Index: trunk/ppSim/src/ppSimCreate.c
===================================================================
--- trunk/ppSim/src/ppSimCreate.c	(revision 14667)
+++ trunk/ppSim/src/ppSimCreate.c	(revision 17557)
@@ -18,4 +18,10 @@
     pmFPAfile *input = pmFPAfileDefineFromArgs (&status, config, "PPIMAGE.INPUT", "INPUT");
     if (!input) {
+	// if we have not specified the camera already, we need to interpolate the recipes associated with this camera, and read other command-line recipes
+        if (!pmConfigReadRecipes(config, PM_RECIPE_SOURCE_CL)) {
+            psError(PS_ERR_IO, false, "Error merging recipes from camera config for %s", config->cameraName);
+            return NULL;
+        }
+
 	simImage = true;
 	fpa = pmFPAConstruct(config->camera); // FPA to contain the observation
@@ -24,4 +30,5 @@
 	    return NULL;
 	}
+	
     } else {
 	simImage = false;
@@ -33,4 +40,5 @@
     }
 
+    // define the output image file
     pmFPAfile *file = pmFPAfileDefineOutput(config, fpa, OUTPUT_FILE);
     if (!file) {