diff --git a/server/node/error.js b/server/node/error.js
index cdd69fd7..c7990a79 100644
--- a/server/node/error.js
+++ b/server/node/error.js
@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@ function throwFatalErrorIfFallback(res, condition, title, description, details="
         res.end();
         return;
     }
-    //try to add additional info to the file
+    console.error(`${title}: ${description}`);
 
     const replacer = function(match, p1) {
         switch (p1) {
@@ -64,6 +64,7 @@ function showError(res, errTitle, errDesc, errDetails, locale='en') {
         return throwFatalErrorIfFallback(res, true, errTitle, errDesc, errDetails);
     }
 
+    console.error(`${title}: ${description}`);
 
     const replacer = function(match, p1) {
         switch (p1) {
diff --git a/server/node/index.js b/server/node/index.js
index 41d25722..7bdde4de 100644
--- a/server/node/index.js
+++ b/server/node/index.js
@@ -40,7 +40,7 @@ const initViewerCoreAndPlugins = (req, res) => {
         path => fs.readFileSync(path, { encoding: 'utf8', flag: 'r' }),
         key => process.env[key]);
 
-    if (throwFatalErrorIf(res, core.exception, "Failed to parse the CORE initialization!")) return null;
+    if (throwFatalErrorIf(res, core.exception, "Failed to parse the CORE initialization!", core.exception)) return null;
     core.CORE.serverStatus.name = "node";
     core.CORE.serverStatus.supportsPost = true;
 
@@ -50,7 +50,7 @@ const initViewerCoreAndPlugins = (req, res) => {
         path => fs.readFileSync(path, { encoding: 'utf8', flag: 'r' }),
         dirName => fs.readdirSync(dirName).filter(f => fs.statSync(dirName + '/' + f).isDirectory()),
         { t: function () { return "Unknown Error (e-translate)."; } });
-    if (throwFatalErrorIf(res, core.exception, "Failed to parse the MODULES or PLUGINS initialization!")) return null;
+    if (throwFatalErrorIf(res, core.exception, "Failed to parse the MODULES or PLUGINS initialization!", core.exception)) return null;
     return core;
 }
 
@@ -144,7 +144,6 @@ async function responseViewer(req, res) {
     const core = initViewerCoreAndPlugins(req, res);
     if (!core) return;
 
-
     const replacer = function(match, p1) {
         try {
             switch (p1) {
@@ -208,7 +207,11 @@ async function responseDeveloperSetup(req, res) {
     const core = initViewerCoreAndPlugins(req, res);
     if (!core) return;
 
-    core.MODULES["webgl"].loaded = true;
+    if (core.MODULES["webgl"]) {
+        core.MODULES["webgl"].loaded = true;
+    } else {
+        console.warn("Could not find webgl module: visualizations will not work!");
+    }
     const replacer = function (match, p1) {
         try {
             switch (p1) {
@@ -281,7 +284,7 @@ server.listen(process.env.XOPAT_NODE_PORT || 9000, '0.0.0.0', () => {
         console.log("Using env/env.json..");
     } else if (ENV) {
         if (fs.existsSync(ENV)) console.log("Using static ENV from ", ENV);
-        else console.log("Using static ENV directly from the variable data: ", ENV.substring(0, 31) + "...");
+        else console.log("Using configuration from XOPAT_ENV: ", ENV.substring(0, 31) + "...");
     } else {
         console.log("Using default ENV (no overrides).");
     }
diff --git a/server/templates/javascript/modules.js b/server/templates/javascript/modules.js
index c8e70809..2e49e7f8 100644
--- a/server/templates/javascript/modules.js
+++ b/server/templates/javascript/modules.js
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 const {parse} = require("comment-json");
+const {safeScanDir} = require("./utils");
 
 module.exports.loadModules = function(core, fileExists, readFile, scanDir, i18n) {
 
@@ -6,7 +7,7 @@ module.exports.loadModules = function(core, fileExists, readFile, scanDir, i18n)
     const MODULES = core.MODULES,
         ENV = core.ENV;
 
-    let modulePaths = scanDir(core.ABS_MODULES);
+    let modulePaths = safeScanDir(core.ABS_MODULES);
 
     for (let dir of modulePaths) {
         if (dir == "." || dir == "..") continue;
@@ -55,10 +56,8 @@ module.exports.loadModules = function(core, fileExists, readFile, scanDir, i18n)
                 console.error(core.exception, e);
             }
         }
-
     }
 
-
     let order = 0;
 
     //DFS assigns smaller numbers to children -> loaded earlier
diff --git a/server/templates/javascript/plugins.js b/server/templates/javascript/plugins.js
index 79cfc728..edcf2fb3 100644
--- a/server/templates/javascript/plugins.js
+++ b/server/templates/javascript/plugins.js
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 const {parse} = require("comment-json")
 const {loadModules} = require("./modules");
+const {safeScanDir} = require("./utils");
 
 module.exports.loadPlugins = function(core, fileExists, readFile, scanDir, i18n) {
 
@@ -19,7 +20,7 @@ module.exports.loadPlugins = function(core, fileExists, readFile, scanDir, i18n)
         MODULES = core.MODULES,
         ENV = core.ENV;
 
-    let pluginPaths = scanDir(core.ABS_PLUGINS);
+    let pluginPaths = safeScanDir(core.ABS_PLUGINS);
     for (let dir of pluginPaths) {
         if (dir == "." || dir == "..") continue;
 
diff --git a/server/templates/javascript/utils.js b/server/templates/javascript/utils.js
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..b59224f1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/server/templates/javascript/utils.js
@@ -0,0 +1,24 @@
+const fs = require("fs");
+const path = require("path");
+
+module.exports.safeScanDir = function (directory) {
+    let resolvedPaths = [];
+    try {
+        const entries = fs.readdirSync(directory);
+
+        resolvedPaths = entries.map((entry) => {
+            const fullPath = path.join(directory, entry);
+            try {
+                const realPath = fs.realpathSync(fullPath);
+                fs.statSync(realPath);
+                return entry;
+            } catch (err) {
+                console.error(`Failed to resolve or stat: ${fullPath}`, err.message);
+                return null;
+            }
+        });
+    } catch (err) {
+        console.error(`Error scanning directory: ${directory}`, err.message);
+    }
+    return resolvedPaths.filter(Boolean);
+}