diff --git a/Common/GPU/OpenGL/GLQueueRunner.cpp b/Common/GPU/OpenGL/GLQueueRunner.cpp
index 5a622c881f..1c7043475d 100644
--- a/Common/GPU/OpenGL/GLQueueRunner.cpp
+++ b/Common/GPU/OpenGL/GLQueueRunner.cpp
@@ -1281,10 +1281,12 @@ void GLQueueRunner::PerformRenderPass(const GLRStep &step, bool first, bool last
 				tex->minFilter = c.textureSampler.minFilter;
 			}
 			CHECK_GL_ERROR_IF_DEBUG();
-			if (tex->anisotropy != c.textureSampler.anisotropy) {
-				if (c.textureSampler.anisotropy != 0.0f) {
-					glTexParameterf(tex->target, GL_TEXTURE_MAX_ANISOTROPY_EXT, c.textureSampler.anisotropy);
-				}
+			// 0.0f means "don't care", used by callers that never want anisotropy. Note that we must
+			// only record the value when we actually set it, or we'd think we had reset the texture
+			// to something we never applied.
+			if (tex->anisotropy != c.textureSampler.anisotropy && c.textureSampler.anisotropy != 0.0f && caps_.anisoSupported) {
+				// Values above the device maximum are not allowed, and the minimum is 1.0.
+				glTexParameterf(tex->target, GL_TEXTURE_MAX_ANISOTROPY_EXT, std::max(1.0f, std::min(c.textureSampler.anisotropy, maxAnisotropyLevel_)));
 				tex->anisotropy = c.textureSampler.anisotropy;
 			}
 			CHECK_GL_ERROR_IF_DEBUG();
diff --git a/GPU/Common/TextureCacheCommon.cpp b/GPU/Common/TextureCacheCommon.cpp
index 27919e9d5c..820c0244e0 100644
--- a/GPU/Common/TextureCacheCommon.cpp
+++ b/GPU/Common/TextureCacheCommon.cpp
@@ -195,6 +195,11 @@ SamplerCacheKey TextureCacheCommon::GetSamplingParams(int maxLevel, const TexCac
 	key.aniso = false;
 	key.texture3d = gstate_c.curTextureIs3D;
 
+	// Anisotropic filtering must stay off for CLUT8-indexed textures - what gets sampled there are
+	// palette indices that the shader depalettizes afterwards, and averaging indices gives garbage.
+	const bool canUseAniso = gstate_c.Use(GPU_USE_ANISOTROPY) && !flatZ &&
+		!(entry && (entry->status & TexStatus::CLUT8_INDEXED));
+
 	GETexLevelMode mipMode = gstate.getTexLevelMode();
 	bool autoMip = mipMode == GE_TEXLEVEL_MODE_AUTO;
 
@@ -224,7 +229,7 @@ SamplerCacheKey TextureCacheCommon::GetSamplingParams(int maxLevel, const TexCac
 			key.maxLevel = maxLevel * 256;
 			key.minLevel = 0;
 			key.lodBias = (int)(lodBias * 256.0f);
-			if (gstate_c.Use(GPU_USE_ANISOTROPY) && !flatZ) {
+			if (canUseAniso) {
 				key.aniso = true;
 			}
 			break;
@@ -260,7 +265,7 @@ SamplerCacheKey TextureCacheCommon::GetSamplingParams(int maxLevel, const TexCac
 			key.mipEnable = true;
 			key.mipFilt = 1;
 			key.maxLevel = 9 * 256;
-			if (gstate_c.Use(GPU_USE_ANISOTROPY) && !flatZ) {
+			if (canUseAniso) {
 				key.aniso = true;
 			}
 		}
@@ -293,19 +298,17 @@ SamplerCacheKey TextureCacheCommon::GetSamplingParams(int maxLevel, const TexCac
 		case TEX_FILTER_AUTO_MAX_QUALITY:
 		default:
 			forceFiltering = TEX_FILTER_AUTO_MAX_QUALITY;
-			if (gstate_c.Use(GPU_USE_ANISOTROPY) && !flatZ) {
+			if (canUseAniso) {
 				key.aniso = true;
 			}
 			if (gstate.isModeThrough() && g_Config.iInternalResolution != 1) {
 				bool uglyColorTest = gstate.isColorTestEnabled() && !IsColorTestTriviallyTrue() && gstate.getColorTestRef() != 0;
 				if (uglyColorTest) {
 					forceFiltering = TEX_FILTER_FORCE_NEAREST;
-					key.aniso = false;
 				}
 			}
 			if (pixelMapped) {
 				forceFiltering = TEX_FILTER_FORCE_NEAREST;
-				key.aniso = false;
 			}
 			break;
 		}
@@ -322,6 +325,10 @@ SamplerCacheKey TextureCacheCommon::GetSamplingParams(int maxLevel, const TexCac
 	case TEX_FILTER_FORCE_NEAREST:
 		key.magFilt = 0;
 		key.minFilt = 0;
+		// Anisotropic filtering is meaningless without minification filtering, and every path that
+		// forces nearest does so to keep the texels exact - so clear it here rather than at each
+		// of the places that can set forceFiltering to nearest.
+		key.aniso = false;
 		break;
 	case TEX_FILTER_AUTO_MAX_QUALITY:
 		// NOTE: We do not override magfilt here. If a game should have pixellated filtering,
diff --git a/GPU/GLES/DrawEngineGLES.cpp b/GPU/GLES/DrawEngineGLES.cpp
index c9b7e0c1a1..eb8220c2b0 100644
--- a/GPU/GLES/DrawEngineGLES.cpp
+++ b/GPU/GLES/DrawEngineGLES.cpp
@@ -266,7 +266,10 @@ void DrawEngineGLES::Flush() {
 	Shader *vshader = shaderManager_->ApplyVertexShader(useHWTransform, dec_->VertexType(), clipInfoFlags_, &vsid);
 	if (!vshader) {
 		// Both the requested shader and the software transform fallback failed to compile.
-		// Not much we can do here, let's skip drawing.
+		// Not much we can do here, let's skip drawing. Note that the failure is cached, so this
+		// will keep happening for this shader ID - hence the log, or geometry would just silently
+		// disappear for the rest of the session.
+		WARN_LOG_N_TIMES(novshader, 5, Log::G3D, "Skipping draw, no vertex shader");
 		goto bail;
 	}
 
diff --git a/GPU/GLES/TextureCacheGLES.cpp b/GPU/GLES/TextureCacheGLES.cpp
index b5d96717ae..9e137ac5d2 100644
--- a/GPU/GLES/TextureCacheGLES.cpp
+++ b/GPU/GLES/TextureCacheGLES.cpp
@@ -26,6 +26,8 @@
 #include "Common/GPU/OpenGL/GLRenderManager.h"
 #include "Common/TimeUtil.h"
 
+#include "Core/Config.h"
+
 #include "GPU/ge_constants.h"
 #include "GPU/GPUState.h"
 #include "GPU/GPUDefinitions.h"
@@ -99,7 +101,8 @@ void TextureCacheGLES::ApplySamplerByKey(const SamplerCacheKey &key) {
 		render_->SetTextureLod(0, minLod, maxLod, lodBias);
 	}
 
-	float aniso = 0.0f;
+	// 1.0 means no anisotropic filtering. The queue runner clamps to the device maximum.
+	float aniso = key.aniso ? (float)(1 << g_Config.iAnisotropyLevel) : 1.0f;
 	int minKey = ((int)key.mipEnable << 2) | ((int)key.mipFilt << 1) | ((int)key.minFilt);
 	render_->SetTextureSampler(0,
 		key.sClamp ? GL_CLAMP_TO_EDGE : GL_REPEAT, key.tClamp ? GL_CLAMP_TO_EDGE : GL_REPEAT,