diff --git a/src/main/java/xyz/wagyourtail/jvmdg/compile/PathDowngrader.java b/src/main/java/xyz/wagyourtail/jvmdg/compile/PathDowngrader.java
index c1075942..aacb7543 100644
--- a/src/main/java/xyz/wagyourtail/jvmdg/compile/PathDowngrader.java
+++ b/src/main/java/xyz/wagyourtail/jvmdg/compile/PathDowngrader.java
@@ -130,7 +130,9 @@ public byte[] apply(String s) {
                             try(InputStream is = Files.newInputStream(path)) {
                                 Manifest manifest = new Manifest(is);
                                 Attributes attr = manifest.getMainAttributes();
-                                attr.putValue("JvmDowngrader-Version", Flags.jvmdgVersion);
+                                if (Flags.jvmdgVersion != null) {
+                                    attr.putValue("JvmDowngrader-Version", Flags.jvmdgVersion);
+                                }
 
                                 try (OutputStream os = Files.newOutputStream(outFile, StandardOpenOption.CREATE, StandardOpenOption.TRUNCATE_EXISTING)) {
                                     manifest.write(os);