diff --git a/gguf-py/gguf/vocab.py b/gguf-py/gguf/vocab.py
index 8dea75e48..b245a328b 100644
--- a/gguf-py/gguf/vocab.py
+++ b/gguf-py/gguf/vocab.py
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@ from .gguf_writer import GGUFWriter
 
 class SpecialVocab:
     merges: list[str]
+    add_special_token: dict[str, bool]
     special_token_ids: dict[str, int]
 
     def __init__(
@@ -19,6 +20,7 @@ class SpecialVocab:
         n_vocab: int | None = None,
     ):
         self.special_token_ids = {}
+        self.add_special_token = {}
         self.n_vocab = n_vocab
         self.load_merges = load_merges
         self.merges = []
@@ -29,13 +31,16 @@ class SpecialVocab:
         self._load(Path(path))
 
     def __repr__(self) -> str:
-        return f'<SpecialVocab with {len(self.merges)} merges and special tokens {self.special_token_ids or "unset"}>'
+        return f'<SpecialVocab with {len(self.merges)} merges, special tokens {self.special_token_ids or "unset"}, add special tokens {self.add_special_token or "unset"}>'
 
     def add_to_gguf(self, gw: GGUFWriter, quiet: bool = False) -> None:
         if self.merges:
             if not quiet:
                 print(f'gguf: Adding {len(self.merges)} merge(s).')
             gw.add_token_merges(self.merges)
+        elif self.load_merges:
+            print('gguf: WARNING: Adding merges requested but no merges found, output may be non-functional.',
+                file = sys.stderr)
         for typ, tokid in self.special_token_ids.items():
             handler: Callable[[int], None] | None = getattr(gw, f'add_{typ}_token_id', None)
             if handler is None:
@@ -47,15 +52,49 @@ class SpecialVocab:
             if not quiet:
                 print(f'gguf: Setting special token type {typ} to {tokid}')
             handler(tokid)
+        for typ, add in self.add_special_token.items():
+            if not quiet:
+                print(f'gguf: Setting add special token type {typ} to {add}')
+            gw.add_bool(f'tokenizer.ggml.add_{typ}_token', add)
 
     def _load(self, path: Path) -> None:
-        if not self._try_load_from_tokenizer_json(path):
-            self._try_load_from_config_json(path)
+        self._try_load_from_tokenizer_json(path)
+        self._try_load_from_config_json(path)
+        if self.load_merges and not self.merges:
+            self._try_load_merges_txt(path)
+
+    def _try_load_merges_txt(self, path: Path) -> bool:
+        merges_file = path / 'merges.txt'
+        if not merges_file.is_file():
+            return False
+        with open(merges_file, 'r') as fp:
+            first_line = next(fp, '').strip()
+            if not first_line.startswith('#'):
+                fp.seek(0)
+                line_num = 0
+            else:
+                line_num = 1
+            merges = []
+            for line in fp:
+                line_num += 1
+                line = line.strip()
+                if len(line) == 0:
+                    continue
+                parts = line.split(None, 3)
+                if len(parts) != 2:
+                    print(f'gguf: WARNING: {merges_file.name}: Line {line_num}: Entry malformed, ignoring',
+                        file = sys.stderr)
+                    continue
+                merges.append(f'{parts[0]} {parts[1]}')
+        self.merges = merges
+        return True
 
     def _set_special_token(self, typ: str, tid: Any) -> None:
         if not isinstance(tid, int) or tid < 0:
             return
         if self.n_vocab is None or tid < self.n_vocab:
+            if typ in self.special_token_ids:
+                return
             self.special_token_ids[typ] = tid
             return
         print(
@@ -80,6 +119,9 @@ class SpecialVocab:
         with open(tokenizer_config_file, encoding = 'utf-8') as f:
             tokenizer_config = json.load(f)
         for typ in self.special_token_types:
+            add_entry = tokenizer_config.get(f'add_{typ}_token')
+            if isinstance(add_entry, bool):
+                self.add_special_token[typ] = add_entry
             entry = tokenizer_config.get(f'{typ}_token')
             if isinstance(entry, str):
                 tc_content = entry