/webclient/base.html b/evennia/web/webclient/templates/webclient/base.html
index 46353b18ad..e65467da12 100644
--- a/evennia/web/webclient/templates/webclient/base.html
+++ b/evennia/web/webclient/templates/webclient/base.html
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ with evennia set up automatically and get the Evennia JS lib and
 JQuery available.
 -->
 
-{% load staticfiles %}
+{% load static %}
 <html dir="ltr" lang="en">
   <head>
     <title> {{game_name}} </title>
diff --git a/evennia/web/webclient/urls.py b/evennia/web/webclient/urls.py
index cfb57ad262..4b9d19d631 100644
--- a/evennia/web/webclient/urls.py
+++ b/evennia/web/webclient/urls.py
@@ -2,8 +2,9 @@
 This structures the (simple) structure of the
 webpage 'application'.
 """
-from django.conf.urls import *
+from django.urls import path
 from evennia.web.webclient import views as webclient_views
 
 app_name = "webclient"
-urlpatterns = [url(r"^$", webclient_views.webclient, name="index")]
+
+urlpatterns = [path("", webclient_views.webclient, name="index")]
diff --git a/evennia/web/website/templates/website/_menu.html b/evennia/web/website/templates/website/_menu.html
index a947445167..3d6501fb45 100644
--- a/evennia/web/website/templates/website/_menu.html
+++ b/evennia/web/website/templates/website/_menu.html
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@ Allow to customize the menu that appears at the top of every Evennia
 webpage. Copy this file to your game dir's web/template_overrides/website
 folder and edit it to add/remove links to the menu.
 {% endcomment %}
-{% load staticfiles %}
+{% load static %}
 <nav class="navbar navbar-dark font-weight-bold navbar-expand-md">
     <button class="navbar-toggler navbar-toggler-right" type="button" data-toggle="collapse" data-target="#menu-content" aria-controls="menu-content" aria-expanded="false" aria-label="Toggle navigation">
         <span class="navbar-toggler-icon"></span>
diff --git a/evennia/web/website/templates/website/base.html b/evennia/web/website/templates/website/base.html
index 0f9a122de5..1211de036d 100644
--- a/evennia/web/website/templates/website/base.html
+++ b/evennia/web/website/templates/website/base.html
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-{% load staticfiles sekizai_tags %}
+{% load static sekizai_tags %}
 <!DOCTYPE html>
 <html lang="en">
   <head>