diff --git a/OpenSim/Framework/Servers/BaseOpenSimServer.cs b/OpenSim/Framework/Servers/BaseOpenSimServer.cs
index 3426d10d9b..1d4deac7bc 100644
--- a/OpenSim/Framework/Servers/BaseOpenSimServer.cs
+++ b/OpenSim/Framework/Servers/BaseOpenSimServer.cs
@@ -157,7 +157,16 @@ namespace OpenSim.Framework.Servers
                 "[STARTUP]: Operating system version: {0}, .NET platform {1}, {2}-bit\n",
                 Environment.OSVersion, Environment.OSVersion.Platform, Util.Is64BitProcess() ? "64" : "32");
             
-            StartupSpecific();
+            try
+            {
+                StartupSpecific();
+            }
+            catch(Exception e)
+            {
+                m_log.FatalFormat("Fatal error: {0}",
+                    (e.Message == null || e.Message == String.Empty) ? "Unknown reason":e.Message );
+                Environment.Exit(1);
+            }
             
             TimeSpan timeTaken = DateTime.Now - m_startuptime;
             
diff --git a/OpenSim/Region/Application/OpenSimBase.cs b/OpenSim/Region/Application/OpenSimBase.cs
index 41966ff325..52ded3d055 100644
--- a/OpenSim/Region/Application/OpenSimBase.cs
+++ b/OpenSim/Region/Application/OpenSimBase.cs
@@ -218,6 +218,13 @@ namespace OpenSim
             IConfig startupConfig = Config.Configs["Startup"];
             if (startupConfig != null)
             {
+                // refuse to run MegaRegions
+                if(startupConfig.GetBoolean("CombineContiguousRegions", false))
+                {
+                    m_log.Fatal("CombineContiguousRegions (MegaRegions) option is no longer suported. Use a older version to save region contents as OAR, then import into a fresh install of this new version");
+                    throw new Exception("CombineContiguousRegions not suported");
+                }
+
                 string pidFile = startupConfig.GetString("PIDFile", String.Empty);
                 if (pidFile != String.Empty)
                     CreatePIDFile(pidFile);