diff --git a/src/osgPlugins/ive/DataInputStream.cpp b/src/osgPlugins/ive/DataInputStream.cpp
index 43aba0482..d53330343 100644
--- a/src/osgPlugins/ive/DataInputStream.cpp
+++ b/src/osgPlugins/ive/DataInputStream.cpp
@@ -139,7 +139,7 @@ using namespace std;
 
 DataInputStream::DataInputStream(std::istream* istream, const osgDB::ReaderWriter::Options* options)
 {
-    unsigned int endianType ;
+    _version = 0;
 
     _loadExternalReferenceFiles = false;
 
@@ -162,11 +162,10 @@ DataInputStream::DataInputStream(std::istream* istream, const osgDB::ReaderWrite
     if(!istream)
     {
         throwException("DataInputStream::DataInputStream(): null pointer exception in argument.");
-        _version = 0;
         return;
     }
 
-    endianType = readUInt() ;
+    unsigned int endianType = readUInt() ;
 
     if ( endianType != ENDIAN_TYPE) {
       // Make sure the file is simply swapped