diff --git a/src/xenia/base/filesystem.cc b/src/xenia/base/filesystem.cc
index b964bde2b..a24bbaf85 100644
--- a/src/xenia/base/filesystem.cc
+++ b/src/xenia/base/filesystem.cc
@@ -99,7 +99,7 @@ std::string CanonicalizePath(const std::string& original_path) {
 bool CreateParentFolder(const std::wstring& path) {
   auto fixed_path = xe::fix_path_separators(path, xe::kWPathSeparator);
   auto base_path = xe::find_base_path(fixed_path, xe::kWPathSeparator);
-  if (!PathExists(base_path)) {
+  if (!base_path.empty() && !PathExists(base_path)) {
     return CreateFolder(base_path);
   } else {
     return true;
diff --git a/src/xenia/base/string.cc b/src/xenia/base/string.cc
index 54a8d7ebf..ded97ffa5 100644
--- a/src/xenia/base/string.cc
+++ b/src/xenia/base/string.cc
@@ -262,7 +262,7 @@ std::wstring find_name_from_path(const std::wstring& path, wchar_t sep) {
 std::string find_base_path(const std::string& path, char sep) {
   auto last_slash = path.find_last_of(sep);
   if (last_slash == std::string::npos) {
-    return path;
+    return "";
   } else if (last_slash == path.length() - 1) {
     auto prev_slash = path.find_last_of(sep, last_slash - 1);
     if (prev_slash == std::string::npos) {
@@ -278,7 +278,7 @@ std::string find_base_path(const std::string& path, char sep) {
 std::wstring find_base_path(const std::wstring& path, wchar_t sep) {
   auto last_slash = path.find_last_of(sep);
   if (last_slash == std::wstring::npos) {
-    return path;
+    return L"";
   } else if (last_slash == path.length() - 1) {
     auto prev_slash = path.find_last_of(sep, last_slash - 1);
     if (prev_slash == std::wstring::npos) {
diff --git a/src/xenia/gpu/trace_writer.cc b/src/xenia/gpu/trace_writer.cc
index 819029b3d..e41f82643 100644
--- a/src/xenia/gpu/trace_writer.cc
+++ b/src/xenia/gpu/trace_writer.cc
@@ -32,7 +32,9 @@ bool TraceWriter::Open(const std::wstring& path, uint32_t title_id) {
 
   auto canonical_path = xe::to_absolute_path(path);
   auto base_path = xe::find_base_path(canonical_path);
-  xe::filesystem::CreateFolder(base_path);
+  if (!base_path.empty()) {
+    xe::filesystem::CreateFolder(base_path);
+  }
 
   file_ = xe::filesystem::OpenFile(canonical_path, "wb");
   if (!file_) {