diff --git a/src/RIGID/fix_rigid_small.cpp b/src/RIGID/fix_rigid_small.cpp
index 39bfc82c29..c4f3ccaab4 100644
--- a/src/RIGID/fix_rigid_small.cpp
+++ b/src/RIGID/fix_rigid_small.cpp
@@ -2138,7 +2138,7 @@ void FixRigidSmall::setup_bodies_dynamic()
    which = 0 to read total mass and center-of-mass
    which = 1 to read 6 moments of inertia, store in array
    flag inbody = 0 for local bodies whose info is read from file
-   nlines = # of lines of rigid body info
+   nlines = # of lines of rigid body info, 0 is OK
    one line = rigid-ID mass xcm ycm zcm ixx iyy izz ixy ixz iyz
    and rigid-ID = mol-ID for fix rigid/small
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------- */
@@ -2184,7 +2184,6 @@ void FixRigidSmall::readfile(int which, double **array, int *inbody)
   }
 
   MPI_Bcast(&nlines,1,MPI_INT,0,world);
-  if (nlines == 0) error->all(FLERR,"Fix rigid file has no lines");
 
   char *buffer = new char[CHUNK*MAXLINE];
   char **values = new char*[ATTRIBUTE_PERBODY];
@@ -2502,6 +2501,10 @@ void FixRigidSmall::set_molecule(int nlocalprev, tagint tagprev,
       nlocal_body++;
     }
   }
+
+  // increment total # of rigid bodies
+
+  nbody++;
 }
 
 /* ----------------------------------------------------------------------