diff --git a/plugins/cheat/xml_conv.lua b/plugins/cheat/xml_conv.lua
index d540fd7dbba..b53f3a92452 100644
--- a/plugins/cheat/xml_conv.lua
+++ b/plugins/cheat/xml_conv.lua
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@ local function xml_parse(data)
 		local arr = {}
 		while str ~= "" do
 			local tag, attr, stop
-			tag, attr, stop, str = str:match("<([%w!-]+) ?(.-)(/?)[ -]->(.*)")
+			tag, attr, stop, str = str:match("<([%w!%-]+) ?(.-)(/?)[ %-]->(.*)")
 
 			if not tag then
 				return arr
@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@ local function xml_parse(data)
 					nest, str = str:match("(.-)</ *" .. tag .. " *>(.*)")
 					local children = get_tags(nest)
 					if not next(children) then
-						nest = nest:gsub("<!--.--->", "")
+						nest = nest:gsub("<!--.-%-%->", "")
 						nest = nest:gsub("^%s*(.-)%s*$", "%1")
 						block["text"] = nest
 					else
diff --git a/src/frontend/mame/luaengine.cpp b/src/frontend/mame/luaengine.cpp
index c4ff85dee41..a19e80f6e09 100644
--- a/src/frontend/mame/luaengine.cpp
+++ b/src/frontend/mame/luaengine.cpp
@@ -1724,12 +1724,12 @@ int lua_engine::lua_screen::l_draw_text(lua_State *L)
 
 int lua_engine::lua_emu_file::l_emu_file_read(lua_State *L)
 {
-	lua_emu_file *file = luabridge::Stack<lua_emu_file *>::get(L, 1);
+	emu_file *file = luabridge::Stack<emu_file *>::get(L, 1);
 	luaL_argcheck(L, lua_isnumber(L, 2), 2, "length (integer) expected");
 	int ret, len = lua_tonumber(L, 2);
 	luaL_Buffer buff;
 	char *ptr = luaL_buffinitsize(L, &buff, len);
-	ret = file->file.read(ptr, len);
+	ret = file->read(ptr, len);
 	luaL_pushresultsize(&buff, ret);
 	return 1;
 }
@@ -2675,15 +2675,17 @@ void lua_engine::initialize()
 				.addProperty <bool> ("is_creatable", &device_image_interface::is_creatable)
 				.addProperty <bool> ("is_reset_on_load", &device_image_interface::is_reset_on_load)
 			.endClass()
-			.beginClass <lua_emu_file> ("file")
-				.addConstructor <void (*)(const char *, UINT32)> ()
+			.beginClass <lua_emu_file> ("lua_file")
 				.addCFunction ("read", &lua_emu_file::l_emu_file_read)
-				.addFunction ("open", &lua_emu_file::open)
-				.addFunction ("open_next", &lua_emu_file::open_next)
-				.addFunction ("seek", &lua_emu_file::seek)
-				.addFunction ("size", &lua_emu_file::size)
-				.addFunction ("filename", &lua_emu_file::filename)
-				.addFunction ("fullpath", &lua_emu_file::fullpath)
+			.endClass()
+			.deriveClass <emu_file, lua_emu_file> ("file")
+				.addConstructor <void (*)(const char *, UINT32)> ()
+				.addFunction ("open", static_cast<osd_file::error (emu_file::*)(const std::string &)>(&emu_file::open))
+				.addFunction ("open_next", &emu_file::open_next)
+				.addFunction ("seek", &emu_file::seek)
+				.addFunction ("size", &emu_file::size)
+				.addFunction ("filename", &emu_file::filename)
+				.addFunction ("fullpath", &emu_file::fullpath)
 			.endClass()
 			.beginClass <lua_item> ("item")
 				.addConstructor <void (*)(int)> ()
diff --git a/src/frontend/mame/luaengine.h b/src/frontend/mame/luaengine.h
index f07be2239d6..15dfdd2f6ae 100644
--- a/src/frontend/mame/luaengine.h
+++ b/src/frontend/mame/luaengine.h
@@ -226,20 +226,7 @@ private:
 	};
 
 	struct lua_emu_file {
-		lua_emu_file(const char *searchpath, UINT32 openflags) :
-			path(searchpath),
-			file(path.c_str(), openflags) {}
-
 		int l_emu_file_read(lua_State *L);
-		osd_file::error open(const std::string &name) {return file.open(name);}
-		osd_file::error open_next() {return file.open_next();}
-		int seek(INT64 offset, int whence) {return file.seek(offset, whence);}
-		UINT64 size() {return file.size();}
-		const char *filename() {return file.filename();}
-		const char *fullpath() {return file.fullpath();}
-
-		std::string path;
-		emu_file file;
 	};
 
 	struct lua_item {