diff --git a/rwengine/src/engine/GameData.cpp b/rwengine/src/engine/GameData.cpp
index dd6083e8..07d16910 100644
--- a/rwengine/src/engine/GameData.cpp
+++ b/rwengine/src/engine/GameData.cpp
@@ -41,7 +41,11 @@ GameData::GameData(Logger* log, const rwfs::path& path)
         });
 }
 
-void GameData::load() {
+bool GameData::load() {
+    if (!isValidGameDirectory()) {
+        return false;
+    }
+
     index.indexTree(datpath);
 
     loadIMG("models/gta3.img");
@@ -78,6 +82,8 @@ void GameData::load() {
 
     // Load ped groups after IDEs so they can resolve
     loadPedGroups("data/pedgrp.dat");
+
+    return true;
 }
 
 void GameData::loadLevelFile(const std::string& path) {
@@ -759,13 +765,11 @@ float GameData::getWaveHeightAt(const glm::vec3& ws) const {
            WATER_HEIGHT;
 }
 
-bool GameData::isValidGameDirectory(const rwfs::path& path) {
+bool GameData::isValidGameDirectory() const {
     rwfs::error_code ec;
-    if (!rwfs::is_directory(path, ec)) {
-        std::cerr << "first test failed\n";
+    if (!rwfs::is_directory(datpath, ec)) {
         return false;
     }
 
-    LoaderIMG i;
-    return i.load(path / "models/gta3.img");
+    return !ec;
 }
diff --git a/rwengine/src/engine/GameData.hpp b/rwengine/src/engine/GameData.hpp
index aa819f85..e6148e8f 100644
--- a/rwengine/src/engine/GameData.hpp
+++ b/rwengine/src/engine/GameData.hpp
@@ -112,7 +112,7 @@ public:
     void loadWaterpro(const std::string& path);
     void loadWater(const std::string& path);
 
-    void load();
+    bool load();
 
     /**
      * Loads model, placement, models and textures from a level file
@@ -359,10 +359,11 @@ public:
 
     GameTexts texts;
 
+private:
     /**
      * Determines whether the given path is a valid game directory.
      */
-    static bool isValidGameDirectory(const rwfs::path& path);
+    bool isValidGameDirectory() const;
 };
 
 #endif
diff --git a/rwgame/RWGame.cpp b/rwgame/RWGame.cpp
index 4d8a1947..36250c1d 100644
--- a/rwgame/RWGame.cpp
+++ b/rwgame/RWGame.cpp
@@ -72,17 +72,14 @@ RWGame::RWGame(Logger& log, const std::optional<RWArgConfigLayer> &args)
         benchFile = args->benchmarkPath;
     }
 
-    log.info("Game", "Game directory: " + config.gamedataPath());
+    imgui.init();
 
-    if (!GameData::isValidGameDirectory(config.gamedataPath())) {
+    log.info("Game", "Game directory: " + config.gamedataPath());
+    if (!data.load()) {
         throw std::runtime_error("Invalid game directory path: " +
                                  config.gamedataPath());
     }
 
-    imgui.init();
-
-    data.load();
-
     for (const auto& [specialModel, fileName, name] : kSpecialModels) {
         auto model = data.loadClump(fileName, name);
         renderer.setSpecialModel(specialModel, model);