diff --git a/hecl/blender/hecl_blendershell.py b/hecl/blender/hecl_blendershell.py
index 01d64b15f..c72b0b589 100644
--- a/hecl/blender/hecl_blendershell.py
+++ b/hecl/blender/hecl_blendershell.py
@@ -475,7 +475,8 @@ try:
             if len(cmdargs) >= 4:
                 bpy.ops.wm.open_mainfile(filepath=cmdargs[3])
             else:
-                bpy.ops.wm.read_homefile()
+                bpy.ops.wm.read_homefile(use_empty=True)
+                bpy.context.scene.world = bpy.data.worlds.new('World')
             loaded_blend = cmdargs[1]
             bpy.context.preferences.filepaths.save_version = 0
             if 'FINISHED' in bpy.ops.wm.save_as_mainfile(filepath=cmdargs[1]):
diff --git a/hecl/lib/Blender/Connection.cpp b/hecl/lib/Blender/Connection.cpp
index 1f68c38fa..b9a1bcdbf 100644
--- a/hecl/lib/Blender/Connection.cpp
+++ b/hecl/lib/Blender/Connection.cpp
@@ -453,11 +453,6 @@ Connection::Connection(int verbosityLevel) {
       std::string writefds = fmt::format(FMT_STRING("{}"), m_readpipe[1]);
       std::string vLevel = fmt::format(FMT_STRING("{}"), verbosityLevel);
 
-#ifdef __APPLE__
-      // Undocumented flag that makes Blender not crash ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
-      setenv("MallocNanoZone", "1", 1);
-#endif
-
       /* Try user-specified blender first */
       if (blenderBin) {
         execlp(blenderBin, blenderBin, "--background", "-P", blenderShellPath.c_str(), "--", readfds.c_str(),