diff --git a/src/messagetypes/__init__.py b/src/messagetypes/__init__.py
index 774f8932..b9ddd1e9 100644
--- a/src/messagetypes/__init__.py
+++ b/src/messagetypes/__init__.py
@@ -1,18 +1,10 @@
 import logging
-from importlib import import_module
-from os import listdir, path
 
-from pybitmessage import paths
+from importlib import import_module
 
 logger = logging.getLogger('default')
 
 
-class MsgBase(object):  # pylint: disable=too-few-public-methods
-    """Base class for message types"""
-    def __init__(self):
-        self.data = {"": type(self).__name__.lower()}
-
-
 def constructObject(data):
     """Constructing an object"""
     whitelist = ["message"]
@@ -40,14 +32,19 @@ def constructObject(data):
         return returnObj
 
 
-if paths.frozen is not None:
-    import message  # noqa : F401 flake8: disable=unused-import
-    import vote  # noqa : F401 flake8: disable=unused-import
+try:
+    from pybitmessage import paths
+except ImportError:
+    paths = None
+
+if paths and paths.frozen is not None:
+    from . import message, vote  # noqa: F401 flake8: disable=unused-import
 else:
-    for mod in listdir(path.dirname(__file__)):
+    import os
+    for mod in os.listdir(os.path.dirname(__file__)):
         if mod == "__init__.py":
             continue
-        splitted = path.splitext(mod)
+        splitted = os.path.splitext(mod)
         if splitted[1] != ".py":
             continue
         try:
diff --git a/src/messagetypes/message.py b/src/messagetypes/message.py
index a3ceafe5..245c753f 100644
--- a/src/messagetypes/message.py
+++ b/src/messagetypes/message.py
@@ -1,10 +1,14 @@
 import logging
 
-from pybitmessage.messagetypes import MsgBase
-
 logger = logging.getLogger('default')
 
 
+class MsgBase(object):  # pylint: disable=too-few-public-methods
+    """Base class for message types"""
+    def __init__(self):
+        self.data = {"": type(self).__name__.lower()}
+
+
 class Message(MsgBase):
     """Encapsulate a message"""
     # pylint: disable=attribute-defined-outside-init
diff --git a/src/messagetypes/vote.py b/src/messagetypes/vote.py
index b494c15d..b3e96513 100644
--- a/src/messagetypes/vote.py
+++ b/src/messagetypes/vote.py
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 import logging
 
-from pybitmessage.messagetypes import MsgBase
+from .message import MsgBase
 
 logger = logging.getLogger('default')