diff --git a/.gitmodules b/.gitmodules
index b4dca09..459d383 100644
--- a/.gitmodules
+++ b/.gitmodules
@@ -16,3 +16,6 @@
 [submodule "sysa/tcc-0.9.26p1"]
 	path = sysa/tcc-0.9.26p1
 	url = https://gitlab.com/janneke/tinycc
+[submodule "sysa/mescc-tools-patched"]
+	path = sysa/mescc-tools-patched
+	url = https://github.com/oriansj/mescc-tools
diff --git a/rootfs.sh b/rootfs.sh
index 2cbaa42..7f180d9 100755
--- a/rootfs.sh
+++ b/rootfs.sh
@@ -15,7 +15,8 @@ sudo mount -t tmpfs -o size=8G tmpfs tmp
 # base: mescc-tools-seed
 # copy in all the mescc-tools-seed stuff
 cp -r mescc-tools-seed/x86/* tmp
-cp -r mescc-tools-seed/{M2-Planet,mes-m2,mescc-tools} tmp/
+cp -r mescc-tools-seed/{M2-Planet,mes-m2} tmp/
+cp -r mescc-tools-patched tmp/mescc-tools
 # and the kaem seed
 cp ../bootstrap-seeds/POSIX/x86/kaem-optional-seed tmp/init
 cp ../bootstrap-seeds/POSIX/x86/kaem-optional-seed tmp/
@@ -23,11 +24,6 @@ cp -r ../bootstrap-seeds tmp/
 # replace the init kaem with our own custom one
 mv tmp/kaem.run tmp/mescc-tools-seed.kaem.run
 cp base.kaem.run tmp/kaem.run
-# checkout new version of mescc-tools
-pushd tmp/mescc-tools
-git fetch
-git checkout 5768b2a79036f34b9bd420ab4801ad7dca15dff8
-popd
 # create directories needed
 mkdir tmp/bin
 
diff --git a/sysa/mescc-tools-patched b/sysa/mescc-tools-patched
new file mode 160000
index 0000000..5768b2a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/sysa/mescc-tools-patched
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Subproject commit 5768b2a79036f34b9bd420ab4801ad7dca15dff8