diff --git a/Generals/Code/GameEngine/Source/GameClient/GameClient.cpp b/Generals/Code/GameEngine/Source/GameClient/GameClient.cpp
index 9a212dd8fb7..0947b60d528 100644
--- a/Generals/Code/GameEngine/Source/GameClient/GameClient.cpp
+++ b/Generals/Code/GameEngine/Source/GameClient/GameClient.cpp
@@ -117,6 +117,10 @@ GameClient::GameClient()
 //-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 GameClient::~GameClient()
 {
+	// clear any drawable TOC we might have - do this FIRST to ensure AsciiStrings
+	// are destroyed while the memory allocator is still in a valid state
+	m_drawableTOC.clear();
+
 #ifdef PERF_TIMERS
 	delete TheGraphDraw;
 	TheGraphDraw = NULL;
@@ -125,9 +129,6 @@ GameClient::~GameClient()
 	delete TheDrawGroupInfo;
 	TheDrawGroupInfo = NULL;
 
-	// clear any drawable TOC we might have
-	m_drawableTOC.clear();
-
 	//DEBUG_LOG(("Preloaded texture files ------------------------------------------"));
 	//for (Int oog=0; oog<preloadTextureNamesGlobalHack2.size(); ++oog)
 	//{
diff --git a/GeneralsMD/Code/GameEngine/Source/GameClient/GameClient.cpp b/GeneralsMD/Code/GameEngine/Source/GameClient/GameClient.cpp
index 7296c143bfa..74eb793e7e9 100644
--- a/GeneralsMD/Code/GameEngine/Source/GameClient/GameClient.cpp
+++ b/GeneralsMD/Code/GameEngine/Source/GameClient/GameClient.cpp
@@ -129,6 +129,10 @@ GameClient::GameClient()
 //-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 GameClient::~GameClient()
 {
+	// clear any drawable TOC we might have - do this FIRST to ensure AsciiStrings
+	// are destroyed while the memory allocator is still in a valid state
+	m_drawableTOC.clear();
+
 #ifdef PERF_TIMERS
 	delete TheGraphDraw;
 	TheGraphDraw = NULL;
@@ -137,9 +141,6 @@ GameClient::~GameClient()
 	delete TheDrawGroupInfo;
 	TheDrawGroupInfo = NULL;
 
-	// clear any drawable TOC we might have
-	m_drawableTOC.clear();
-
 	//DEBUG_LOG(("Preloaded texture files ------------------------------------------"));
 	//for (Int oog=0; oog<preloadTextureNamesGlobalHack2.size(); ++oog)
 	//{