diff --git a/Simulator/Objects/material.cxx b/Simulator/Objects/material.cxx
index 0f1a2e0a8..98ae62864 100644
--- a/Simulator/Objects/material.cxx
+++ b/Simulator/Objects/material.cxx
@@ -127,12 +127,10 @@ FGMaterial::load_texture( const string& root )
 #endif
 
     // set the texture parameters for this texture
+    xglPixelStorei(GL_UNPACK_ALIGNMENT, 4);
     xglTexParameteri( GL_TEXTURE_2D, GL_TEXTURE_WRAP_S, GL_REPEAT ) ;
     xglTexParameteri( GL_TEXTURE_2D, GL_TEXTURE_WRAP_T, GL_REPEAT ) ;
-    xglTexParameteri( GL_TEXTURE_2D, GL_TEXTURE_MAG_FILTER, 
-		      GL_LINEAR );
-    // xglTexParameteri( GL_TEXTURE_2D, GL_TEXTURE_MAG_FILTER,
-    //                   GL_NEAREST_MIPMAP_NEAREST );
+    xglTexParameteri( GL_TEXTURE_2D, GL_TEXTURE_MAG_FILTER, GL_LINEAR );
     xglTexParameteri( GL_TEXTURE_2D, GL_TEXTURE_MIN_FILTER, 
 		      /* GL_LINEAR */ 
 		      /* GL_NEAREST_MIPMAP_LINEAR */
@@ -203,18 +201,17 @@ FGMaterial::load_texture( const string& root )
 		   read_r8_texture(fg_oav_tpath.c_str(), &width, &height)) 
 		  != NULL )
 	    ;
-	else
-	    {
-		FG_LOG( FG_GENERAL, FG_ALERT, 
-			"Error in loading texture " << tpath.str() );
-		exit(-1);
-	    } 
+	else {
+	    FG_LOG( FG_GENERAL, FG_ALERT, 
+		    "Error in loading texture " << tpath.str() );
+	    exit(-1);
+	} 
 
-	/* xglTexImage2D(GL_TEXTURE_2D, 0, GL_RGB, width, height, 0,
-	   GL_RGB, GL_UNSIGNED_BYTE, texbuf); */
-
-	gluBuild2DMipmaps( GL_TEXTURE_2D, GL_RGB, width, height, 
-			   GL_RGB, GL_UNSIGNED_BYTE, texbuf );
+	if ( gluBuild2DMipmaps( GL_TEXTURE_2D, GL_RGB, width, height, 
+				GL_RGB, GL_UNSIGNED_BYTE, texbuf ) != 0 )
+	    FG_LOG( FG_GENERAL, FG_ALERT, "Error building mipmaps");
+	    exit(-1);
+	}
     } else if ( alpha == 1 ) {
 	// load rgba (alpha) texture
 
diff --git a/Simulator/Objects/obj.cxx b/Simulator/Objects/obj.cxx
index cb9e379f7..6ac92a53d 100644
--- a/Simulator/Objects/obj.cxx
+++ b/Simulator/Objects/obj.cxx
@@ -249,7 +249,9 @@ int fgObjLoad( const string& path, fgTILE *t) {
 		FGMaterial m = fragment.material_ptr->get_m();
 		tex_width = m.get_xsize();
 		tex_height = m.get_ysize();
-		cout << "(w) = " << tex_width << " (h) = " << tex_width << endl;
+		// cout << "(w) = " << tex_width << " (h) = " 
+		//      << tex_width << endl;
+
 		// initialize the fragment transformation matrix
 		/*
 		 for ( i = 0; i < 16; i++ ) {