diff --git a/panda/src/putil/bam.h b/panda/src/putil/bam.h
index e7ec1c114e..58460cc6a5 100644
--- a/panda/src/putil/bam.h
+++ b/panda/src/putil/bam.h
@@ -32,20 +32,8 @@ static const unsigned short _bam_major_ver = 6;
 // Bumped to major version 5 on 5/6/05 for new Geom implementation.
 // Bumped to major version 6 on 2/11/06 to factor out PandaNode::CData.
 
+static const unsigned short _bam_first_minor_ver = 14;
 static const unsigned short _bam_minor_ver = 18;
-// Bumped to minor version 1 on 3/12/06 to add Texture::_compression.
-// Bumped to minor version 2 on 3/17/06 to add PandaNode::_draw_control_mask.
-// Bumped to minor version 3 on 3/21/06 to add Texture::_ram_images.
-// Bumped to minor version 4 on 7/26/06 to add CharacterJoint::_character.
-// Bumped to minor version 5 on 11/15/06 to add PartBundleNode::_num_bundles.
-// Bumped to minor version 6 on 2/5/07 to change GeomPrimitive::_num_vertices.
-// Bumped to minor version 7 on 2/15/07 to change SliderTable.
-// Bumped to minor version 8 on 5/12/07 to change GeomVertexArrayData::_data.
-// Bumped to minor version 9 on 5/15/07 to add PlaneNode::_clip_effect.
-// Bumped to minor version 10 on 6/19/07 to properly write PartBundles.
-// Bumped to minor version 11 on 6/20/07 to write frozen joints to PartGroups.
-// Bumped to minor version 12 on 7/3/07 to rework control/frozen joints more.
-// Bumped to minor version 13 on 8/15/07 to reverse CollisionPolygon vertices.
 // Bumped to minor version 14 on 12/19/07 to change default ColorAttrib.
 // Bumped to minor version 15 on 4/9/08 to add TextureAttrib::_implicit_sort.
 // Bumped to minor version 16 on 5/13/08 to add Texture::_quality_level.
diff --git a/panda/src/putil/bamReader.cxx b/panda/src/putil/bamReader.cxx
index 6435650894..f619d36372 100644
--- a/panda/src/putil/bamReader.cxx
+++ b/panda/src/putil/bamReader.cxx
@@ -91,19 +91,21 @@ init() {
 
   // If the major version is different, or the minor version is
   // *newer*, we can't safely load the file.
-  if (_file_major != _bam_major_ver || _file_minor > _bam_minor_ver) {
+  if (_file_major != _bam_major_ver || 
+      _file_minor < _bam_first_minor_ver ||
+      _file_minor > _bam_minor_ver) {
     bam_cat.error()
       << "Bam file is version " << _file_major << "." << _file_minor
       << ".\n";
 
-    if (_bam_minor_ver == 0) {
+    if (_bam_minor_ver == _bam_first_minor_ver) {
       bam_cat.error()
         << "This program can only load version "
-        << _bam_major_ver << ".0 bams.\n";
+        << _bam_major_ver << "." << _bam_first_minor_ver << " bams.\n";
     } else {
       bam_cat.error()
         << "This program can only load version "
-        << _bam_major_ver << ".0 through "
+        << _bam_major_ver << "." << _bam_first_minor_ver << " through "
         << _bam_major_ver << "." << _bam_minor_ver << " bams.\n";
     }