diff --git a/dll/network.cpp b/dll/network.cpp
index bd809eca..47cb5f58 100644
--- a/dll/network.cpp
+++ b/dll/network.cpp
@@ -249,7 +249,7 @@ static void run_at_startup()
         return;
     }
 #if defined(STEAM_WIN32)
-    WSADATA wsaData;
+    WSADATA wsaData{};
     if (WSAStartup(MAKEWORD(2, 2), &wsaData) != NO_ERROR) {
         PRINT_DEBUG("Networking WSAStartup error");
         return;
@@ -257,8 +257,13 @@ static void run_at_startup()
 
     for (int i = 0; i < 10; ++i) {
         //hack: the game Full Mojo Rampage calls WSACleanup on startup so we call WSAStartup a few times so it doesn't get deallocated.
-        WSAStartup(MAKEWORD(2, 2), &wsaData);
+        WSADATA wsaData{};
+        if (WSAStartup(MAKEWORD(2, 2), &wsaData) != NO_ERROR) {
+            PRINT_DEBUG("Networking WSAStartup error");
+            return;
+        }
     }
+    PRINT_DEBUG("Networking WSAStartup success!");
 #else
 
 #endif
diff --git a/dll/steam_http.cpp b/dll/steam_http.cpp
index d78d9c9a..a88ae286 100644
--- a/dll/steam_http.cpp
+++ b/dll/steam_http.cpp
@@ -160,6 +160,30 @@ bool Steam_HTTP::SetHTTPRequestGetOrPostParameter( HTTPRequestHandle hRequest, c
     return true;
 }
 
+static int curl_debug_trace(
+    CURL *handle, curl_infotype type,
+    char *data, size_t size,
+    void *clientp
+)
+{
+    // https://curl.se/libcurl/c/CURLOPT_DEBUGFUNCTION.html
+    std::string text{};
+    switch (type) {
+        case CURLINFO_TEXT: text = "Info: " + std::string(data, size); break;
+        case CURLINFO_HEADER_IN: text = "<= Recv header"; break;
+        case CURLINFO_HEADER_OUT: text = "=> Send header"; break;
+        case CURLINFO_DATA_IN: text = "<= Recv data"; break;
+        case CURLINFO_DATA_OUT: text = "=> Send data"; break;
+        case CURLINFO_SSL_DATA_OUT: text = "=> Send SSL data"; break;
+        case CURLINFO_SSL_DATA_IN: text = "<= Recv SSL data"; break;
+
+        default: text = "[X] ERROR: unknown callback type"; break;
+    }
+
+    PRINT_DEBUG("%s", text.c_str());
+    return 0;
+}
+
 
 void Steam_HTTP::online_http_request(Steam_Http_Request *request, SteamAPICall_t *pCallHandle)
 {
@@ -213,6 +237,11 @@ void Steam_HTTP::online_http_request(Steam_Http_Request *request, SteamAPICall_t
         send_callresult();
         return;
     }
+
+#ifndef EMU_RELEASE_BUILD
+    curl_easy_setopt(chttp, CURLOPT_DEBUGFUNCTION, curl_debug_trace);
+    curl_easy_setopt(chttp, CURLOPT_VERBOSE, 1L);
+#endif
     
     // headers
     std::vector<std::string> headers{};
@@ -314,7 +343,7 @@ void Steam_HTTP::online_http_request(Steam_Http_Request *request, SteamAPICall_t
     fclose(hfile);
     headers.clear();
 
-    PRINT_DEBUG("CURL error code for '%s' [%i] (OK == 0)", request->url.c_str(), (int)res_curl);
+    PRINT_DEBUG("CURL error code for '%s' [%i = '%s'] (OK == 0)", request->url.c_str(), (int)res_curl, curl_easy_strerror(res_curl));
     
     unsigned int file_size = file_size_(request->target_filepath);
     if (file_size) {
diff --git a/premake5-deps.lua b/premake5-deps.lua
index b4bff7d9..d7b75bdb 100644
--- a/premake5-deps.lua
+++ b/premake5-deps.lua
@@ -535,8 +535,9 @@ local wild_zlib_64 = {
 if _OPTIONS["build-curl"] or _OPTIONS["all-build"] then
     local curl_common_defs = {
         "BUILD_CURL_EXE=OFF",
-        "BUILD_SHARED_LIBS=OFF",
         "BUILD_STATIC_CURL=OFF", -- "Build curl executable with static libcurl"
+
+        "BUILD_SHARED_LIBS=OFF",
         "BUILD_STATIC_LIBS=ON",
         "BUILD_MISC_DOCS=OFF",
         "BUILD_TESTING=OFF",
@@ -544,6 +545,8 @@ if _OPTIONS["build-curl"] or _OPTIONS["all-build"] then
         "ENABLE_CURL_MANUAL=OFF",
         "CURL_USE_OPENSSL=OFF",
         "CURL_ZLIB=ON",
+
+        -- fix building on Arch Linux
         "CURL_USE_LIBSSH2=OFF",
         "CURL_USE_LIBPSL=OFF",
         "USE_LIBIDN2=OFF",