diff --git a/Changes b/Changes
index 390cc1370..7c997adfc 100644
--- a/Changes
+++ b/Changes
@@ -2255,3 +2255,6 @@
 - Fix bundled TRE compilation error on OpenBSD with pkg-config-0.21
   where pkg-config can't find 'tre.pc'. Reported by CuleX. (#3982)
   Also properly escape the sed expression used in the pkg-config call.
+- Fix remote MOTDs for URLs whose path components contain
+  subdirectories, in the process much simplifying my remote MOTD
+  code. Reported by goldenwolf (#3986).
diff --git a/include/struct.h b/include/struct.h
index 522b2cb6a..d4bcccb2b 100644
--- a/include/struct.h
+++ b/include/struct.h
@@ -724,7 +724,6 @@ struct Motd;
 struct MotdDownload
 {
 	struct Motd *themotd;
-	char url_filename[PATH_MAX+1]; /*< Where the downloaded file should be stored */
 };
 #endif /* USE_LIBCURL */
 
diff --git a/src/s_serv.c b/src/s_serv.c
index 4af32c196..345a96708 100644
--- a/src/s_serv.c
+++ b/src/s_serv.c
@@ -1001,12 +1001,11 @@ void read_motd(const char *filename, aMotdFile *themotd)
 		motd_download->themotd = themotd;
 		themotd->motd_download = motd_download;
 
-		/* determine where to the MOTD should be stored after it's downloaded */
-		url_filename = url_getfilename(filename);
-		strlcpy(motd_download->url_filename, url_filename, sizeof(motd_download->url_filename));
-		motd_download->url_filename[PATH_MAX] = '\0';
-
-		modtime = unreal_getfilemodtime(url_filename);
+#ifdef REMOTEINC_SPECIALCACHE
+		modtime = unreal_getfilemodtime(unreal_mkcache(filename));
+#else
+		modtime = 0;
+#endif
 
 		MyFree(url_filename);
 
@@ -1033,6 +1032,8 @@ void read_motd_asynch_downloaded(const char *url, const char *filename, const ch
 {
 	aMotdFile *themotd;
 
+	char *tmpfile;
+
 	themotd = motd_download->themotd;
 	/*
 	  check if the download was soft-canceled. See struct.h's docs on
@@ -1050,10 +1051,8 @@ void read_motd_asynch_downloaded(const char *url, const char *filename, const ch
 #ifdef REMOTEINC_SPECIALCACHE
 		if(has_cached_version(url))
 		{
-			
-			config_warn("Error downloading MOTD file from \"%s\": %s", url, errorbuf);
-			filename = motd_download->url_filename;
-			unreal_copyfileex(unreal_mkcache(url), filename, 0);
+			config_warn("Error downloading MOTD file from \"%s\": %s -- using cached version instead.", url, errorbuf);
+			filename = unreal_mkcache(url);
 		} else {
 #endif
 			config_error("Error downloading MOTD file from \"%s\": %s", url, errorbuf);
@@ -1064,24 +1063,23 @@ void read_motd_asynch_downloaded(const char *url, const char *filename, const ch
 #endif
 	}
 
+#ifdef REMOTEINC_SPECIALCACHE
 	/*
-	  We need to move our newly downloaded file to the place specified
-	  by url_filename if it's not cached.
-	*/
+	 * We need to move our newly downloaded file to its cache file
+	 * if it isn't there already.
+	 */
 	if(!cached)
 	{
-		unreal_copyfileex(filename, motd_download->url_filename, 0);
-#ifdef REMOTEINC_SPECIALCACHE
 		/* create specialcached version for later */
 		unreal_copyfileex(filename, unreal_mkcache(url), 1);
-#endif
 	} else {
 		/*
-		  The file is cached. Thus we must look for it at
-		  motd_download->url_filename, where be placed it earlier.
+		 * The file is cached. Thus we must look for it at the
+		 * cache location where we placed it earlier.
 		 */
-		filename = motd_download->url_filename;
+		filename = unreal_mkcache(url);
 	}
+#endif
 
 	do_read_motd(filename, themotd);
 	MyFree(motd_download);