diff --git a/src/java/com/threerings/resource/JNLPDownloader.java b/src/java/com/threerings/resource/JNLPDownloader.java
index 1d42e4498..12ed10afd 100644
--- a/src/java/com/threerings/resource/JNLPDownloader.java
+++ b/src/java/com/threerings/resource/JNLPDownloader.java
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 //
-// $Id: JNLPDownloader.java,v 1.6 2003/08/09 05:27:07 mdb Exp $
+// $Id: JNLPDownloader.java,v 1.7 2003/08/20 03:52:36 mdb Exp $
 
 package com.threerings.resource;
 
@@ -41,12 +41,14 @@ public class JNLPDownloader extends Downloader
 
         // determine which version we already have, if any
         _vfile = new File(FileUtil.resuffix(_desc.destFile, ".jar", ".vers"));
-        try {
-            BufferedReader vin = new BufferedReader(new FileReader(_vfile));
-            _cvers = vin.readLine();
-        } catch (IOException ioe) {
-            Log.warning("Error reading version file [path=" + _vfile +
-                        ", error=" + ioe + "].");
+        if (_vfile.exists()) {
+            try {
+                BufferedReader vin = new BufferedReader(new FileReader(_vfile));
+                _cvers = vin.readLine();
+            } catch (IOException ioe) {
+                Log.warning("Error reading version file [path=" + _vfile +
+                            ", error=" + ioe + "].");
+            }
         }
     }
 
diff --git a/src/java/com/threerings/resource/ResourceBundle.java b/src/java/com/threerings/resource/ResourceBundle.java
index 54448c130..9f9662769 100644
--- a/src/java/com/threerings/resource/ResourceBundle.java
+++ b/src/java/com/threerings/resource/ResourceBundle.java
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 //
-// $Id: ResourceBundle.java,v 1.22 2003/08/15 23:58:02 mdb Exp $
+// $Id: ResourceBundle.java,v 1.23 2003/08/20 03:52:36 mdb Exp $
 
 package com.threerings.resource;
 
@@ -353,6 +353,11 @@ public class ResourceBundle
             return true;
         }
 
+        if (!_source.exists()) {
+            throw new IOException("Missing jar file for resource bundle: " +
+                                  _source + ".");
+        }
+
         try {
             if (_jarSource == null) {
                 _jarSource = new JarFile(_source);
@@ -360,7 +365,7 @@ public class ResourceBundle
             return false;
 
         } catch (IOException ioe) {
-            Log.warning("Failure creating jar file '" + _source + "'.");
+            Log.warning("Failure reading jar file '" + _source + "'.");
             Log.logStackTrace(ioe);
             throw new NestableIOException(
                 "Failed to resolve resource bundle jar file '" +