diff --git a/external/external_build.cmake b/external/external_build.cmake
index ace4c8f..c3d63ab 100644
--- a/external/external_build.cmake
+++ b/external/external_build.cmake
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ SET(FFTW_URL "http://www.fftw.org/fftw-3.3.3.tar.gz" CACHE URL "URL to download
 SET(EIGEN_URL "http://bitbucket.org/eigen/eigen/get/3.2.10.tar.gz" CACHE URL "URL to download Eigen from")
 SET(GENGETOPT_URL "ftp://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/gengetopt/gengetopt-2.22.5.tar.gz" CACHE STRING "URL to download gengetopt from")
 SET(HDF5_URL "https://support.hdfgroup.org/ftp/HDF5/releases/hdf5-1.8/hdf5-1.8.18/src/hdf5-1.8.18.tar.gz" CACHE STRING "URL to download HDF5 from")
-SET(NETCDF_URL "ftp://ftp.unidata.ucar.edu/pub/netcdf/netcdf-4.4.1.1.tar.gz" CACHE STRING "URL to download NetCDF from")
+SET(NETCDF_URL "ftp://ftp.unidata.ucar.edu/pub/netcdf/netcdf-4.5.0.tar.gz" CACHE STRING "URL to download NetCDF from")
 SET(NETCDFCXX_URL "https://github.com/Unidata/netcdf-cxx4/archive/v4.3.0.tar.gz" CACHE STRING "URL to download NetCDF-C++ from")
 SET(BOOST_URL "http://sourceforge.net/projects/boost/files/boost/1.61.0/boost_1_61_0.tar.gz/download" CACHE STRING "URL to download Boost from")
 SET(GSL_URL "ftp://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/gsl/gsl-1.15.tar.gz" CACHE STRING "URL to download GSL from ")
@@ -93,9 +93,11 @@ if (INTERNAL_HDF5)
   SET(HDF5_ROOTDIR ${HDF5_BIN_DIR})
   SET(CONFIGURE_LDFLAGS "${CONFIGURE_LDFLAGS} -L${HDF5_BIN_DIR}/lib")
   SET(CONFIGURE_LIBS "${CONFIGURE_LIBS} -ldl")
-  set(HDF5_LIBRARIES ${HDF5_BIN_DIR}/lib/libhdf5.a CACHE STRING "HDF5 lib" FORCE)
-  set(HDF5_HL_LIBRARIES ${HDF5_BIN_DIR}/lib/libhdf5_hl.a CACHE STRING "HDF5 HL lib" FORCE)
-  set(HDF5_CXX_LIBRARIES ${HDF5_BIN_DIR}/lib/libhdf5_cpp.a CACHE STRING "HDF5 C++ lib" FORCE)
+  set(HDF5_C_STATIC_LIBRARY ${HDF5_BIN_DIR}/lib/libhdf5-static.a)
+  set(HDF5_HL_STATIC_LIBRARY ${HDF5_BIN_DIR}/lib/libhdf5_hl-static.a)
+  set(HDF5_LIBRARIES ${HDF5_BIN_DIR}/lib/libhdf5-static.a CACHE STRING "HDF5 lib" FORCE)
+  set(HDF5_HL_LIBRARIES ${HDF5_BIN_DIR}/lib/libhdf5_hl-static.a CACHE STRING "HDF5 HL lib" FORCE)
+  set(HDF5_CXX_LIBRARIES ${HDF5_BIN_DIR}/lib/libhdf5_cpp-static.a CACHE STRING "HDF5 C++ lib" FORCE)
   SET(HDF5_INCLUDE_DIRS ${HDF5_BIN_DIR}/include CACHE STRING "HDF5 include path" FORCE)
   mark_as_advanced(HDF5_LIBRARIES HDF5_CXX_LIBRARIES HDF5_INCLUDE_DIRS)
 
@@ -114,6 +116,7 @@ else (INTERNAL_HDF5)
     cmessage(STATUS "HDF5 lib: ${HDF5_LIBRARIES}")
     cmessage(STATUS "HDF5 includes: ${HDF5_INCLUDE_DIRS}")
     cmessage(STATUS "HDF5 C lib: ${HDF5_C_LIBRARY}")
+    cmessage(STATUS "HDF5 HL lib: ${HDF5_HL_LIBRARY}")
     cmessage(STATUS "HDF5 BIN: ${HDF5_BIN_DIR}")
     foreach(hdf5lib IN LISTS HDF5_LIBRARIES)
       if (${hdf5lib} MATCHES "(hdf5)|(HDF5)")
@@ -167,6 +170,9 @@ if (INTERNAL_NETCDF)
 		-DENABLE_NETCDF4=ON
                 -DENABLE_DAP=OFF
 		-DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=${NETCDF_BIN_DIR}
+                -DHDF5_C_LIBRARY=${HDF5_C_STATIC_LIBRARY}
+                -DHDF5_HL_LIBRARY=${HDF5_HL_STATIC_LIBRARY}
+                -DHDF5_INCLUDE_DIR=${HDF5_INCLUDE_DIRS}
   )
   
   SET(NETCDFCXX_SOURCE_DIR ${BUILD_PREFIX}/netcdf-c++-prefix/src/netcdf-c++)
diff --git a/python/_cosmotool.pyx b/python/_cosmotool.pyx
index 5ef1c1a..d8865e7 100644
--- a/python/_cosmotool.pyx
+++ b/python/_cosmotool.pyx
@@ -452,7 +452,7 @@ def loadParallelGadget(object filename_list, int gadgetFormat = 1, bool loadPosi
   filenames.resize(num_files)
   data = alloc_simudata(num_files)
   for i,l in enumerate(filename_list):
-    filenames[i] = l
+    filenames[i] = l.encode('utf-8')
   
   with nogil:
     for i in prange(num_files):