diff --git a/base/vulkantools.cpp b/base/vulkantools.cpp
index dce1d388..c0f1433c 100644
--- a/base/vulkantools.cpp
+++ b/base/vulkantools.cpp
@@ -307,37 +307,35 @@ namespace vkTools
 #else
 	VkShaderModule loadShader(const char *fileName, VkDevice device, VkShaderStageFlagBits stage) 
 	{
-		size_t size;
+		std::ifstream is(fileName, std::ios::binary | std::ios::in | std::ios::ate);
 
-		FILE *fp = fopen(fileName, "rb");
-		assert(fp);
+		if (is.is_open())
+		{
+			size_t size = is.tellg();
+			is.seekg(0, std::ios::beg);
+			char* shaderCode = new char[size];
+			is.read(shaderCode, size);
+			is.close();
 
-		fseek(fp, 0L, SEEK_END);
-		size = ftell(fp);
+			assert(size > 0);
 
-		fseek(fp, 0L, SEEK_SET);
+			VkShaderModule shaderModule;
+			VkShaderModuleCreateInfo moduleCreateInfo{};
+			moduleCreateInfo.sType = VK_STRUCTURE_TYPE_SHADER_MODULE_CREATE_INFO;
+			moduleCreateInfo.codeSize = size;
+			moduleCreateInfo.pCode = (uint32_t*)shaderCode;
 
-		//shaderCode = malloc(size);
-		char *shaderCode = new char[size];
-		size_t retval = fread(shaderCode, size, 1, fp);
-		assert(retval == 1);
-		assert(size > 0);
+			VK_CHECK_RESULT(vkCreateShaderModule(device, &moduleCreateInfo, NULL, &shaderModule));
 
-		fclose(fp);
+			delete[] shaderCode;
 
-		VkShaderModule shaderModule;
-		VkShaderModuleCreateInfo moduleCreateInfo;
-		moduleCreateInfo.sType = VK_STRUCTURE_TYPE_SHADER_MODULE_CREATE_INFO;
-		moduleCreateInfo.pNext = NULL;
-		moduleCreateInfo.codeSize = size;
-		moduleCreateInfo.pCode = (uint32_t*)shaderCode;
-		moduleCreateInfo.flags = 0;
-
-		VK_CHECK_RESULT(vkCreateShaderModule(device, &moduleCreateInfo, NULL, &shaderModule));
-
-		delete[] shaderCode;
-
-		return shaderModule;
+			return shaderModule;
+		}
+		else
+		{
+			std::cerr << "Error: Could not open shader file \"" << fileName << "\"" << std::endl;
+			return nullptr;
+		}
 	}
 #endif
 
diff --git a/base/vulkantools.h b/base/vulkantools.h
index 1fde5087..1a800e19 100644
--- a/base/vulkantools.h
+++ b/base/vulkantools.h
@@ -80,21 +80,16 @@ namespace vkTools
 
 	// Display error message and exit on fatal error
 	void exitFatal(std::string message, std::string caption);
-	// Load a text file (e.g. GLGL shader) into a std::string
-	std::string readTextFile(const char *fileName);
-	// Load a binary file into a buffer (e.g. SPIR-V)
-	char *readBinaryFile(const char *filename, size_t *psize);
 
-	// Load a SPIR-V shader
+	// @brief  Load a SPIR-V shader (binary) 
 #if defined(__ANDROID__)
 	VkShaderModule loadShader(AAssetManager* assetManager, const char *fileName, VkDevice device, VkShaderStageFlagBits stage);
 #else
 	VkShaderModule loadShader(const char *fileName, VkDevice device, VkShaderStageFlagBits stage);
 #endif
 
-	// Load a GLSL shader
-	// Note : Only for testing purposes, support for directly feeding GLSL shaders into Vulkan
-	// may be dropped at some point	
+	// Load a GLSL shader (text)
+	// Note: GLSL support requires vendor-specific extensions to be enabled and is not a core-feature of Vulkan
 	VkShaderModule loadShaderGLSL(const char *fileName, VkDevice device, VkShaderStageFlagBits stage);
 
 	// Returns a pre-present image memory barrier