diff --git a/src/client/content_cao.cpp b/src/client/content_cao.cpp
index 5d98f3fe8..5a8e1222f 100644
--- a/src/client/content_cao.cpp
+++ b/src/client/content_cao.cpp
@@ -917,6 +917,9 @@ void GenericCAO::setNodeLight(const video::SColor &light_color)
 			return;
 		setColorParam(node, light_color);
 	} else {
+		// TODO refactor vertex colors to be separate from the other vertex attributes
+		// instead of mutating meshes / buffers for everyone via setMeshColor.
+		// (Note: There are a couple more places here where setMeshColor is used.)
 		if (m_meshnode) {
 			setMeshColor(m_meshnode->getMesh(), light_color);
 		} else if (m_animated_meshnode) {
diff --git a/src/gui/guiScene.cpp b/src/gui/guiScene.cpp
index a41cf0782..f30c4f3d1 100644
--- a/src/gui/guiScene.cpp
+++ b/src/gui/guiScene.cpp
@@ -9,6 +9,8 @@
 #include <IVideoDriver.h>
 #include "IAttributes.h"
 #include "porting.h"
+#include "client/mesh.h"
+#include "settings.h"
 
 GUIScene::GUIScene(gui::IGUIEnvironment *env, scene::ISceneManager *smgr,
 		   gui::IGUIElement *parent, core::recti rect, s32 id)
@@ -96,6 +98,11 @@ void GUIScene::draw()
 	if (m_inf_rot)
 		rotateCamera(v3f(0.f, -0.03f * (float)dtime_ms, 0.f));
 
+	// HACK restore mesh vertex colors to full brightness:
+	// They may have been mutated in entity rendering code before.
+	if (!g_settings->getBool("enable_shaders"))
+		setMeshColor(m_mesh->getMesh(), irr::video::SColor(0xFFFFFFFF));
+
 	m_smgr->drawAll();
 
 	if (m_initial_rotation && m_mesh) {