diff --git a/engine/common/common.cpp b/engine/common/common.cpp
index 3340bad..01860a1 100644
--- a/engine/common/common.cpp
+++ b/engine/common/common.cpp
@@ -484,7 +484,7 @@ IndexedUTF32String IndexUTF8ToUTF32(std::string_view input)
 			byteIdx += 4;
 		}
 		else {
-			codepoints.push_back(0xFFFDu);
+			codepoint = 0xFFFDu;
 			byteIdx += 1;
 		}
 		codepoints.push_back(codepoint);
diff --git a/engine/system/sys_main.h b/engine/system/sys_main.h
index 1e662f1..5d83fc7 100644
--- a/engine/system/sys_main.h
+++ b/engine/system/sys_main.h
@@ -69,6 +69,7 @@ class sys_IMain {
 	int			processorCount = 0;
 	std::filesystem::path basePath;
 	std::optional<std::filesystem::path> userPath;
+	std::optional<std::string> userPathReason;
 
 	virtual int		GetTime() = 0;
 	virtual void	Sleep(int msec) = 0;
diff --git a/engine/system/win/sys_main.cpp b/engine/system/win/sys_main.cpp
index 51dec7e..3078e0d 100644
--- a/engine/system/win/sys_main.cpp
+++ b/engine/system/win/sys_main.cpp
@@ -564,9 +564,9 @@ std::filesystem::path FindBasePath()
 	progPath = basePath.data();
 #elif __linux__
 	char basePath[PATH_MAX];
-    ssize_t len = ::readlink("/proc/self/exe", basePath, sizeof(basePath));
-    if (len == -1 || len == sizeof(basePath))
-    	len = 0;
+	ssize_t len = ::readlink("/proc/self/exe", basePath, sizeof(basePath));
+	if (len == -1 || len == sizeof(basePath))
+		len = 0;
 	basePath[len] = '\0';
 	progPath = basePath;
 #elif __APPLE__ && __MACH__
@@ -575,34 +575,34 @@ std::filesystem::path FindBasePath()
 	proc_pidpath(pid, basePath, sizeof(basePath));
 	progPath = basePath;
 #endif
-	progPath = canonical(progPath);
+	progPath = weakly_canonical(progPath);
 	return progPath.parent_path();
 }
 
-std::optional<std::filesystem::path> FindUserPath()
+std::tuple<std::optional<std::filesystem::path>, std::optional<std::string>> FindUserPath()
 {
 #ifdef _WIN32
-    PWSTR osPath{};
-    HRESULT hr = SHGetKnownFolderPath(FOLDERID_Documents, KF_FLAG_DEFAULT, nullptr, &osPath);
+	PWSTR osPath{};
+	HRESULT hr = SHGetKnownFolderPath(FOLDERID_Documents, KF_FLAG_DEFAULT, nullptr, &osPath);
 	if (FAILED(hr)) {
 		// The path may be inaccessible due to malfunctioning cloud providers.
 		CoTaskMemFree(osPath);
-		return {};
+		return { {}, "Could not obtain Documents path from Windows" };
 	}
 	std::wstring pathStr = osPath;
 	CoTaskMemFree(osPath);
 	std::filesystem::path path(pathStr);
-	return canonical(path);
+	return { weakly_canonical(path), {} };
 #else
-    if (char const* data_home_path = getenv("XDG_DATA_HOME")) {
-        return data_home_path;
-    }
-    if (char const* home_path = getenv("HOME")) {
-        return std::filesystem::path(home_path) / ".local/share";
-    }
-    uid_t uid = getuid();
-    struct passwd *pw = getpwuid(uid);
-    return std::filesystem::path(pw->pw_dir) / ".local/share";
+	if (char const* data_home_path = getenv("XDG_DATA_HOME")) {
+		return { data_home_path, {} };
+	}
+	if (char const* home_path = getenv("HOME")) {
+		return { std::filesystem::path(home_path) / ".local/share", {} };
+	}
+	uid_t uid = getuid();
+	struct passwd *pw = getpwuid(uid);
+	return { std::filesystem::path(pw->pw_dir) / ".local/share", {} };
 #endif
 }
 
@@ -628,7 +628,7 @@ sys_main_c::sys_main_c()
 
 	// Set the local system information
 	basePath = FindBasePath();
-	userPath = FindUserPath();
+	std::tie(userPath, userPathReason) = FindUserPath();
 }
 
 bool sys_main_c::Run(int argc, char** argv)
diff --git a/ui_api.cpp b/ui_api.cpp
index aaa4694..3dba0b1 100644
--- a/ui_api.cpp
+++ b/ui_api.cpp
@@ -85,9 +85,9 @@
 ** compressed = Deflate(uncompressed)
 ** uncompressed = Inflate(compressed)
 ** msec = GetTime()
-** path = GetScriptPath()
-** path = GetRuntimePath()
-** path = GetUserPath() -- may return nil if the user path could not be determined
+** path[, pathACP[, err]] = GetScriptPath()
+** path[, pathACP[, err]] = GetRuntimePath()
+** path[, pathACP[, err]] = GetUserPath() -- may return nil if the user path could not be determined
 ** SetWorkDir("<path>")
 ** path = GetWorkDir()
 ** ssID = LaunchSubScript("<scriptText>", "<funcList>", "<subList>"[, ...])
@@ -1544,25 +1544,63 @@ static int l_GetScriptPath(lua_State* L)
 {
 	ui_main_c* ui = GetUIPtr(L);
 	lua_pushstring(L, ui->scriptPath.generic_u8string().c_str());
-	return 1;
+	try
+	{
+		lua_pushstring(L, ui->scriptPath.generic_string().c_str());
+		return 2;
+	}
+	catch (std::exception& e)
+	{
+		lua_pushnil(L);
+		lua_pushstring(L, e.what());
+		return 3;
+	}
 }
 
 static int l_GetRuntimePath(lua_State* L)
 {
 	ui_main_c* ui = GetUIPtr(L);
 	lua_pushstring(L, ui->sys->basePath.generic_u8string().c_str());
-	return 1;
+	try
+	{
+		lua_pushstring(L, ui->sys->basePath.generic_string().c_str());
+		return 2;
+	}
+	catch (std::exception& e)
+	{
+		lua_pushnil(L);
+		lua_pushstring(L, e.what());
+		return 3;
+	}
 }
 
 static int l_GetUserPath(lua_State* L)
 {
 	ui_main_c* ui = GetUIPtr(L);
 	auto& userPath = ui->sys->userPath;
-	if (userPath) {
-		lua_pushstring(L, userPath->generic_u8string().c_str());
-		return 1;
+	if (!userPath) {
+		lua_pushnil(L);
+		lua_pushnil(L);
+		if (auto& reason = ui->sys->userPathReason)
+		{
+			lua_pushstring(L, reason->c_str());
+			return 3;
+		}
+		return 2;
+	}
+
+	lua_pushstring(L, userPath->generic_u8string().c_str());
+	try
+	{
+		lua_pushstring(L, userPath->generic_string().c_str());
+		return 2;
+	}
+	catch (std::exception& e)
+	{
+		lua_pushnil(L);
+		lua_pushstring(L, e.what());
+		return 3;
 	}
-	return 0;
 }
 
 static int l_MakeDir(lua_State* L)