diff --git a/.travis.yml b/.travis.yml
index bdc7205d49..4987437da4 100644
--- a/.travis.yml
+++ b/.travis.yml
@@ -17,17 +17,16 @@ env:
 before_install: 
 
     # - psql -U postgres -c "GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON DATABASE evennia TO evennia;"
-  - psql -U postgres -c "CREATE DATABASE evennia;"
-  - psql -U postgres -c "CREATE USER evennia WITH PASSWORD 'password';"
-  - psql -U postgres -c "ALTER USER evennia CREATEDB;"
-  - mysql -u root -e "CREATE DATABASE evennia CHARACTER SET utf8mb4;"
-  - mysql -u root -e "CREATE USER 'evennia'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'password';"
-  - mysql -u root -e "GRANT ALL ON *.* TO 'evennia'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'password';"
+  - if [[ $TESTING_DB == postgresql ]]; psql -U postgres -c "CREATE DATABASE evennia;" fi
+  - if [[ $TESTING_DB == postgresql ]]; psql -U postgres -c "CREATE USER evennia WITH PASSWORD 'password';" fi
+  - if [[ $TESTING_DB == postgresql ]]; psql -U postgres -c "ALTER USER evennia CREATEDB;" fi
+  - if [[ $TESTING_DB == mysql ]]; then mysql -u root -e "CREATE DATABASE evennia CHARACTER SET utf8mb4;" fi
+  - if [[ $TESTING_DB == mysql ]]; then mysql -u root -e "CREATE USER 'evennia'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'password';" fi
+  - if [[ $TESTING_DB == mysql ]]; mysql -u root -e "GRANT ALL ON *.* TO 'evennia'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'password';" fi
 
 install:
-  - pip install psycopg2-binary
-  - pip install mysqlclient
-  - pip install PyMySQL
+  - if [[ $TESTING_DB == postgresql ]]; pip install psycopg2-binary fi
+  - if [[ $TESTING_DB == mysql ]]; pip install mysqlclient fi
   - pip install coveralls
   - pip install -e .
 
diff --git a/.travis/my.conf b/.travis/my.conf
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..51b810ecc7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.travis/my.conf
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+init_connect='SET collation_connection = utf8_general_ci; SET NAMES utf8;'
diff --git a/.travis/mysql_settings.py b/.travis/mysql_settings.py
index 79e709af71..b58dbcd52a 100644
--- a/.travis/mysql_settings.py
+++ b/.travis/mysql_settings.py
@@ -47,12 +47,12 @@ DATABASES = {
         'HOST': 'localhost',
         'PORT': '',  # use default port
         'OPTIONS': {
-            'init_command': 'SET collation_connection = utf8_general_ci'
+            'read_default_file': '.travis/my.conf'
         },
         'TEST': {
             'NAME': 'default',
             'OPTIONS': {
-                'init_command': 'SET collation_connection = utf8_general_ci'
+                'read_default_file': '.travis/my.conf'
             }
         }
     }