diff --git a/src/proxy/proxypython.cpp b/src/proxy/proxypython.cpp
index f8d244e..3e4ade4 100644
--- a/src/proxy/proxypython.cpp
+++ b/src/proxy/proxypython.cpp
@@ -121,7 +121,7 @@ QList<QList<QObject*>> ProxyPython::load(const PluginExtension& extension)
     }
 
     if (extension.autodetect()) {
-        log::error("{}: automatic plugin detection is not supported for Python plugins",
+        log::debug("{}: automatic plugin detection is not supported for Python plugins",
                    extension.metadata().name());
         return {};
     }
diff --git a/src/runner/pythonrunner.cpp b/src/runner/pythonrunner.cpp
index b959134..006214d 100644
--- a/src/runner/pythonrunner.cpp
+++ b/src/runner/pythonrunner.cpp
@@ -174,6 +174,13 @@ namespace mo2::python {
                 // load the module
                 auto spec =
                     importlib_util.attr("spec_from_file_location")(name, pythonModule);
+
+                if (Py_IsNone(spec.ptr())) {
+                    MOBase::log::error("failed to load Python plugin '{}' from '{}'",
+                                       name, pythonModule);
+                    return {};
+                }
+
                 pymodule = importlib_util.attr("module_from_spec")(spec);
                 sys.attr("modules")[py::str(name)] = pymodule;
                 spec.attr("loader").attr("exec_module")(pymodule);