diff --git a/src/blockchain.rs b/src/blockchain.rs
index abd6db203..98b3bfbd1 100644
--- a/src/blockchain.rs
+++ b/src/blockchain.rs
@@ -248,6 +248,14 @@ impl BlockChain {
 		bc
 	}
 
+	/// Ensure that the best block does indeed have a state_root in the state DB.
+	/// If it doesn't, then rewind down until we find one that does and delete data to ensure that
+	/// later blocks will be reimported. 
+	pub fn ensure_good(&mut self, _state: &OverlayDB) {
+		info!("Rescuing database.");
+		// TODO.
+	}
+
 	/// Returns a tree route between `from` and `to`, which is a tuple of:
 	///
 	/// - a vector of hashes of all blocks, ordered from `from` to `to`.
diff --git a/src/client.rs b/src/client.rs
index dd036a858..19a858564 100644
--- a/src/client.rs
+++ b/src/client.rs
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 use util::*;
-use rocksdb::{DB};
+use rocksdb::{Options, DB};
+use rocksdb::DBCompactionStyle::DBUniversalCompaction;
 use blockchain::{BlockChain, BlockProvider};
 use views::BlockView;
 use error::*;
@@ -111,19 +112,42 @@ impl Client {
 	/// Create a new client with given spec and DB path.
 	pub fn new(spec: Spec, path: &Path, message_channel: IoChannel<NetSyncMessage> ) -> Result<Client, Error> {
 		let chain = Arc::new(RwLock::new(BlockChain::new(&spec.genesis_block(), path)));
-		let engine = Arc::new(try!(spec.to_engine()));
+		let mut opts = Options::new();
+		opts.create_if_missing(true);
+		opts.set_max_open_files(256);
+		opts.set_use_fsync(false);
+		opts.set_bytes_per_sync(8388608);
+		opts.set_disable_data_sync(false);
+		opts.set_block_cache_size_mb(1024);
+		opts.set_table_cache_num_shard_bits(6);
+		opts.set_max_write_buffer_number(32);
+		opts.set_write_buffer_size(536870912);
+		opts.set_target_file_size_base(1073741824);
+		opts.set_min_write_buffer_number_to_merge(4);
+		opts.set_level_zero_stop_writes_trigger(2000);
+		opts.set_level_zero_slowdown_writes_trigger(0);
+		opts.set_compaction_style(DBUniversalCompaction);
+		opts.set_max_background_compactions(4);
+		opts.set_max_background_flushes(4);
+		opts.set_filter_deletes(false);
+		opts.set_disable_auto_compactions(true);		
+
 		let mut state_path = path.to_path_buf();
 		state_path.push("state");
-		let db = DB::open_default(state_path.to_str().unwrap()).unwrap();
+		let db = DB::open(&opts, state_path.to_str().unwrap()).unwrap();
 		let mut state_db = OverlayDB::new(db);
+		
+		let engine = Arc::new(try!(spec.to_engine()));
 		engine.spec().ensure_db_good(&mut state_db);
 		state_db.commit().expect("Error commiting genesis state to state DB");
 
+		chain.write().unwrap().ensure_good(&state_db);
+
 		Ok(Client {
-			chain: chain.clone(),
+			chain: chain,
 			engine: engine.clone(),
 			state_db: state_db,
-			queue: BlockQueue::new(engine.clone(), message_channel),
+			queue: BlockQueue::new(engine, message_channel),
 		})
 	}