diff --git a/matlab/TCV/gdat_tcv.m b/matlab/TCV/gdat_tcv.m
index b3f2a162063fecfe5b004dea6b2f3bd15ffcc27a..40a7ebd51e7be3ac7fbfb54eb57cf16d353f0dde 100644
--- a/matlab/TCV/gdat_tcv.m
+++ b/matlab/TCV/gdat_tcv.m
@@ -337,8 +337,9 @@ end
 % special treatment for model shot=-1 or preparation shot >=900'000
 begstr = '';
 if (iscell(mapping_for_tcv.expression) || isempty(strfind(mapping_for_tcv.expression,'\rtc::'))) && ...
-      ~isempty(shot) && (shot==-1 || (shot>=900000 && shot <= 999999 ) || liuqe_version==-1 )
-  % requires FBTE
+    ~isempty(shot) && (shot==-1 || (shot>=900000 && shot <= 999999 ) || liuqe_version==-1 ) &&  ...
+    isempty(findstr(mapping_for_tcv.expression,'tcv_eq'))
+  % requires FBTE (if tcv_eq in expression, liuqe target will be modified to FBTE below with regexprep)
   liuqe_version_eff = -1;
   begstr = 'tcv_eq( "';
   substr_liuqe = '", "FBTE" )';