diff --git a/source/lib/debug.cpp b/source/lib/debug.cpp
index 7abcc08780..38cb04b326 100644
--- a/source/lib/debug.cpp
+++ b/source/lib/debug.cpp
@@ -478,7 +478,9 @@ ErrorReaction display_error(const wchar_t* description, int flags,
 		static const wchar_t fmt[] = L"%s\r\n\r\nCall stack:\r\n\r\n";
 		int len = swprintf(text, MAX_CHARS, fmt, description);
 
-		debug_dump_stack(text+len, MAX_CHARS-len, skip+1, context);
+		if(!context)
+			skip++;	// skip this frame
+		debug_dump_stack(text+len, MAX_CHARS-len, skip, context);
 			// in-place
 	}
 	else
diff --git a/source/lib/sysdep/win/wdbg.cpp b/source/lib/sysdep/win/wdbg.cpp
index 7c3eedcde4..75f1849327 100755
--- a/source/lib/sysdep/win/wdbg.cpp
+++ b/source/lib/sysdep/win/wdbg.cpp
@@ -907,7 +907,7 @@ static const wchar_t* get_exception_locus(const EXCEPTION_POINTERS* ep)
 	// real location.
 
 	wchar_t buf[32000];
-	const wchar_t* stack_trace = debug_dump_stack(buf, ARRAY_SIZE(buf), +0, ep->ContextRecord);
+	const wchar_t* stack_trace = debug_dump_stack(buf, ARRAY_SIZE(buf), 1, ep->ContextRecord);
 
 	const size_t MAX_LOCUS_CHARS = 256;
 	static wchar_t locus[MAX_LOCUS_CHARS];
@@ -990,12 +990,13 @@ LONG WINAPI wdbg_exception_filter(EXCEPTION_POINTERS* ep)
 
 	wchar_t func_name[DBG_SYMBOL_LEN]; char file[DBG_FILE_LEN] = {0}; int line = 0; wchar_t fmt[50];
 	swprintf(fmt, ARRAY_SIZE(fmt), L"%%%ds %%%dhs (%%d)", DBG_SYMBOL_LEN, DBG_FILE_LEN);
+		// bake in the string limits (future-proof)
 	if(swscanf(locus, fmt, func_name, file, &line) != 3)
 		debug_warn("error extracting file/line from exception locus");
 
 	wchar_t buf[500];
 	const wchar_t* msg_fmt =
-		L"Much to our regret we must report the program has encountered an error and cannot continue.\r\n"
+		L"Much to our regret we must report the program has encountered an error.\r\n"
 		L"\r\n"
 		L"Please let us know at http://bugs.wildfiregames.com/ and attach the crashlog.txt and crashlog.dmp files.\r\n"
 		L"\r\n"
@@ -1004,7 +1005,7 @@ LONG WINAPI wdbg_exception_filter(EXCEPTION_POINTERS* ep)
 	int flags = 0;
 	if(ep->ExceptionRecord->ExceptionFlags & EXCEPTION_NONCONTINUABLE)
 		flags = DE_NO_CONTINUE;
-	ErrorReaction er = display_error(buf, flags, 0, ep->ContextRecord, file, line);
+	ErrorReaction er = display_error(buf, flags, 1, ep->ContextRecord, file, line);
 	assert(er > 0);
 
 	wdbg_write_minidump(ep);
diff --git a/source/lib/sysdep/win/win.cpp b/source/lib/sysdep/win/win.cpp
index 058719e210..fb615727fd 100755
--- a/source/lib/sysdep/win/win.cpp
+++ b/source/lib/sysdep/win/win.cpp
@@ -523,7 +523,7 @@ _PIFV pre_libc_begin[] = { 0 };
 _PIFV pre_libc_end[] = { 0 };
 #pragma data_seg(WIN_CALLBACK_PRE_MAIN(a))
 _PIFV pre_main_begin[] = { 0 };
-#pragma data_seg(WIN_CALLBACK_PRE_MAIN(a))
+#pragma data_seg(WIN_CALLBACK_PRE_MAIN(z))
 _PIFV pre_main_end[] = { 0 };
 #pragma data_seg(WIN_CALLBACK_POST_ATEXIT(a))
 _PIFV shutdown_begin[] = { 0 };
diff --git a/source/lib/sysdep/win/win_internal.h b/source/lib/sysdep/win/win_internal.h
index 68d1d80e74..7670890202 100755
--- a/source/lib/sysdep/win/win_internal.h
+++ b/source/lib/sysdep/win/win_internal.h
@@ -432,8 +432,8 @@ extern void win_free(void* p);
 
 #define WIN_REGISTER_FUNC(func) static int func(void); static int(*p##func)(void) = func
 
-#define WIN_CALLBACK_PRE_LIBC(group) ".LIB$WC" #group
-#define WIN_CALLBACK_PRE_MAIN(group) ".LIB$WI" #group
+#define WIN_CALLBACK_PRE_LIBC(group)    ".LIB$WC" #group
+#define WIN_CALLBACK_PRE_MAIN(group)    ".LIB$WI" #group
 #define WIN_CALLBACK_POST_ATEXIT(group) ".LIB$WT" #group