diff --git a/Core/GameEngine/Include/Common/ArchiveFileSystem.h b/Core/GameEngine/Include/Common/ArchiveFileSystem.h
index f323b0f829..011e63bc43 100644
--- a/Core/GameEngine/Include/Common/ArchiveFileSystem.h
+++ b/Core/GameEngine/Include/Common/ArchiveFileSystem.h
@@ -53,6 +53,7 @@
 #include "Common/AsciiString.h"
 #include "Common/FileSystem.h" // for typedefs, etc.
 #include "Common/STLTypedefs.h"
+#include "mutex.h"
 
 //----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 //           Forward References
@@ -169,6 +170,7 @@ class ArchiveFileSystem : public SubsystemInterface
 
 	ArchiveFileMap m_archiveFileMap;
 	ArchivedDirectoryInfo m_rootDirectory;
+	mutable FastCriticalSectionClass m_archiveDirectoryMutex; ///< Protects access to m_rootDirectory and all nested directory/file structures
 };
 
 
diff --git a/Core/GameEngine/Source/Common/System/ArchiveFileSystem.cpp b/Core/GameEngine/Source/Common/System/ArchiveFileSystem.cpp
index 77e9fde8df..c51ff8c51e 100644
--- a/Core/GameEngine/Source/Common/System/ArchiveFileSystem.cpp
+++ b/Core/GameEngine/Source/Common/System/ArchiveFileSystem.cpp
@@ -117,6 +117,7 @@ ArchiveFileSystem::~ArchiveFileSystem()
 
 void ArchiveFileSystem::loadIntoDirectoryTree(ArchiveFile *archiveFile, Bool overwrite)
 {
+	FastCriticalSectionClass::LockClass lock(m_archiveDirectoryMutex);
 
 	FilenameList filenameList;
 
@@ -240,6 +241,8 @@ void ArchiveFileSystem::loadMods()
 
 Bool ArchiveFileSystem::doesFileExist(const Char *filename, FileInstance instance) const
 {
+	FastCriticalSectionClass::LockClass lock(m_archiveDirectoryMutex);
+	
 	ArchivedDirectoryInfoResult result = const_cast<ArchiveFileSystem*>(this)->getArchivedDirectoryInfo(filename);
 
 	if (!result.valid())
@@ -252,6 +255,8 @@ Bool ArchiveFileSystem::doesFileExist(const Char *filename, FileInstance instanc
 
 ArchivedDirectoryInfo* ArchiveFileSystem::friend_getArchivedDirectoryInfo(const Char* directory)
 {
+	FastCriticalSectionClass::LockClass lock(m_archiveDirectoryMutex);
+	
 	ArchivedDirectoryInfoResult result = getArchivedDirectoryInfo(directory);
 
 	return result.dirInfo;
@@ -319,6 +324,8 @@ Bool ArchiveFileSystem::getFileInfo(const AsciiString& filename, FileInfo *fileI
 
 ArchiveFile* ArchiveFileSystem::getArchiveFile(const AsciiString& filename, FileInstance instance) const
 {
+	FastCriticalSectionClass::LockClass lock(m_archiveDirectoryMutex);
+	
 	ArchivedDirectoryInfoResult result = const_cast<ArchiveFileSystem*>(this)->getArchivedDirectoryInfo(filename.str());
 
 	if (!result.valid())
diff --git a/Generals/Code/GameEngineDevice/Source/W3DDevice/GameClient/W3DFileSystem.cpp b/Generals/Code/GameEngineDevice/Source/W3DDevice/GameClient/W3DFileSystem.cpp
index 0b4ab05e73..c6d82ee7d1 100644
--- a/Generals/Code/GameEngineDevice/Source/W3DDevice/GameClient/W3DFileSystem.cpp
+++ b/Generals/Code/GameEngineDevice/Source/W3DDevice/GameClient/W3DFileSystem.cpp
@@ -462,9 +462,13 @@ void W3DFileSystem::reprioritizeTexturesBySize()
 //
 // Catered to specific game archives only. This ensures that user created archives are not included
 // for the re-prioritization of textures.
+// 
+// TheSuperHackers @bugfix 02/02/2025 Adds mutex locking to protect multimap access from race conditions
+// during concurrent file existence checks and texture reprioritization.
 //-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 void W3DFileSystem::reprioritizeTexturesBySize(ArchivedDirectoryInfo& dirInfo)
 {
+	// Note: This function is called with m_archiveDirectoryMutex already locked by friend_getArchivedDirectoryInfo
 	const char* const superiorArchive = "Textures.big";
 	const char* const inferiorArchive = "TexturesZH.big";
 
diff --git a/GeneralsMD/Code/GameEngineDevice/Source/W3DDevice/GameClient/W3DFileSystem.cpp b/GeneralsMD/Code/GameEngineDevice/Source/W3DDevice/GameClient/W3DFileSystem.cpp
index ad713be228..b913f5b2d7 100644
--- a/GeneralsMD/Code/GameEngineDevice/Source/W3DDevice/GameClient/W3DFileSystem.cpp
+++ b/GeneralsMD/Code/GameEngineDevice/Source/W3DDevice/GameClient/W3DFileSystem.cpp
@@ -489,9 +489,13 @@ void W3DFileSystem::reprioritizeTexturesBySize()
 // 
 // Catered to specific game archives only. This ensures that user created archives are not included
 // for the re-prioritization of textures.
+// 
+// TheSuperHackers @bugfix 02/02/2025 Adds mutex locking to protect multimap access from race conditions
+// during concurrent file existence checks and texture reprioritization.
 //-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 void W3DFileSystem::reprioritizeTexturesBySize(ArchivedDirectoryInfo& dirInfo)
 {
+	// Note: This function is called with m_archiveDirectoryMutex already locked by friend_getArchivedDirectoryInfo
 	const char* const superiorArchive = "Textures.big";
 	const char* const inferiorArchive = "TexturesZH.big";