diff --git a/src/core/gpu.cpp b/src/core/gpu.cpp
index 9ac759aae..adbe964d1 100644
--- a/src/core/gpu.cpp
+++ b/src/core/gpu.cpp
@@ -44,7 +44,7 @@ bool GPU::Initialize()
   g_host_display->SetDisplayLinearFiltering(g_settings.display_linear_filtering);
   g_host_display->SetDisplayIntegerScaling(g_settings.display_integer_scaling);
   g_host_display->SetDisplayStretch(g_settings.display_stretch);
-  if (g_settings.display_post_processing &&
+  if (g_settings.display_post_processing && !g_settings.display_post_process_chain.empty() &&
       !g_host_display->SetPostProcessingChain(g_settings.display_post_process_chain))
   {
     Host::AddOSDMessage(Host::TranslateStdString("OSDMessage", "Failed to load post processing shader chain."), 20.0f);
diff --git a/src/core/system.cpp b/src/core/system.cpp
index 94eda80f8..54c02aa8d 100644
--- a/src/core/system.cpp
+++ b/src/core/system.cpp
@@ -3179,7 +3179,7 @@ void System::CheckForSettingsChanges(const Settings& old_settings)
     if (g_settings.display_post_processing != old_settings.display_post_processing ||
         g_settings.display_post_process_chain != old_settings.display_post_process_chain)
     {
-      if (g_settings.display_post_processing)
+      if (g_settings.display_post_processing && !g_settings.display_post_process_chain.empty())
       {
         if (!g_host_display->SetPostProcessingChain(g_settings.display_post_process_chain))
           Host::AddOSDMessage(Host::TranslateStdString("OSDMessage", "Failed to load post processing shader chain."),