diff --git a/rpcs3/rpcs3qt/config_adapter.cpp b/rpcs3/rpcs3qt/config_adapter.cpp
index 5a529e407b..9b5af24fb1 100644
--- a/rpcs3/rpcs3qt/config_adapter.cpp
+++ b/rpcs3/rpcs3qt/config_adapter.cpp
@@ -3,6 +3,8 @@
 #include "config_adapter.h"
 #include "Emu/system_config.h"
 
+LOG_CHANNEL(cfg_log, "CFG");
+
 // Helper methods to interact with YAML and the config settings.
 namespace cfg_adapter
 {
@@ -29,7 +31,18 @@ namespace cfg_adapter
 
 	YAML::Node get_node(const YAML::Node& node, cfg_location::const_iterator begin, cfg_location::const_iterator end)
 	{
-		return begin == end ? node : get_node(node[*begin], begin + 1, end); // TODO
+		if (begin == end)
+		{
+			return node;
+		}
+
+		if (!node || !node.IsMap())
+		{
+			cfg_log.fatal("Node error. A cfg_location does not match its cfg::node");
+			return YAML::Node();
+		}
+
+		return get_node(node[*begin], begin + 1, end); // TODO
 	}
 
 	YAML::Node get_node(const YAML::Node& node, cfg_location loc)
diff --git a/rpcs3/rpcs3qt/emu_settings.cpp b/rpcs3/rpcs3qt/emu_settings.cpp
index 053c7fce31..82b751e237 100644
--- a/rpcs3/rpcs3qt/emu_settings.cpp
+++ b/rpcs3/rpcs3qt/emu_settings.cpp
@@ -500,12 +500,24 @@ QStringList emu_settings::GetSettingOptions(emu_settings_type type) const
 
 std::string emu_settings::GetSettingDefault(emu_settings_type type) const
 {
-	return cfg_adapter::get_node(m_defaultSettings, settings_location[type]).Scalar();
+	if (auto node = cfg_adapter::get_node(m_defaultSettings, settings_location[type]); node && node.IsScalar())
+	{
+		return node.Scalar();
+	}
+	
+	cfg_log.fatal("GetSettingDefault(type=%d) could not retrieve the requested node", static_cast<int>(type));
+	return "";
 }
 
 std::string emu_settings::GetSetting(emu_settings_type type) const
 {
-	return cfg_adapter::get_node(m_currentSettings, settings_location[type]).Scalar();
+	if (auto node = cfg_adapter::get_node(m_currentSettings, settings_location[type]); node && node.IsScalar())
+	{
+		return node.Scalar();
+	}
+
+	cfg_log.fatal("GetSetting(type=%d) could not retrieve the requested node", static_cast<int>(type));
+	return "";
 }
 
 void emu_settings::SetSetting(emu_settings_type type, const std::string& val)