diff --git a/src/emu/emuopts.c b/src/emu/emuopts.c
index 46498f61839..2a0b8ff2196 100644
--- a/src/emu/emuopts.c
+++ b/src/emu/emuopts.c
@@ -401,7 +401,7 @@ bool emu_options::parse_command_line(int argc, char *argv[], astring &error_stri
 		// remove any existing device options
 		remove_device_options();
 		result = parse_slot_devices(argc, argv, error_string, NULL, NULL);
-		if (exists(OPTION_RAMSIZE))
+		if (exists(OPTION_RAMSIZE) && old_system_name.len()!=0)
 			set_value(OPTION_RAMSIZE, "", OPTION_PRIORITY_CMDLINE, error_string);
 	}
 	return result;
diff --git a/src/emu/mame.c b/src/emu/mame.c
index 25969b4545a..c36b6ea77cb 100644
--- a/src/emu/mame.c
+++ b/src/emu/mame.c
@@ -159,13 +159,6 @@ int mame_execute(emu_options &options, osd_interface &osd)
 				started_empty = true;
 		}
 
-		// otherwise, perform validity checks before anything else
-		else
-		{
-			validity_checker valid(options);
-			valid.check_shared_source(*system);
-		}
-
 		firstgame = false;
 
 		// parse any INI files as the first thing
@@ -175,6 +168,13 @@ int mame_execute(emu_options &options, osd_interface &osd)
 			astring errors;
 			options.parse_standard_inis(errors);
 		}
+		// otherwise, perform validity checks before anything else
+		if (system != NULL)
+		{
+			validity_checker valid(options);
+			valid.check_shared_source(*system);
+		}
+
 
 		// create the machine configuration
 		machine_config config(*system, options);