From 59aa895ec29ea8006a0e97b638331170068961f6 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Dino <macwiz23@comcast.net>
Date: Mon, 5 Oct 2026 22:28:52 -0400
Subject: [PATCH] improve error message when secfile not found

RM #2319
---
 server/fcdb.c      |  8 ++++++++
 server/stdinhand.c | 15 ++++++++++++++-
 2 files changed, 22 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)

diff --git a/server/fcdb.c b/server/fcdb.c
index a4b41a3abc..64a1822d39 100644
--- a/server/fcdb.c
+++ b/server/fcdb.c
@@ -122,9 +122,17 @@ static bool fcdb_load_config(const char *filename)
 {
   struct section_file *secfile;
   const char *val;
+  struct stat buf;
 
   fc_assert_ret_val(filename != nullptr, FALSE);
 
+  /* does file exist? */
+  if (fc_stat(filename, &buf) != 0) {
+    log_error(_("Cannot load fcdb config file '%s':\n%s"), filename,
+              fc_strerror(fc_get_errno()));
+    return FALSE;
+  }
+
   if (!(secfile = secfile_load(filename, FALSE))) {
     log_error(_("Cannot load fcdb config file '%s':\n%s"), filename,
               secfile_error());
diff --git a/server/stdinhand.c b/server/stdinhand.c
index 8b20f354ad..bea45f8296 100644
--- a/server/stdinhand.c
+++ b/server/stdinhand.c
@@ -3851,8 +3851,21 @@ bool load_command(struct connection *caller, const char *filename, bool check,
     }
   }
 
-  /* Attempt to parse the file */
+  {
+    struct stat buf;
+
+    /* does file exist? */
+    if (fc_stat(arg, &buf) != 0) {
+      log_error("Error loading savefile '%s': %s", arg,
+                fc_strerror(fc_get_errno()));
+      cmd_reply(CMD_LOAD, caller, C_FAIL, _("Could not load savefile: %s"),
+                arg);
+      dlsend_packet_game_load(game.est_connections, FALSE, arg);
+      return FALSE;
+    }
+  }
 
+  /* Attempt to parse the file */
   if (!(file = secfile_load(arg, FALSE))) {
     log_error("Error loading savefile '%s': %s", arg, secfile_error());
     cmd_reply(CMD_LOAD, caller, C_FAIL, _("Could not load savefile: %s"),
-- 
2.31.0