diff --git a/code/_byond_version_compat.dm b/code/_byond_version_compat.dm
index 880c50345323..f5ce60789626 100644
--- a/code/_byond_version_compat.dm
+++ b/code/_byond_version_compat.dm
@@ -52,7 +52,7 @@
 /// fcopy will crash on 515 linux if given a non-existant file, instead of returning 0 like on 514 linux or 515 windows
 /// var case matches documentation for fcopy.
 /world/proc/__fcopy(Src, Dst)
-	if (!fexists(Src))
+	if (istext(Src) && !fexists(Src))
 		return 0
 	return fcopy(Src, Dst)