diff --git a/loader/include/Geode/utils/JsonValidation.hpp b/loader/include/Geode/utils/JsonValidation.hpp
index b9ce98c6..0f6ddea5 100644
--- a/loader/include/Geode/utils/JsonValidation.hpp
+++ b/loader/include/Geode/utils/JsonValidation.hpp
@@ -305,6 +305,8 @@ namespace geode {
         JsonExpectedValue();
         JsonExpectedValue(Impl* from, matjson::Value& scope, std::string_view key);
 
+        static const char* matJsonTypeToString(matjson::Type ty);
+
         bool hasError() const;
         void setError(std::string_view error);
 
@@ -323,11 +325,19 @@ namespace geode {
             }
             else {
                 try {
-                    return this->getJSONRef().template as<T>();
+                    if (this->getJSONRef().template is<T>()) {
+                        return this->getJSONRef().template as<T>();
+                    }
+                    else {
+                        this->setError(
+                            "unexpected type {}",
+                            this->matJsonTypeToString(this->getJSONRef().type())
+                        );
+                    }
                 }
                 // matjson can throw variant exceptions too so you need to do this
                 catch(std::exception const& e) {
-                    this->setError("invalid json type: {}", e);
+                    this->setError("unable to parse json: {}", e);
                 }
             }
             return std::nullopt;
diff --git a/loader/src/utils/JsonValidation.cpp b/loader/src/utils/JsonValidation.cpp
index 3cd4489b..b211ae89 100644
--- a/loader/src/utils/JsonValidation.cpp
+++ b/loader/src/utils/JsonValidation.cpp
@@ -161,18 +161,6 @@ JsonMaybeValue JsonChecker::root(std::string const& hierarchy) {
     return JsonMaybeValue(*this, m_json, hierarchy, true);
 }
 
-static const char* matJsonTypeToString(matjson::Type ty) {
-    switch (ty) {
-        case matjson::Type::Null: return "null";
-        case matjson::Type::Bool: return "bool";
-        case matjson::Type::Number: return "number";
-        case matjson::Type::String: return "string";
-        case matjson::Type::Array: return "array";
-        case matjson::Type::Object: return "object";
-        default: return "unknown";
-    }
-}
-
 // This is used for null JsonExpectedValues (for example when doing 
 // `json.has("key")` where "key" doesn't exist)
 static matjson::Value NULL_SCOPED_VALUE = nullptr;
@@ -231,6 +219,18 @@ JsonExpectedValue::~JsonExpectedValue() {}
 JsonExpectedValue::JsonExpectedValue(JsonExpectedValue&&) = default;
 JsonExpectedValue& JsonExpectedValue::operator=(JsonExpectedValue&&) = default;
 
+const char* JsonExpectedValue::matJsonTypeToString(matjson::Type ty) {
+    switch (ty) {
+        case matjson::Type::Null: return "null";
+        case matjson::Type::Bool: return "bool";
+        case matjson::Type::Number: return "number";
+        case matjson::Type::String: return "string";
+        case matjson::Type::Array: return "array";
+        case matjson::Type::Object: return "object";
+        default: return "unknown";
+    }
+}
+
 matjson::Value const& JsonExpectedValue::getJSONRef() const {
     return m_impl->scope;
 }