diff --git a/src/filesystem/filesystem.cpp b/src/filesystem/filesystem.cpp
index 7e707ebd..10f8d5b4 100644
--- a/src/filesystem/filesystem.cpp
+++ b/src/filesystem/filesystem.cpp
@@ -282,7 +282,14 @@ struct FileSystemPrivate {
 
 static void throwPhysfsError(const char *desc) {
   PHYSFS_ErrorCode ec = PHYSFS_getLastErrorCode();
-  const char *englishStr = PHYSFS_getErrorByCode(ec);
+  const char *englishStr;
+    if (ec == 0) {
+        // Sometimes on Windows PHYSFS_init can return null
+        // but the error code never changes
+        englishStr = "unknown error";
+    } else {
+        englishStr = PHYSFS_getErrorByCode(ec);
+    }
 
   throw Exception(Exception::PHYSFSError, "%s: %s", desc, englishStr);
 }
diff --git a/src/main.cpp b/src/main.cpp
index d7f51047..47792213 100644
--- a/src/main.cpp
+++ b/src/main.cpp
@@ -395,7 +395,7 @@ int main(int argc, char *argv[]) {
     ALCdevice *alcDev = alcOpenDevice(0);
 
     if (!alcDev) {
-      showInitError("Error opening OpenAL device");
+      showInitError("Could not detect an available audio device.");
       SDL_DestroyWindow(win);
       TTF_Quit();
       IMG_Quit();
@@ -517,7 +517,7 @@ static SDL_GLContext initGL(SDL_Window *win, Config &conf,
   glCtx = SDL_GL_CreateContext(win);
 
   if (!glCtx) {
-    GLINIT_SHOWERROR(std::string("Error creating context: ") + SDL_GetError());
+    GLINIT_SHOWERROR(std::string("Could not create OpenGL context: ") + SDL_GetError());
     return 0;
   }