diff --git a/g2o/apps/g2o_viewer/main_window.cpp b/g2o/apps/g2o_viewer/main_window.cpp
index 444292b0b..5be7074d9 100644
--- a/g2o/apps/g2o_viewer/main_window.cpp
+++ b/g2o/apps/g2o_viewer/main_window.cpp
@@ -228,11 +228,17 @@ void MainWindow::updateDisplayedSolvers()
 
 bool MainWindow::load(const QString& filename)
 {
-  ifstream ifs(filename.toStdString().c_str());
-  if (! ifs)
-    return false;
   viewer->graph->clear();
-  bool loadStatus = viewer->graph->load(ifs);
+  bool loadStatus = false;
+  if (filename == "-") {
+    cerr << "reading stdin" << endl;
+    loadStatus = viewer->graph->load(cin);
+  } else {
+    ifstream ifs(filename.toStdString().c_str());
+    if (! ifs)
+      return false;
+    loadStatus = viewer->graph->load(ifs);
+  }
   if (! loadStatus)
     return false;
   _lastSolver = -1;
diff --git a/g2o/apps/g2o_viewer/run_g2o_viewer.cpp b/g2o/apps/g2o_viewer/run_g2o_viewer.cpp
index 979e2705d..23876d760 100644
--- a/g2o/apps/g2o_viewer/run_g2o_viewer.cpp
+++ b/g2o/apps/g2o_viewer/run_g2o_viewer.cpp
@@ -52,6 +52,8 @@ class SleepThread : public QThread
 int RunG2OViewer::run(int argc, char** argv, CommandArgs& arg)
 {
   std::string inputFilename;
+  std::string loadLookup;
+  arg.param("renameTypes", loadLookup, "", "create a lookup for loading types into other types,\n\t TAG_IN_FILE=INTERNAL_TAG_FOR_TYPE,TAG2=INTERNAL2\n\t e.g., VERTEX_CAM=VERTEX_SE3:EXPMAP");
   arg.paramLeftOver("graph-input", inputFilename, "", "graph file which will be processed", true);
   arg.parseArgs(argc, argv);
 
@@ -65,6 +67,10 @@ int RunG2OViewer::run(int argc, char** argv, CommandArgs& arg)
 
   // setting up the optimizer
   SparseOptimizer* optimizer = new SparseOptimizer();
+  // Loading the input data
+  if (loadLookup.size() > 0) {
+    optimizer->setRenamedTypesFromString(loadLookup);
+  }
   mw.viewer->graph = optimizer;
 
   // set up the GUI action
diff --git a/g2o/core/factory.h b/g2o/core/factory.h
index 85180564f..400bf1c08 100644
--- a/g2o/core/factory.h
+++ b/g2o/core/factory.h
@@ -136,7 +136,8 @@ namespace g2o {
 #ifdef G2O_DEBUG_FACTORY
         std::cout << __FUNCTION__ << ": Registering " << _name << " of type " << typeid(T).name() << std::endl;
 #endif
-        Factory::instance()->registerType(_name, new HyperGraphElementCreator<T>());
+        _creator = new HyperGraphElementCreator<T>();
+        Factory::instance()->registerType(_name, _creator);
       }
 
       ~RegisterTypeProxy()
@@ -145,10 +146,12 @@ namespace g2o {
         std::cout << __FUNCTION__ << ": Unregistering " << _name << " of type " << typeid(T).name() << std::endl;
 #endif
         Factory::instance()->unregisterType(_name);
+        delete _creator;
       }
 
     private:
       std::string _name;
+      HyperGraphElementCreator<T>* _creator;
   };
 
 #if defined _MSC_VER && defined G2O_SHARED_LIBS
diff --git a/g2o/core/hyper_graph_action.cpp b/g2o/core/hyper_graph_action.cpp
index a7fea30bd..667bd375c 100644
--- a/g2o/core/hyper_graph_action.cpp
+++ b/g2o/core/hyper_graph_action.cpp
@@ -159,9 +159,10 @@ namespace g2o {
 
   HyperGraphActionLibrary::~HyperGraphActionLibrary()
   {
-    for (HyperGraphElementAction::ActionMap::iterator it = _actionMap.begin(); it != _actionMap.end(); ++it) {
-      delete it->second;
-    }
+    // memory is freed by Proxy
+    //for (HyperGraphElementAction::ActionMap::iterator it = _actionMap.begin(); it != _actionMap.end(); ++it) {
+      //delete it->second;
+    //}
   }
   
   HyperGraphElementAction* HyperGraphActionLibrary::actionByName(const std::string& name)
diff --git a/g2o/core/optimizable_graph.cpp b/g2o/core/optimizable_graph.cpp
index f8e0ff8b7..75bb4ffe8 100644
--- a/g2o/core/optimizable_graph.cpp
+++ b/g2o/core/optimizable_graph.cpp
@@ -370,7 +370,7 @@ void OptimizableGraph::discardTop(HyperGraph::VertexSet& vset)
   }
 }
 
-  void OptimizableGraph::setFixed(HyperGraph::VertexSet& vset, bool fixed)
+void OptimizableGraph::setFixed(HyperGraph::VertexSet& vset, bool fixed)
 {
   for (HyperGraph::VertexSet::iterator it=vset.begin(); it!=vset.end(); ++it) {
     OptimizableGraph::Vertex* v = static_cast<OptimizableGraph::Vertex*>(*it);
@@ -378,17 +378,8 @@ void OptimizableGraph::discardTop(HyperGraph::VertexSet& vset)
   }
 }
 
-
 bool OptimizableGraph::load(istream& is, bool createEdges)
 {
-  // scna for the paramers in the whole file
-  if (!_parameters.read(is,&_renamedTypesLookup))
-    return false;
-#ifndef NDEBUG
-  cerr << "Loaded " << _parameters.size() << " parameters" << endl;
-#endif
-  is.clear();
-  is.seekg(ios_base::beg);
   set<string> warnedUnknownTypes;
   stringstream currentLine;
   string token;
@@ -398,7 +389,10 @@ bool OptimizableGraph::load(istream& is, bool createEdges)
   elemBitset[HyperGraph::HGET_PARAMETER] = 1;
   elemBitset.flip();
 
-  HyperGraph::DataContainer*  previousDataContainer = 0;
+  HyperGraph::GraphElemBitset elemParamBitset;
+  elemParamBitset[HyperGraph::HGET_PARAMETER] = 1;
+
+  HyperGraph::DataContainer* previousDataContainer = 0;
   Data* previousData = 0;
 
   int lineNumber = 0;
@@ -450,6 +444,26 @@ bool OptimizableGraph::load(istream& is, bool createEdges)
       continue;
     }
 
+    // first handle the parameters
+    HyperGraph::HyperGraphElement* pelement = factory->construct(token, elemParamBitset);
+    if (pelement) { // not a parameter or otherwise unknown tag
+      assert(pelement->elementType() == HyperGraph::HGET_PARAMETER && "Should be a param");
+      Parameter* p = static_cast<Parameter*>(pelement);
+      int pid;
+      currentLine >> pid;
+      p->setId(pid);
+      bool r = p->read(currentLine);
+      if (! r) {
+        cerr << __PRETTY_FUNCTION__ << ": Error reading data " << token << " for parameter " << pid << endl;
+        delete p;
+      } else {
+        if (! _parameters.addParameter(p) ){
+          cerr << __PRETTY_FUNCTION__ << ": Parameter of type:" << token << " id:" << pid << " already defined" << endl;
+        }
+      }
+      continue;
+    }
+
     HyperGraph::HyperGraphElement* element = factory->construct(token, elemBitset);
     if (dynamic_cast<Vertex*>(element)) { // it's a vertex type
       //cerr << "it is a vertex" << endl;
@@ -623,6 +637,10 @@ bool OptimizableGraph::load(istream& is, bool createEdges)
     }
   } // while read line
 
+#ifndef NDEBUG
+  cerr << "Loaded " << _parameters.size() << " parameters" << endl;
+#endif
+
   return true;
 }
 
@@ -646,6 +664,7 @@ bool OptimizableGraph::save(const char* filename, int level) const
 
 bool OptimizableGraph::save(ostream& os, int level) const
 {
+  // write the parameters to the top of the file
   if (! _parameters.write(os))
     return false;
   set<Vertex*, VertexIDCompare> verticesToSave;