diff --git a/changelog.md b/changelog.md
index 9a27ee1..85e1e93 100644
--- a/changelog.md
+++ b/changelog.md
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@
 ## Chat Patches `210.6.5.1` for Minecraft 1.21 on Fabric, Quilt
 - Fix incompatibility with 1.20.5-6 (we were THIS close) ([#177](https://github.com/mrbuilder1961/ChatPatches/issues/177))
 - Implement chat log codecification from the WIP branch ([#178](https://www.github.com/mrbuilder1961/ChatPatches/issues/178))
+- Tweaked a part of `ChatUtils#tryCondenseMessage` to hopefully prevent some messages from throwing annoying errors
 
 ## Chat Patches `210.6.5` for Minecraft 1.20.5, 1.20.6, 1.21 on Fabric, Quilt
 - Ported to Minecraft 1.21!
diff --git a/src/main/java/obro1961/chatpatches/util/ChatUtils.java b/src/main/java/obro1961/chatpatches/util/ChatUtils.java
index c51191c..5ec5edb 100644
--- a/src/main/java/obro1961/chatpatches/util/ChatUtils.java
+++ b/src/main/java/obro1961/chatpatches/util/ChatUtils.java
@@ -126,7 +126,8 @@ public static MutableText buildMessage(Style rootStyle, Text first, Text second,
 	 * @implNote
 	 * <ol>
 	 *   <li>Don't modify when {@code refreshing} is true, as that signifies
-	 * 	 re-rendering chat messages, so simply return {@code m}.</li>
+	 * 	 re-rendering chat messages; nor when the chat log is restoring,
+	 * 	 so simply return {@code m}.</li>
 	 * 	 <li>Declare relevant variables, most notably the {@code timestamp}
 	 * 	 and {@code content} components.</li>
 	 * 	 <li>Reconstruct the player message if it should be reformatted
@@ -292,9 +293,14 @@ public static Text tryCondenseMessage(Text incoming, int index) {
 		final List<ChatHudLine> messages = chat.chatpatches$getMessages();
 		final List<ChatHudLine.Visible> visibleMessages = chat.chatpatches$getVisibleMessages();
 
+		// just in case the incoming message is a literal string text w no sibs,
+		// we can reformat it as to not throw any annoying errors down the line
+		if(incoming.getContent() instanceof PlainTextContent && incoming.getSiblings().isEmpty())
+			incoming = buildMessage(null, null, incoming, null);
+
 		ChatHudLine comparingLine = messages.get(index); // message being compared
 		List<Text> comparingParts = comparingLine.content().getSiblings();
-		List<Text> incomingParts = new ArrayList<>( incoming.getSiblings() ); // prevents UOEs (1.20.3+ only)
+		List<Text> incomingParts = new ArrayList<>( incoming.getSiblings() ); // prevents UOEs for 1.20.3+
 
 
 		// IF the comparing and incoming message bodies are case-insensitively equal,