v4.4.4 download not working, v4.1.1 does work

Code:

public function file_view($year, $employee_number, $file_type) {


        if ($employee_number != 0) {
            $wellnessModel = new \App\Models\WellnessAttestationModel();
            $result = $wellnessModel->findLastYears($employee_number, $year);
        } else {
            $benefitProgramModel = new \App\Models\BenefitProgramModel();
            $result = $benefitProgramModel->find($year);
        }
        if (empty($result)){
            return "No file to download.";
            die();
        }
        if ($file_type == "CCCL") {
            $file_path = trim($result['Cessation_Completion_Cert_Location']);
        } else if ($file_type == "CPFL") {
            $file_path = trim($result['Cessation_Proof_Enrollment_Location']);
        } else if ($file_type == "PAL") {
            $file_path = trim($result['Physician_Affidavit_Location']);
        } else if ($file_type == "PALF") {
            $file_path = trim($result->Physician_Affidavit_Template_Location);
        } else {
            return false;
        }
        return $this->response->download($file_path, NULL, TRUE);
    }

The code is the same, we have both v4.1.1 and v4.4.4 running using the same server/database - the v4.1.1 will download the file while the v4.4.4 just loads a blank page off the clicked link.  The file is there, the file was uploaded on v4.4.4 (which I was happy about). I checked the logs, no errors. I'm not getting a routing error either.

We did add specific routes (no idea if it matters):

Code:

$routes->group('wellness', static function ($routes) {
    // GET routes, alphabetized
   
    $routes->get('file_view/(:any)', 'Wellness::file_view/$1');
}

Hoping someone has encountered this and I'm just missing something obvious.  This is on a Windows server.

So, totally my fault. The third parameter was being made into lower case, which then failed on the if statement for comparison returning nothing on the else statement.

Errors in apache logs or writable/logs?