diff --git a/src/hotkey/hotkey_item.cpp b/src/hotkey/hotkey_item.cpp
index d632a402eb6..d226ae4d7fe 100644
--- a/src/hotkey/hotkey_item.cpp
+++ b/src/hotkey/hotkey_item.cpp
@@ -462,7 +462,7 @@ void hotkey_item::save(config& item) const
 	if (get_hat()       >= 0) item["hat"]      = get_hat();
 	if (get_value()     >= 0) item["value"]    = get_value();
 	if (get_keycode()   >= 0) item["key"]      = SDL_GetKeyName(SDLKey(get_keycode()));
-	if (get_character() >= 0) item["key"]      = unicode_cast<utf8::string, ucs4::char_t>(get_character()); // Second template argument because get_character returns a signed int
+	if (get_character() >= 0) item["key"]      = unicode_cast<utf8::string>(static_cast<ucs4::char_t>(get_character()));
 	if (get_mouse()     >= 0) item["mouse"]    = get_mouse();
 	if (get_button()    >= 0) item["button"]   = get_button();
 
diff --git a/src/serialization/unicode_cast.hpp b/src/serialization/unicode_cast.hpp
index e14aa1b1dab..248ef96d71c 100644
--- a/src/serialization/unicode_cast.hpp
+++ b/src/serialization/unicode_cast.hpp
@@ -92,13 +92,12 @@ typename ucs4_convert_impl::enableif<TD, typename TS::value_type>::type unicode_
 		input, a single character.
 	@return an instance of TD
 */
-template<typename TD , typename TI>
-//TD unicode_cast(const TI& onechar)
-typename boost::enable_if<typename boost::is_arithmetic<TI>::type, TD >::type unicode_cast(const TI& onechar)
+template<typename TD>
+TD unicode_cast(ucs4::char_t onechar)
 {
 	using namespace ucs4_convert_impl;
 	typedef typename convert_impl<typename TD::value_type>::type t_impl_writer;
-	typedef typename convert_impl<TI>::type t_impl_reader;
+	typedef convert_impl<ucs4::char_t>::type t_impl_reader;
 	typedef typename std::back_insert_iterator<TD> t_outputitor;
 	
 	TD res;