I have now modified the NLfit.c and plug_nlfit.c codes so that if the plugin encounters an error condition when loading models, instead of exit()-ing, it will simply cause the plugin to abort its own construction (with an error message, of course). This will let AFNI continue, just without the NLfit plugin.
This is in the source code distribution now and will be in the linux_glibc22 distribution shortly.
bob cox