diff --git a/src/Features/LightLimitFix/Particle.cpp b/src/Features/LightLimitFix/Particle.cpp
index b023ff8d21..7a3a61ef6e 100644
--- a/src/Features/LightLimitFix/Particle.cpp
+++ b/src/Features/LightLimitFix/Particle.cpp
@@ -526,7 +526,9 @@ void LightLimitFix::AddCachedParticleLights(eastl::vector<LightData>& lightsData
 	float distance = CalculateLightDistance(light.positionWS[0].data, light.radius);
 
 	float dimmer = 0.0f;
-	if (distance < lightFadeStart || lightFadeEnd == 0.0f)
+	// lightFadeEnd <= lightFadeStart guards a zero/negative denominator below
+	// (equal engine globals would otherwise divide by zero → NaN into lighting).
+	if (distance < lightFadeStart || lightFadeEnd == 0.0f || lightFadeEnd <= lightFadeStart)
 		dimmer = 1.0f;
 	else if (distance <= lightFadeEnd)
 		dimmer = 1.0f - ((distance - lightFadeStart) / (lightFadeEnd - lightFadeStart));
diff --git a/src/Features/LightLimitFix/ParticleLights.cpp b/src/Features/LightLimitFix/ParticleLights.cpp
index df0cf38ac4..938bc0220e 100644
--- a/src/Features/LightLimitFix/ParticleLights.cpp
+++ b/src/Features/LightLimitFix/ParticleLights.cpp
@@ -31,6 +31,9 @@ void ParticleLights::GetConfigs()
 		logger::info("[LLF] Loading particle lights configs");
 
 		auto configs = clib_util::distribution::get_configs("Data\\ParticleLights", "", ".ini");
+		// get_configs order is filesystem-dependent; sort so the "first wins"
+		// duplicate policy below is deterministic across installs.
+		std::sort(configs.begin(), configs.end());
 
 		if (configs.empty()) {
 			logger::warn("[LLF] No .ini files were found within the Data\\ParticleLights folder, aborting...");
@@ -78,6 +81,8 @@ void ParticleLights::GetConfigs()
 		logger::info("[LLF] Loading particle lights gradients configs");
 
 		auto configs = clib_util::distribution::get_configs("Data\\ParticleLights\\Gradients", "", ".ini");
+		// Deterministic "first wins" across installs (see above).
+		std::sort(configs.begin(), configs.end());
 
 		if (configs.empty()) {
 			logger::warn("[LLF] No .ini files were found within the Data\\ParticleLights\\Gradients folder, aborting...");
@@ -112,7 +117,12 @@ void ParticleLights::GetConfigs()
 				if (str.starts_with(prefix2))
 					str.remove_prefix(prefix2.size());
 
-				bool matches = std::strspn(str.data(), cset.data()) == str.size();
+				// Require exactly 6 (RRGGBB) or 8 (AARRGGBB) hex digits so malformed
+				// widths like "#1" / "#12345" fail closed instead of packing a garbage color.
+				// find_first_not_of is bounded to the view; strspn would rely on
+				// str.data() being NUL-terminated, which string_view doesn't guarantee.
+				bool matches = (str.size() == 6 || str.size() == 8) &&
+				               str.find_first_not_of(cset) == std::string_view::npos;
 
 				if (matches) {
 					try {
diff --git a/src/Features/Upscaling.cpp b/src/Features/Upscaling.cpp
index 7ca57363fb..6cdaf71bd4 100644
--- a/src/Features/Upscaling.cpp
+++ b/src/Features/Upscaling.cpp
@@ -536,11 +536,9 @@ void Upscaling::DrawSettings()
 	if (ImGui::TreeNodeEx("Backend Diagnostics")) {
 		// Streamline log level selection
 		const char* logLevels[] = { "Off", "Default", "Verbose" };
-		// Clamp before use: streamlineLogLevel is JSON-persisted and could be out
-		// of range (or a value that overflows the int cast) on a stale or
-		// hand-edited config; an unclamped value would index logLevels OOB.
-		int logLevelIdx = std::clamp(static_cast<int>(settings.streamlineLogLevel),
-			0, IM_ARRAYSIZE(logLevels) - 1);
+		// streamlineLogLevel is sanitized in LoadSettings (runs on every load,
+		// not gated on this node being expanded), so the stored value is in range.
+		int logLevelIdx = static_cast<int>(settings.streamlineLogLevel);
 		if (ImGui::Combo("Streamline Logging", &logLevelIdx, logLevels, IM_ARRAYSIZE(logLevels))) {
 			settings.streamlineLogLevel = static_cast<uint>(logLevelIdx);
 		}
@@ -702,6 +700,10 @@ void Upscaling::LoadSettings(json& o_json)
 		logger::warn("[Upscaling] Loaded presetDLSS {} out of range, resetting to 0 (Default)", settings.presetDLSS);
 		settings.presetDLSS = 0;
 	}
+	if (settings.streamlineLogLevel > 2) {  // Off, Default, Verbose
+		logger::warn("[Upscaling] Loaded streamlineLogLevel {} out of range, clamping to 2", settings.streamlineLogLevel);
+		settings.streamlineLogLevel = 2;
+	}
 	// Re-apply FoveatedRender's cross-feature clamp now that the JSON
 	// re-assign above has overwritten anything it set during its own
 	// LoadSettings (which fired before this block ran). Idempotent — no-op