diff --git a/boot.php b/boot.php
index 477b8331c..94b9fdc8f 100644
--- a/boot.php
+++ b/boot.php
@@ -383,7 +383,7 @@ if(! class_exists('App')) {
 			'force_max_items' => 0,
 			'thread_allow' => true,
 			'stylesheet' => '',
-			'template_engine' => 'internal',
+			'template_engine' => 'smarty3',
 		);
 		
 		// array of registered template engines ('name'=>'class name')
@@ -755,7 +755,6 @@ if(! class_exists('App')) {
 		 * @return object Template Engine instance
 		 */
 		function template_engine($name = ''){
-			
 			if ($name!=="") {
 				$template_engine = $name;
 			} else {
@@ -764,6 +763,7 @@ if(! class_exists('App')) {
 					$template_engine = $this->theme['template_engine'];
 				}
 			}
+			
 			if (isset($this->template_engines[$template_engine])){
 				if(isset($this->template_engine_instance[$template_engine])){
 					return $this->template_engine_instance[$template_engine];
@@ -783,7 +783,8 @@ if(! class_exists('App')) {
 		}
 
 		function set_template_engine($engine = 'smarty3') {
-
+			$this->theme['template_engine'] = $engine;
+			/*
 			$this->theme['template_engine'] = 'smarty3';
 
 			switch($engine) {
@@ -794,6 +795,7 @@ if(! class_exists('App')) {
 				default:
 					break;
 			}
+			*/
 		}
 
 		function get_template_ldelim($engine = 'smarty3') {
diff --git a/include/text.php b/include/text.php
index 628b4fc2d..72a2e1c37 100644
--- a/include/text.php
+++ b/include/text.php
@@ -570,28 +570,6 @@ function get_markup_template($s, $root = '') {
 	$a->save_timestamp($stamp1, "file");
 	
 	return $template;
-	/*
-
-	if($a->theme['template_engine'] === 'smarty3') {
-		$template_file = get_template_file($a, 'smarty3/' . $s, $root);
-
-		$template = new FriendicaSmarty();
-		$template->filename = $template_file;
-		$a->save_timestamp($stamp1, "rendering");
-
-		return $template;
-	}
-	else {
-		$template_file = get_template_file($a, $s, $root);
-		$a->save_timestamp($stamp1, "rendering");
-
-		$stamp1 = microtime(true);
-		$content = file_get_contents($template_file);
-		$a->save_timestamp($stamp1, "file");
-		return $content;
-
-	}
-	 */
 }}
 
 if(! function_exists("get_template_file")) {
@@ -613,6 +591,8 @@ function get_template_file($a, $filename, $root = '') {
 		$template_file = "{$root}view/theme/$theme/$filename";
 	elseif (x($a->theme_info,"extends") && file_exists("{$root}view/theme/{$a->theme_info["extends"]}/$filename"))
 		$template_file = "{$root}view/theme/{$a->theme_info["extends"]}/$filename";
+	elseif (file_exists("{$root}/$filename"))
+		$template_file = "{$root}/$filename";
 	else
 		$template_file = "{$root}view/$filename";