diff --git a/src/sasaMain.ml b/src/sasaMain.ml
index 2b82b336f2e4f284a5c2c8a03d02b924e4333a0e..fd589557c932041b24e9d0ac3b80ff912ec96d3c 100644
--- a/src/sasaMain.ml
+++ b/src/sasaMain.ml
@@ -202,15 +202,15 @@ let rec (simuloop: out_channel -> int -> int -> string -> 'v SimuState.t -> int)
 
 let () =
   let st = Sasacore.SimuState.make true Sys.argv in
-  let log = open_out (st.sasarg.topo ^ ".log") in
-  let newdot_fn = (Filename.chop_extension st.sasarg.topo) ^ "_wi.dot" in 
-  let newdot = open_out newdot_fn in
   let n = st.sasarg.length in
   try
     match st.sasarg.init_search_max_trials with
     | None ->
       ignore (simuloop stdout n n "" st)
     | Some maxt ->
+      let log = open_out (st.sasarg.topo ^ ".log") in
+      let newdot_fn = (Filename.chop_extension st.sasarg.topo) ^ "_wi.dot" in
+      let newdot = open_out newdot_fn in
       let run s =
         moves :=  0;
         rounds :=  0;