diff --git a/evennia/server/server.py b/evennia/server/server.py
index 038846e5b4..70d07bbea1 100644
--- a/evennia/server/server.py
+++ b/evennia/server/server.py
@@ -195,7 +195,7 @@ class Evennia(object):
         Optimize some SQLite stuff at startup since we
         can't save it to the database.
         """
-        if ((".".join(str(i) for i in django.VERSION) < "1.2" and settings.DATABASE_ENGINE == "sqlite3")
+        if ((".".join(str(i) for i in django.VERSION) < "1.2" and settings.DATABASES.get('default', {}).get('ENGINE') == "sqlite3")
             or (hasattr(settings, 'DATABASES')
                 and settings.DATABASES.get("default", {}).get('ENGINE', None)
                 == 'django.db.backends.sqlite3')):
diff --git a/evennia/typeclasses/models.py b/evennia/typeclasses/models.py
index 3cb4af35d5..98aaa0e57f 100644
--- a/evennia/typeclasses/models.py
+++ b/evennia/typeclasses/models.py
@@ -98,7 +98,9 @@ class TypeclassBase(SharedMemoryModelBase):
         # this is a copy of django.db.models.base.__new__
         # with a few lines changed as per
         # https://code.djangoproject.com/ticket/11560
-        new_class = patched_new(cls, name, bases, attrs)
+        #new_class = patched_new(cls, name, bases, attrs)
+        new_class = super(TypeclassBase, cls).__new__(cls, name, bases, attrs)
+        #new_class = patched_new(cls, name, bases, attrs)
 
         # attach signals
         signals.post_save.connect(post_save, sender=new_class)
diff --git a/requirements.txt b/requirements.txt
index d1e4790d4c..9c7f10fba6 100644
--- a/requirements.txt
+++ b/requirements.txt
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 # Evennia dependencies, for Linux/Mac platforms
 
-django >= 1.8, < 1.10
+django >= 1.9, < 1.11
 twisted >= 16.0.0
 mock >= 1.0.1
 pillow == 2.9.0