diff --git a/android/assets/jsons/translations/template.properties b/android/assets/jsons/translations/template.properties
index 389f9e8abe..b50c78b9e4 100644
--- a/android/assets/jsons/translations/template.properties
+++ b/android/assets/jsons/translations/template.properties
@@ -198,6 +198,7 @@ Game Options =
 Civilizations = 
 Map Type = 
 Map file = 
+Could not load map! = 
 Generated = 
 Existing = 
 Custom = 
diff --git a/core/src/com/unciv/ui/newgamescreen/MapOptionsTable.kt b/core/src/com/unciv/ui/newgamescreen/MapOptionsTable.kt
index 9ab095deea..d2fd672da4 100644
--- a/core/src/com/unciv/ui/newgamescreen/MapOptionsTable.kt
+++ b/core/src/com/unciv/ui/newgamescreen/MapOptionsTable.kt
@@ -7,7 +7,9 @@ import com.badlogic.gdx.scenes.scene2d.ui.Table
 import com.badlogic.gdx.utils.Array
 import com.unciv.logic.MapSaver
 import com.unciv.logic.map.MapType
+import com.unciv.logic.map.TileMap
 import com.unciv.ui.utils.CameraStageBaseScreen
+import com.unciv.ui.utils.Popup
 import com.unciv.ui.utils.onChange
 import com.unciv.ui.utils.toLabel
 
@@ -89,9 +91,19 @@ class MapOptionsTable(val newGameScreen: NewGameScreen): Table() {
 
         mapFileSelectBox.onChange {
             val mapFile = mapFileSelectBox.selected.fileHandle
+            val map: TileMap
+            try {
+                map = MapSaver.loadMap(mapFile)
+            } catch (ex:Exception){
+                Popup(newGameScreen).apply {
+                    addGoodSizedLabel("Could not load map!")
+                    addCloseButton()
+                    open()
+                }
+                return@onChange
+            }
             mapParameters.name = mapFile.name()
             newGameScreen.gameSetupInfo.mapFile = mapFile
-            val map = MapSaver.loadMap(mapFile)
             newGameScreen.gameSetupInfo.gameParameters.mods = map.mapParameters.mods
             newGameScreen.updateRuleset()
             newGameScreen.updateTables()