diff --git a/apps/openmw/CMakeLists.txt b/apps/openmw/CMakeLists.txt
index be583ea749..eb502de384 100644
--- a/apps/openmw/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/apps/openmw/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -159,3 +159,10 @@ if (BUILD_WITH_CODE_COVERAGE)
   add_definitions (--coverage)
   target_link_libraries(openmw gcov)
 endif()
+
+if (MSVC)
+    # Debug version needs increased number of sections beyond 2^16
+    if (CMAKE_CL_64)
+        set (CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS_DEBUG "${CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS_DEBUG} /bigobj")
+    endif (CMAKE_CL_64)
+endif (MSVC)