diff --git a/GroundMaterialConfiguration.cpp b/GroundMaterialConfiguration.cpp
index 68d34395..d619bc15 100644
--- a/GroundMaterialConfiguration.cpp
+++ b/GroundMaterialConfiguration.cpp
@@ -339,7 +339,7 @@ namespace
 bool addSingleTerrainConfig(TiXmlElement* elemRoot)
 {
     int basefile = loadImgFromXML(elemRoot);
-    if (basefile == INVALID_INDEX)
+    if (elemRoot->Attribute("file") != NULL && basefile == INVALID_INDEX)
         return false;
 
     std::string elementType = elemRoot->Value();
diff --git a/TreeGrowthConfiguration.cpp b/TreeGrowthConfiguration.cpp
index cb42f1ce..bc2e6a58 100644
--- a/TreeGrowthConfiguration.cpp
+++ b/TreeGrowthConfiguration.cpp
@@ -46,7 +46,7 @@ void parseGrowthElement(TiXmlElement* elemGrowthSprite, MaterialMatcher<c_sprite
 bool addSingleGrowthConfig(TiXmlElement* elemRoot)
 {
     int basefile = loadImgFromXML(elemRoot);
-    if (basefile == INVALID_INDEX)
+    if (elemRoot->Attribute("file") != NULL && basefile == INVALID_INDEX)
         return false;
 
     std::string elementType = elemRoot->Value();