diff --git a/Robust.Client/GameController/GameController.cs b/Robust.Client/GameController/GameController.cs
index 10ff71071..5a11b7832 100644
--- a/Robust.Client/GameController/GameController.cs
+++ b/Robust.Client/GameController/GameController.cs
@@ -110,6 +110,13 @@ namespace Robust.Client
         {
             DebugTools.AssertNotNull(_resourceManifest);
 
+
+            if (!ZStd.IsSupported())
+            {
+                _logger.Fatal("A required dll was not found. You need to install {DllName}.", "ZStd");
+                return false;
+            }
+
             _clyde.InitializePostWindowing();
             _clydeAudio.InitializePostWindowing();
             _clyde.SetWindowTitle(
diff --git a/Robust.Server/BaseServer.cs b/Robust.Server/BaseServer.cs
index 070945569..9bc3125d9 100644
--- a/Robust.Server/BaseServer.cs
+++ b/Robust.Server/BaseServer.cs
@@ -265,6 +265,12 @@ namespace Robust.Server
                 return true;
             }
 
+            if (!ZStd.IsSupported())
+            {
+                _logger.Fatal("A required dll was not found. You need to install {DllName}.", "ZStd");
+                return true;
+            }
+
             // Has to be done early because this guy's in charge of the main thread Synchronization Context.
             _taskManager.Initialize();
 
diff --git a/Robust.Shared/Utility/ZStd.cs b/Robust.Shared/Utility/ZStd.cs
index 3030dcc0f..591eff93b 100644
--- a/Robust.Shared/Utility/ZStd.cs
+++ b/Robust.Shared/Utility/ZStd.cs
@@ -19,6 +19,19 @@ public static class ZStd
         return (int)ZSTD_COMPRESSBOUND((nuint)length);
     }
 
+    public static bool IsSupported()
+    {
+        try
+        {
+            Marshal.PrelinkAll(typeof(Zstd));
+            return true;
+        }
+        catch (DllNotFoundException)
+        {
+            return false;
+        }
+    }
+
     public static unsafe int Compress(
         Span<byte> into,
         ReadOnlySpan<byte> data,