diff --git a/src/netcode/d_net.c b/src/netcode/d_net.c
index 99859ea4c0c9c05e3058b0bf8fcb6a9953d10c0b..4860d8688b4a8b998b59523c6cf52502c69d10ca 100644
--- a/src/netcode/d_net.c
+++ b/src/netcode/d_net.c
@@ -1143,7 +1143,7 @@ static void Internal_FreeNodenum(INT32 nodenum)
 
 char *I_NetSplitAddress(char *host, char **port)
 {
-	boolean v4 = (strchr(host, '.') != NULL);
+	boolean v4 = (host[0] != '[');
 
 	host = strtok(host, v4 ? ":" : "[]");