diff --git a/BizHawk.Client.Common/RomLoader.cs b/BizHawk.Client.Common/RomLoader.cs
index d57728bf83..8bbfd4b996 100644
--- a/BizHawk.Client.Common/RomLoader.cs
+++ b/BizHawk.Client.Common/RomLoader.cs
@@ -423,13 +423,16 @@ namespace BizHawk.Client.Common
 
 					if (nextEmulator == null)
 					{
-						ThrowLoadError("No core could load the rom.", "NULL");
+						ThrowLoadError("No core could load the rom.", null);
 						return false;
 					}
 				}
 				catch (Exception ex)
 				{
-					ThrowLoadError("Exception during loadgame:\n\n" + ex, "NULL");
+					string system = null;
+					if (game != null)
+						system = game.System;
+					ThrowLoadError("A core accepted the rom, but throw an exception while loading it:\n\n" + ex, system);
 					return false;
 				}
 
diff --git a/BizHawk.Client.EmuHawk/MainForm.cs b/BizHawk.Client.EmuHawk/MainForm.cs
index 0b91db9f9c..5cf37693f0 100644
--- a/BizHawk.Client.EmuHawk/MainForm.cs
+++ b/BizHawk.Client.EmuHawk/MainForm.cs
@@ -2911,7 +2911,11 @@ namespace BizHawk.Client.EmuHawk
 
 		private void ShowLoadError(object sender, RomLoader.RomErrorArgs e)
 		{
-			MessageBox.Show(this, e.Message, e.AttemptedCoreLoad + " load warning", MessageBoxButtons.OK, MessageBoxIcon.Warning);
+			string title = "load error";
+			if (e.AttemptedCoreLoad != null)
+				title = e.AttemptedCoreLoad + " load error";
+
+			MessageBox.Show(this, e.Message, title, MessageBoxButtons.OK, MessageBoxIcon.Error);
 		}
 
 		private void NotifyCoreComm(string message)
diff --git a/BizHawk.Emulation.Cores/Consoles/PC Engine/PCEngine.cs b/BizHawk.Emulation.Cores/Consoles/PC Engine/PCEngine.cs
index 0854c7ffa4..591004c52f 100644
--- a/BizHawk.Emulation.Cores/Consoles/PC Engine/PCEngine.cs	
+++ b/BizHawk.Emulation.Cores/Consoles/PC Engine/PCEngine.cs	
@@ -102,19 +102,18 @@ namespace BizHawk.Emulation.Cores.PCEngine
 				CoreComm.ShowMessage(
 					"The PCE-CD System Card you have selected is known to be a bad dump. This may cause problems playing PCE-CD games.\n\n"
 					+ "It is recommended that you find a good dump of the system card. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news!");
-				throw new Exception();
 			}
 			else if (biosInfo.NotInDatabase)
 			{
 				CoreComm.ShowMessage(
 					"The PCE-CD System Card you have selected is not recognized in our database. That might mean it's a bad dump, or isn't the correct rom.");
-				throw new Exception();
 			}
 			else if (biosInfo["BIOS"] == false)
 			{
+				//zeromus says: someone please write a note about how this could possibly happen.
+				//it seems like this is a relic of using gameDB for storing whether something is a bios? firmwareDB should be handling it now.
 				CoreComm.ShowMessage(
-					"The PCE-CD System Card you have selected is not a BIOS image. You may have selected the wrong rom.");
-				throw new Exception();
+					"The PCE-CD System Card you have selected is not a BIOS image. You may have selected the wrong rom. FYI-Please report this to developers, I don't think this error message should happen.");
 			}
 
 			if (biosInfo["SuperSysCard"])
diff --git a/BizHawk.Emulation.DiscSystem/Decoding.cs b/BizHawk.Emulation.DiscSystem/Decoding.cs
index b46d362de2..a6803335f4 100644
--- a/BizHawk.Emulation.DiscSystem/Decoding.cs
+++ b/BizHawk.Emulation.DiscSystem/Decoding.cs
@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@ namespace BizHawk.Emulation.DiscSystem
 			return args.Select(s => s.Contains(" ") ? string.Format("\"{0}\"", s) : s).ToArray();
 		}
 
-		static readonly Regex rxHasAudio = new Regex(@"Stream \#(\d*\.\d*)\: Audio", RegexOptions.Compiled);
+		static readonly Regex rxHasAudio = new Regex(@"Stream \#(\d*\:\d*)\: Audio", RegexOptions.Compiled);
 		public AudioQueryResult QueryAudio(string path)
 		{
 			var ret = new AudioQueryResult();
@@ -66,7 +66,8 @@ namespace BizHawk.Emulation.DiscSystem
 				};
 
 			Process proc = Process.Start(oInfo);
-			string result = proc.StandardError.ReadToEnd();
+			string result = proc.StandardOutput.ReadToEnd();
+			result += proc.StandardError.ReadToEnd();
 			proc.WaitForExit();
 
 			return result;