Index: /OpenSceneGraph/trunk/src/osgPlugins/3ds/ReaderWriter3DS.cpp
===================================================================
--- /OpenSceneGraph/trunk/src/osgPlugins/3ds/ReaderWriter3DS.cpp (revision 10076)
+++ /OpenSceneGraph/trunk/src/osgPlugins/3ds/ReaderWriter3DS.cpp (revision 10805)
@@ -500,5 +500,5 @@
     ReaderObject reader;
 
-    reader._directory = options->getDatabasePathList().empty() ? osgDB::getFilePath(fileName) : options->getDatabasePathList().front();
+    reader._directory = ( options && !options->getDatabasePathList().empty() ) ? options->getDatabasePathList().front() : osgDB::getFilePath(fileName);
 
     osg::Group* group = new osg::Group;