diff --git a/PYME/LMVis/layers/pointcloud.py b/PYME/LMVis/layers/pointcloud.py
index 8a3ae7069..6949cc5a4 100644
--- a/PYME/LMVis/layers/pointcloud.py
+++ b/PYME/LMVis/layers/pointcloud.py
@@ -50,6 +50,7 @@ def render(self, gl_canvas, layer):
                 sp = self.get_specific_shader_program(gl_canvas, self._big_point_shader_cls)
                 bigpoints = True
             except AttributeError:
+                logger.exception('error finding big point shader class')
                 logger.debug('No big point shader class defined, using default shader - points will appear smaller than expected')
 
         vertices = layer.get_vertices()
diff --git a/PYME/LMVis/shader_programs/PointSpriteShaderProgram.py b/PYME/LMVis/shader_programs/PointSpriteShaderProgram.py
index 510d0f019..4770dd3b9 100644
--- a/PYME/LMVis/shader_programs/PointSpriteShaderProgram.py
+++ b/PYME/LMVis/shader_programs/PointSpriteShaderProgram.py
@@ -160,4 +160,4 @@ class BigPointSpriteShaderProgram(PointSpriteShaderProgram):
     def __init__(self, **kwargs):
         GLProgram.__init__(self, vs_filename='default_vs.glsl', fs_filename='bigpointsprites_fs.glsl', gs_filename='bigpoints_gs.glsl', **kwargs)
         self._texture = GaussTexture()
-        self.size_factor = self._texture.load_texture()
+        self.size_factor = self._texture.create_texture()