diff --git a/BizHawk.Emulation/Consoles/Nintendo/NES/BoardDetector.cs b/BizHawk.Emulation/Consoles/Nintendo/NES/BoardDetector.cs
index 280351f4f3..c8b0998706 100644
--- a/BizHawk.Emulation/Consoles/Nintendo/NES/BoardDetector.cs
+++ b/BizHawk.Emulation/Consoles/Nintendo/NES/BoardDetector.cs
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@ namespace BizHawk.Emulation.Consoles.Nintendo
 		{
 			public static string Detect(RomInfo romInfo)
 			{
-				string key = string.Format("{0}	{1}	{2}",romInfo.MapperNumber,romInfo.PRG_Size,romInfo.CHR_Size);
+				string key = string.Format("{0}	{1}	{2}	{3}",romInfo.MapperNumber,romInfo.PRG_Size,romInfo.CHR_Size,romInfo.PRAM_Size);
 				string board;
 				Table.TryGetValue(key, out board);
 				return board;
@@ -30,27 +30,31 @@ namespace BizHawk.Emulation.Consoles.Nintendo
 				while ((line = sr.ReadLine()) != null)
 				{
 					var parts = line.Split('\t');
-					if (parts.Length < 4) continue;
-					line = line.Replace(parts[3],"");
-					line = line.TrimEnd('\t');
-					Table[line] = parts[3];
+					if (parts.Length < 5) continue;
+					string key = parts[0] + "\t" + parts[1] + "\t" + parts[2] + "\t" + parts[3];
+					string board = line.Replace(key, "");
+					board = board.TrimStart('\t');
+					if (board.IndexOf(';') != -1)
+						board = board.Substring(0, board.IndexOf(';'));
+					Table[key] = board;
 				}
 			}
-//MAP	PRG	CHR	BOARD
+//MAP	PRG	CHR	PRAM	BOARD
 			static string ClassifyTable = @"
-0	1	1	NROM
-0	2	1	NROM
-2	8	0	UNROM
-2	16	0	UOROM
-3	2	2	CNROM
-3	2	4	CNROM
-7	8	0	ANROM
-7	16	0	AOROM
-11	4	2	Discrete_74x377
-11	2	4	Discrete_74x377
-13	2	0	CPROM
-66	4	2	GxROM
-66	8	4	GxROM
+0	1	1	0	NROM
+0	2	1	0	NROM
+1	8	0	8	SNROM;	this handles zelda,
+2	8	0	0	UNROM
+2	16	0	0	UOROM
+3	2	2	0	CNROM
+3	2	4	0	CNROM
+7	8	0	0	ANROM
+7	16	0	0	AOROM
+11	4	2	0	Discrete_74x377
+11	2	4	0	Discrete_74x377
+13	2	0	0	CPROM
+66	4	2	0	GxROM
+66	8	4	0	GxROM
 ";
 
 		}
diff --git a/BizHawk.Emulation/Consoles/Nintendo/NES/NES.cs b/BizHawk.Emulation/Consoles/Nintendo/NES/NES.cs
index 86e5d2b399..988e9ef446 100644
--- a/BizHawk.Emulation/Consoles/Nintendo/NES/NES.cs
+++ b/BizHawk.Emulation/Consoles/Nintendo/NES/NES.cs
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 using System;
+using System.Linq;
 using System.Diagnostics;
 using System.Globalization;
 using System.IO;
@@ -20,12 +21,12 @@ namespace BizHawk.Emulation.Consoles.Nintendo
         //the main rom class that contains all information necessary for the board to operate
 		public class RomInfo
 		{
-			public enum EHeaderType
+			public enum EInfoSource
 			{
-				None, INes
+				None, INesHeader, GameDatabase
 			}
 
-			public EHeaderType HeaderType;
+			public EInfoSource InfoSource;
 			public int PRG_Size = -1, CHR_Size = -1;
 			public int CRAM_Size = -1, PRAM_Size = -1;
 			public string BoardName;
@@ -587,12 +588,16 @@ namespace BizHawk.Emulation.Consoles.Nintendo
 			}
 		}
 
+		//turning this off probably doesnt work right now due to asserts in boards finding things set by the iNES header parsing
+		//need to separate those fields
 		const bool ENABLE_DB = true;
 
 		public unsafe void LoadGame(IGame game)
 		{
 			byte[] file = game.GetFileData();
-			if (file.Length < 16) throw new InvalidOperationException("Alleged NES rom too small to be anything useful");
+			if (file.Length < 16) throw new Exception("Alleged NES rom too small to be anything useful");
+			if (file.Take(4).SequenceEqual(System.Text.Encoding.ASCII.GetBytes("UNIF")))
+				throw new Exception("You've tried to open a UNIF rom. We don't have any UNIF roms to test with. Please consult the developers.");
 			fixed (byte* bfile = &file[0])
 			{
 				var header = (iNES_HEADER*)bfile;
@@ -620,11 +625,13 @@ namespace BizHawk.Emulation.Consoles.Nintendo
 						throw new InvalidOperationException("Couldn't detect board type");
 					romInfo.BoardName = board;
 					Console.WriteLine("board detected as " + board);
+					romInfo.InfoSource = RomInfo.EInfoSource.INesHeader;
 				}
 				else
 				{
 					Console.WriteLine("found game in database: {0}", gi.Name);
 					romInfo = new RomInfo();
+					romInfo.InfoSource = RomInfo.EInfoSource.GameDatabase;
 					romInfo.MD5 = hash;
 					var dict = gi.ParseOptionsDictionary();
 					if (dict.ContainsKey("board"))
diff --git a/BizHawk.MultiClient/MainForm.cs b/BizHawk.MultiClient/MainForm.cs
index ec9a75a804..72cb123edf 100644
--- a/BizHawk.MultiClient/MainForm.cs
+++ b/BizHawk.MultiClient/MainForm.cs
@@ -419,6 +419,11 @@ namespace BizHawk.MultiClient
 					break;
 			}
 
+			if (Global.Emulator is NullEmulator)
+			{
+				throw new Exception();
+			}
+
 			Global.Emulator.LoadGame(game);
 			Text = DisplayNameForSystem(game.System) + " - " + game.Name;
 			ResetRewindBuffer();
@@ -474,6 +479,7 @@ namespace BizHawk.MultiClient
 				writer.Write(Global.Emulator.SaveRam, 0, len);
 				writer.Close();
 			}
+			Global.Emulator = new NullEmulator();
 		}
 
 		[System.Security.SuppressUnmanagedCodeSecurity, DllImport("User32.dll", CharSet = CharSet.Auto)]
diff --git a/BizHawk.MultiClient/Program.cs b/BizHawk.MultiClient/Program.cs
index 45bfaaaf1e..0625cb9c22 100644
--- a/BizHawk.MultiClient/Program.cs
+++ b/BizHawk.MultiClient/Program.cs
@@ -29,7 +29,7 @@ namespace BizHawk.MultiClient
 				mf.Show();
 				mf.ProgramRunLoop();
             } catch (Exception e) {
-                MessageBox.Show(e.ToString(), "Oh, no, a terrible thing happened!");
+				MessageBox.Show(e.ToString(), "Oh, no, a terrible thing happened!\n\n" + e.ToString());
             } finally {
                 if (Global.DSound != null && Global.DSound.Disposed == false)
                     Global.DSound.Dispose();