diff --git a/endpoints/search/search.php b/endpoints/search/search.php
index 5a134613..4fbe5ec8 100644
--- a/endpoints/search/search.php
+++ b/endpoints/search/search.php
@@ -62,19 +62,23 @@ class SearchBaseResponse extends TemplateResponse implements ICache
 
         $canRedirect = true;
         $redirectTo  = '';
-        foreach ($this->searchObj->perform() as $lvData)
+
+        if ($this->searchObj->canPerform())
         {
-            if ($lvData[1] == 'npc' || $lvData[1] == 'object')
-                $this->addDataLoader('zones');
+            foreach ($this->searchObj->perform() as $lvData)
+            {
+                if ($lvData[1] == 'npc' || $lvData[1] == 'object')
+                    $this->addDataLoader('zones');
 
-            $this->lvTabs->addListviewTab(new Listview(...$lvData));
+                $this->lvTabs->addListviewTab(new Listview(...$lvData));
 
-            // we already have a target > can't have more targets > no redirects
-            if (($canRedirect && $redirectTo) || count($lvData[0]['data']) > 1)
-                $canRedirect = false;
+                // we already have a target > can't have more targets > no redirects
+                if (($canRedirect && $redirectTo) || count($lvData[0]['data']) > 1)
+                    $canRedirect = false;
 
-            if ($canRedirect)                                // note - we are very lucky that in case of searches $template is identical to the typeString
-                $redirectTo = '?'.$lvData[1].'='.key($lvData[0]['data']);
+                if ($canRedirect)                                // note - we are very lucky that in case of searches $template is identical to the typeString
+                    $redirectTo = '?'.$lvData[1].'='.key($lvData[0]['data']);
+            }
         }
 
         $this->extendGlobalData($this->searchObj->getJSGlobals());
diff --git a/includes/components/pagetemplate.class.php b/includes/components/pagetemplate.class.php
index 5bc172a8..a688114a 100644
--- a/includes/components/pagetemplate.class.php
+++ b/includes/components/pagetemplate.class.php
@@ -216,7 +216,7 @@ class PageTemplate
         if (is_string($var) && $this->$var)
             $var = $this->$var;
 
-        return preg_replace('/script\s*\>/i', 'scr"+"ipt>', Util::toJSON($var, $jsonFlags));
+        return preg_replace('/script\s*\>/i', 'scr"+"ipt>', Util::toJSON($var, $jsonFlags) ?: "{}");
     }
 
     private function escHTML(string $var) : string|array
diff --git a/includes/components/response/baseresponse.class.php b/includes/components/response/baseresponse.class.php
index 7e32969d..0dd10276 100644
--- a/includes/components/response/baseresponse.class.php
+++ b/includes/components/response/baseresponse.class.php
@@ -456,8 +456,8 @@ trait TrProfilerList
 
 abstract class BaseResponse
 {
-    protected const PATTERN_TEXT_LINE = '/[\p{Cc}\p{Cf}\p{Co}\p{Cs}\p{Cn}]/ui';
-    protected const PATTERN_TEXT_BLOB = '/[\x00-\x09\x0B-\x1F\p{Cf}\p{Co}\p{Cs}\p{Cn}]/ui';
+    protected const PATTERN_TEXT_LINE = '/[\p{Cc}\p{Cf}\p{Co}\p{Cs}\p{Cn}]/i';
+    protected const PATTERN_TEXT_BLOB = '/[\x00-\x09\x0B-\x1F\p{Cf}\p{Co}\p{Cs}\p{Cn}]/i';
 
     protected static array $sql = [];                       // debug: sql stats container
 
@@ -638,7 +638,7 @@ abstract class BaseResponse
     protected static function checkTextLine(string $val) : string
     {
         // trim non-printable chars
-        return preg_replace(self::PATTERN_TEXT_LINE, '', trim(urldecode($val)));
+        return preg_replace(self::PATTERN_TEXT_LINE, '', trim($val));
     }
 
     protected static function checkTextBlob(string $val) : string
diff --git a/static/js/basic.js b/static/js/basic.js
index 05d30daf..35d9ee3e 100644
--- a/static/js/basic.js
+++ b/static/js/basic.js
@@ -981,7 +981,11 @@ $WH.g_getQueryString = function() {
 };
 
 $WH.g_parseQueryString = function(str) {
-    str = decodeURIComponent(str);
+    // aowow - set to catch invalid unicode escapes (%ff)
+    // str = decodeURIComponent(str);
+    try { str = decodeURIComponent(str); }
+    catch (e) { return {}; }
+
     var words = str.split('&');
     var params = {};