std::string s(""); s = ""; calls the copy constructor, which in turn calls strlen(), … assigning a default-constructed string generates fewer instructions and is therefore preferred.
With C++11 uniform initialization, you’d simply write s = { } instead.
Commit 7e5a0acc48 made changes to HL1MDLLoader.cpp. Several variables have been renamed. A loop variable 'i' was renamed to faceIdx, but one reference was left unchanged.