diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index abd79c9..cb7f5e7 100755
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -202,7 +202,7 @@ Get Maven, then run the following command at the project root:
 mvn clean package
 ```
 
-This will build the project to `target/update-checker-0.6.0.jar`.
+This will build the project to `target/update-checker-0.6.1.jar`.
 
 ### Running the project
 
@@ -213,7 +213,7 @@ First, follow these steps to set it up:
 Then, to run the project, browse to where the JAR is in a terminal / command prompt, then run
 
 ```
-java -jar update-checker-0.6.0.jar [minutes]
+java -jar update-checker-0.6.1.jar [minutes]
 ```
 
 [minutes] is the wait delay in minutes between two GameBanana checks (defaults to 30). Be aware that the program makes ~13 API calls per check, and that the GameBanana API has a cap at 250 requests/hour.
diff --git a/pom.xml b/pom.xml
index 4cc760b..2c89a35 100644
--- a/pom.xml
+++ b/pom.xml
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@
 
     <groupId>ovh.maddie480.everest.updatechecker</groupId>
     <artifactId>update-checker</artifactId>
-    <version>0.6.0</version>
+    <version>0.6.1</version>
 
     <properties>
         <jdk.version>21</jdk.version>
diff --git a/src/main/java/ovh/maddie480/everest/updatechecker/DatabaseUpdater.java b/src/main/java/ovh/maddie480/everest/updatechecker/DatabaseUpdater.java
index 6a53172..70c04b4 100755
--- a/src/main/java/ovh/maddie480/everest/updatechecker/DatabaseUpdater.java
+++ b/src/main/java/ovh/maddie480/everest/updatechecker/DatabaseUpdater.java
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@
 import org.json.JSONArray;
 import org.json.JSONException;
 import org.json.JSONObject;
+import org.json.JSONTokener;
 import org.slf4j.Logger;
 import org.slf4j.LoggerFactory;
 
@@ -21,8 +22,6 @@
 import java.util.zip.ZipEntry;
 import java.util.zip.ZipFile;
 
-import static java.nio.charset.StandardCharsets.UTF_8;
-
 public class DatabaseUpdater {
     private static final Logger log = LoggerFactory.getLogger(DatabaseUpdater.class);
 
@@ -181,7 +180,7 @@ private void crawlModsFromCategoryFully(String category) throws IOException {
             try (InputStream is = ConnectionUtils.openStreamWithTimeout("https://gamebanana.com/apiv10/" + category + "/Index?_nPage=1&_nPerpage=" + incrementalPageSize +
                     "&_aFilters[Generic_Game]=6460&_sSort=Generic_LatestModified")) {
 
-                return new JSONObject(IOUtils.toString(is, UTF_8)).getJSONArray("_aRecords").getJSONObject(0).getInt("_tsDateModified");
+                return new JSONObject(new JSONTokener(is)).getJSONArray("_aRecords").getJSONObject(0).getInt("_tsDateModified");
             } catch (JSONException e) {
                 // turn JSON parse errors into IOExceptions to trigger a retry.
                 throw new IOException(e);
@@ -199,7 +198,7 @@ private void crawlModsFromCategoryFully(String category) throws IOException {
                         "_tsDateAdded,_tsDateModified,_tsDateUpdated,_aPreviewMedia,_sProfileUrl,_bIsNsfw" +
                         "&_sOrderBy=_idRow,ASC&_nPage=" + thisPage + "&_nPerpage=" + fullPageSize)) {
 
-                    return new JSONArray(IOUtils.toString(is, UTF_8));
+                    return new JSONArray(new JSONTokener(is));
                 } catch (JSONException e) {
                     // turn JSON parse errors into IOExceptions to trigger a retry.
                     throw new IOException(e);
@@ -238,7 +237,7 @@ private void crawlModsFromCategoryIncrementally(String category) throws IOExcept
                 try (InputStream is = ConnectionUtils.openStreamWithTimeout("https://gamebanana.com/apiv10/" + category + "/Index?_nPage=" + thisPage +
                         "&_nPerpage=" + incrementalPageSize + "&_aFilters[Generic_Game]=6460&_sSort=Generic_LatestModified")) {
 
-                    return new JSONObject(IOUtils.toString(is, UTF_8)).getJSONArray("_aRecords");
+                    return new JSONObject(new JSONTokener(is)).getJSONArray("_aRecords");
                 } catch (JSONException e) {
                     // turn JSON parse errors into IOExceptions to trigger a retry.
                     throw new IOException(e);
@@ -258,7 +257,7 @@ private void crawlModsFromCategoryIncrementally(String category) throws IOExcept
                                 "_csvProperties=_idRow,_sName,_aFiles,_aSubmitter,_sDescription,_sText,_nLikeCount,_nViewCount,_nDownloadCount,_aCategory," +
                                 "_tsDateAdded,_tsDateModified,_tsDateUpdated,_aPreviewMedia,_sProfileUrl,_bIsNsfw&ts=" + System.currentTimeMillis())) {
 
-                            return new JSONObject(IOUtils.toString(is, UTF_8));
+                            return new JSONObject(new JSONTokener(is));
                         } catch (JSONException e) {
                             // turn JSON parse errors into IOExceptions to trigger a retry.
                             throw new IOException(e);
diff --git a/src/main/java/ovh/maddie480/everest/updatechecker/ModSearchDatabaseBuilder.java b/src/main/java/ovh/maddie480/everest/updatechecker/ModSearchDatabaseBuilder.java
index 8f25ddc..02279c5 100755
--- a/src/main/java/ovh/maddie480/everest/updatechecker/ModSearchDatabaseBuilder.java
+++ b/src/main/java/ovh/maddie480/everest/updatechecker/ModSearchDatabaseBuilder.java
@@ -1,10 +1,10 @@
 package ovh.maddie480.everest.updatechecker;
 
-import org.apache.commons.io.IOUtils;
 import org.apache.commons.lang3.StringEscapeUtils;
 import org.json.JSONArray;
 import org.json.JSONException;
 import org.json.JSONObject;
+import org.json.JSONTokener;
 import org.slf4j.Logger;
 import org.slf4j.LoggerFactory;
 
@@ -15,8 +15,6 @@
 import java.util.stream.Collectors;
 import java.util.stream.StreamSupport;
 
-import static java.nio.charset.StandardCharsets.UTF_8;
-
 public class ModSearchDatabaseBuilder {
     private static final Logger log = LoggerFactory.getLogger(ModSearchDatabaseBuilder.class);
 
@@ -133,7 +131,7 @@ void addMod(String itemtype, int itemid, JSONObject mod) throws IOException {
         if (mod.getBoolean("_bIsNsfw")) {
             // mod has content warnings! we need to check which ones.
             try (InputStream is = ConnectionUtils.openStreamWithTimeout("https://gamebanana.com/apiv11/" + itemtype + "/" + itemid + "/ProfilePage")) {
-                JSONObject o = new JSONObject(IOUtils.toString(is, UTF_8));
+                JSONObject o = new JSONObject(new JSONTokener(is));
                 redactScreenshots = !"show".equals(o.getString("_sInitialVisibility"));
 
                 List<String> contentWarnings = new ArrayList<>();
@@ -221,7 +219,7 @@ void saveSearchDatabase(boolean full) throws IOException {
         // get featured mods and fill in the info for mods accordingly.
         JSONObject featured = ConnectionUtils.runWithRetry(() -> {
             try (InputStream is = ConnectionUtils.openStreamWithTimeout("https://gamebanana.com/apiv8/Game/6460/TopSubs")) {
-                return new JSONObject(IOUtils.toString(is, UTF_8));
+                return new JSONObject(new JSONTokener(is));
             } catch (JSONException e) {
                 // turn JSON parse errors into IOExceptions to trigger a retry.
                 throw new IOException(e);
@@ -268,7 +266,7 @@ private void assignCategoryNamesToMods(String itemtype) throws IOException {
             try (InputStream is = ConnectionUtils.openStreamWithTimeout("https://gamebanana.com/apiv8/" + itemtype + "Category/ByGame?_aGameRowIds[]=6460&" +
                     "_csvProperties=_idRow,_idParentCategoryRow,_sName&_sOrderBy=_idRow,ASC&_nPage=1&_nPerpage=50")) {
 
-                return new JSONArray(IOUtils.toString(is, UTF_8));
+                return new JSONArray(new JSONTokener(is));
             } catch (JSONException e) {
                 // turn JSON parse errors into IOExceptions to trigger a retry.
                 throw new IOException(e);