diff --git a/src/core/cheats.c b/src/core/cheats.c
index 1ffe91adf..2fc97c3ac 100644
--- a/src/core/cheats.c
+++ b/src/core/cheats.c
@@ -627,6 +627,9 @@ void mCheatAutosave(struct mCheatDevice* device) {
 	if (!device->autosave) {
 		return;
 	}
+	if (!device->p->dirs.cheats) {
+		return;
+	}
 	struct VFile* vf = mDirectorySetOpenSuffix(&device->p->dirs, device->p->dirs.cheats, ".cheats", O_WRONLY | O_CREAT | O_TRUNC);
 	if (!vf) {
 		return;
diff --git a/src/core/core.c b/src/core/core.c
index 20f9fdefc..789656ea4 100644
--- a/src/core/core.c
+++ b/src/core/core.c
@@ -245,14 +245,16 @@ bool mCoreAutoloadPatch(struct mCore* core) {
 }
 
 bool mCoreAutoloadCheats(struct mCore* core) {
-	bool success = true;
+	bool success = !!core->dirs.cheats;
 	int cheatAuto;
-	if (!mCoreConfigGetIntValue(&core->config, "cheatAutoload", &cheatAuto) || cheatAuto) {
+	if (success && (!mCoreConfigGetIntValue(&core->config, "cheatAutoload", &cheatAuto) || cheatAuto)) {
 		struct VFile* vf = mDirectorySetOpenSuffix(&core->dirs, core->dirs.cheats, ".cheats", O_RDONLY);
 		if (vf) {
 			struct mCheatDevice* device = core->cheatDevice(core);
 			success = mCheatParseFile(device, vf);
 			vf->close(vf);
+		} else {
+			success = false;
 		}
 	}
 	if (!mCoreConfigGetIntValue(&core->config, "cheatAutosave", &cheatAuto) || cheatAuto) {