diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index b7a195b5..eecaca7a 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -277,6 +277,15 @@ IF(WIN32)
     INCLUDE_DIRECTORIES("${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR}/dependencies/mingw-xaudio/include")
 ENDIF()
 
+IF(MSVC)
+    SET(DEPS_MSVC "${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR}/dependencies/msvc")
+    IF(NOT EXISTS "${DEPS_MSVC}" AND EXISTS "${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR}/.git")
+        MESSAGE(FATAL_ERROR "Please pull in git submodules, e.g.\nrun: git submodule update --init --recursive")
+    ENDIF()
+
+    INCLUDE_DIRECTORIES("${DEPS_MSVC}") # for GL/glext.h
+ENDIF(MSVC)
+
 # Compiler flags
 
 IF(CMAKE_COMPILER_IS_GNUCXX OR CMAKE_CXX_COMPILER_ID STREQUAL Clang)
diff --git a/src/wx/CMakeLists.txt b/src/wx/CMakeLists.txt
index fb78fcf9..5099a66e 100644
--- a/src/wx/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/src/wx/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -149,10 +149,6 @@ ENDIF(WIN32 AND ENABLE_DIRECTX)
 # contrib widgets
 include_directories(widgets)
 
-IF(MSVC)
-    include_directories(../../dependencies/msvc) # for GL/glext.h
-ENDIF(MSVC)
-
 # for out-of-tree builds, grab includes from both target and source dirs
 include_directories(${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR})
 include_directories(${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR})