diff --git a/runtime/include/runtime_config.h b/runtime/include/runtime_config.h
index 2501192..d52a849 100644
--- a/runtime/include/runtime_config.h
+++ b/runtime/include/runtime_config.h
@@ -776,7 +776,8 @@ inline std::string DvdRoot(std::string fallback = "") {
 // never to the process working directory (docs/WHEELWIZARD_CONTRACT.md).
 inline std::filesystem::path ResolveRelativeTo(const std::filesystem::path& base,
                                                const std::string& value) {
-    std::filesystem::path path(value);
+    // Config strings are UTF-8; the char overload would decode via the ANSI codepage.
+    std::filesystem::path path(reinterpret_cast<const char8_t*>(value.c_str()));
     if (path.is_relative()) {
         path = base / path;
     }
diff --git a/runtime/src/hle/storage/riivolution.cpp b/runtime/src/hle/storage/riivolution.cpp
index 8eb2348..69ed033 100644
--- a/runtime/src/hle/storage/riivolution.cpp
+++ b/runtime/src/hle/storage/riivolution.cpp
@@ -86,6 +86,8 @@ void RiivoAddRoot(std::vector<RuntimeRiivolution::Overlay>& overlays, fs::path r
                   const char* source) {
     std::error_code ec;
     if (!fs::is_directory(root, ec)) {
+        RT_LOG(RT_TAG_RIIVOLUTION) << "rejected overlay root (" << (source ? source : "unknown")
+                  << "): " << root.string() << " is not a reachable directory" << std::endl;
         return;
     }