diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 6e2928a..1a9434d 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -45,6 +45,7 @@ Fixes
 - Fixed panels sometimes not drawing children that came into view when their positions changed unexpectedly
 - Fixed UiMarkdownParser not parsing formatting in headings and blockquotes
 - Fixed Element.OnChildAdded and Element.OnChildRemoved being called for grandchildren when a child is added
+- Fixed an exception when trying to force-update the area of an element without a ui system
 
 ### MLEM.Data
 Additions
diff --git a/MLEM.Ui/Elements/Element.cs b/MLEM.Ui/Elements/Element.cs
index e0d7e54..049ed6e 100644
--- a/MLEM.Ui/Elements/Element.cs
+++ b/MLEM.Ui/Elements/Element.cs
@@ -452,7 +452,7 @@ namespace MLEM.Ui.Elements {
         /// The <see cref="ChildPaddedArea"/> of this element's <see cref="Parent"/>, or the <see cref="UiSystem.Viewport"/> if this element has no parent.
         /// This value is the one that is passed to <see cref="CalcActualSize"/> during <see cref="ForceUpdateArea"/>.
         /// </summary>
-        protected RectangleF ParentArea => this.Parent?.ChildPaddedArea ?? (RectangleF) this.system.Viewport;
+        protected RectangleF ParentArea => this.Parent?.ChildPaddedArea ?? (RectangleF) this.System.Viewport;
 
         private readonly List<Element> children = new List<Element>();
         private readonly Stopwatch stopwatch = new Stopwatch();
@@ -601,7 +601,7 @@ namespace MLEM.Ui.Elements {
         /// </summary>
         public virtual void ForceUpdateArea() {
             this.AreaDirty = false;
-            if (this.IsHidden)
+            if (this.IsHidden || this.System == null)
                 return;
             // if the parent's area is dirty, it would get updated anyway when querying its ChildPaddedArea,
             // which would cause our ForceUpdateArea code to be run twice, so we only update our parent instead