diff --git a/overviewer_core/world.py b/overviewer_core/world.py
index 49ac976..50ef898 100644
--- a/overviewer_core/world.py
+++ b/overviewer_core/world.py
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@ import time
 import random
 import re
 import locale
+import sys
 
 import numpy
 
@@ -111,6 +112,16 @@ class World(object):
                 logging.critical("Sorry, This version of Minecraft-Overviewer only works with the 'Anvil' chunk format")
                 raise ValueError("World at %s is not compatible with Overviewer" % self.worlddir)
 
+
+        # Check for versions of minecraft after the 17w47a changes
+        if 'Version' in data:
+            version = int(data['Version']["Id"])
+            if version >= 1452: 
+                logging.critical("Sorry, This version of Minecraft-Overviewer only works with versions of Minecraft 1.12 and under")
+                logging.critical("This is due to a change in the map chunk format that happened in snapshot 17w47a")
+                sys.exit(1)
+
+
         # This isn't much data, around 15 keys and values for vanilla worlds.
         self.leveldat = data