diff --git a/src/exceptions/BaseException.h b/src/exceptions/BaseException.h
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..1f61c8338
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/exceptions/BaseException.h
@@ -0,0 +1,40 @@
+#ifndef BASEEXCEPTION_H_
+#define BASEEXCEPTION_H_
+
+#include <exception>
+#include <sstream>
+
+namespace mrmc {
+namespace exceptions {
+
+class BaseException : public std::exception
+{
+	public:
+		BaseException() : exception() {}
+		BaseException(const BaseException& cp)
+			: exception(cp), stream(cp.stream.str())
+		{
+		}
+		
+		~BaseException() throw() { }
+		
+		template<class T>
+		BaseException& operator<<(const T& var)
+		{
+			this->stream << var;
+			return *this;
+		}
+		
+		virtual const char* what() const throw()
+		{
+			return this->stream.str().c_str();
+		}
+	
+	private:
+		std::stringstream stream;
+};
+
+} // namespace exceptions
+} // namespace mrmc
+
+#endif // BASEEXCEPTION_H_
diff --git a/src/exceptions/InvalidSettings.h b/src/exceptions/InvalidSettings.h
index 8244c6d4c..2e34a7419 100644
--- a/src/exceptions/InvalidSettings.h
+++ b/src/exceptions/InvalidSettings.h
@@ -1,35 +1,16 @@
-#ifndef MRMC_EXCEPTIONS_INVALID_SETTINGS_H_
-#define MRMC_EXCEPTIONS_INVALID_SETTINGS_H_
+#ifndef INVALIDSETTINGS_H_
+#define INVALIDSETTINGS_H_
 
-#include <exception>
+#include "src/exceptions/BaseException.h"
 
 namespace mrmc {
 namespace exceptions {
 
-//!This exception is thrown when a memory request can't be
-//!fulfilled.
-class InvalidSettings : public std::exception
+class InvalidSettings : public BaseException
 {
- public:
-/* The Visual C++-Version of the exception class has constructors accepting
- * a char*-constant; The GCC version does not have these
- *
- * As the "extended" constructor is used in the sparse matrix code, a dummy
- * constructor is used under linux (which will ignore the parameter)
- */
-#ifdef _WIN32
-   InvalidSettings() : exception("::mrmc::InvalidSettings"){}
-   InvalidSettings(const char * const s): exception(s) {}
-#else
-   InvalidSettings() : exception() {}
-   InvalidSettings(const char * const s): exception() {}
-
-#endif
-   virtual const char* what() const throw()
-      {  return "mrmc::InvalidSettings";  }
 };
 
 } // namespace exceptions
 } // namespace mrmc
 
-#endif // MRMC_EXCEPTIONS_INVALID_SETTINGS_H_
+#endif // INVALIDSETTINGS_H_
diff --git a/src/mrmc.cpp b/src/mrmc.cpp
index 243f1e0cc..6f2caed40 100644
--- a/src/mrmc.cpp
+++ b/src/mrmc.cpp
@@ -75,8 +75,10 @@ int main(const int argc, const char* argv[]) {
 
 	try {
 		s = mrmc::settings::newInstance(argc, argv, nullptr);
-	} catch (mrmc::exceptions::InvalidSettings&) {
+	} catch (mrmc::exceptions::InvalidSettings& e) {
+		LOG4CPLUS_FATAL(logger, "InvalidSettings error: " << e.what());
 		LOG4CPLUS_FATAL(logger, "Could not recover from settings error, terminating.");
+		std::cout << "Could not recover from settings error: " << e.what() << std::endl;
 		std::cout << std::endl << mrmc::settings::help;
 		delete s;
 		return 1;
diff --git a/src/utility/settings.cpp b/src/utility/settings.cpp
index 748bc931a..94aba1f15 100644
--- a/src/utility/settings.cpp
+++ b/src/utility/settings.cpp
@@ -7,6 +7,8 @@
 
 #include "src/utility/settings.h"
 
+#include "src/exceptions/BaseException.h"
+
 #include "log4cplus/logger.h"
 #include "log4cplus/loggingmacros.h"
 extern log4cplus::Logger logger;
@@ -107,27 +109,19 @@ Settings::Settings(const int argc, const char* argv[], const char* filename)
 	}
 	catch (bpo::required_option e)
 	{
-		std::cerr << "Required option: " << e.what() << std::endl;
-		LOG4CPLUS_ERROR(logger, "Required option: " << e.what());
-		throw mrmc::exceptions::InvalidSettings();
+		throw mrmc::exceptions::InvalidSettings() << "Required option missing";
 	}
 	catch (bpo::validation_error e)
 	{
-		std::cerr << "Validation failed: " << e.what() << std::endl;
-		LOG4CPLUS_ERROR(logger, "Validation failed: " << e.what());
-		throw mrmc::exceptions::InvalidSettings();
+		throw mrmc::exceptions::InvalidSettings() << "Validation failed: " << e.what();
 	}
 	catch (bpo::invalid_command_line_syntax e)
 	{
-		std::cerr << "Invalid command line syntax: " << e.what() << std::endl;
-		LOG4CPLUS_ERROR(logger, "Invalid command line syntax: " << e.what());
-		throw mrmc::exceptions::InvalidSettings();
+		throw mrmc::exceptions::InvalidSettings() << e.what();
 	}
 	catch (bpo::error e)
 	{
-		std::cerr << e.what() << std::endl;
-		LOG4CPLUS_ERROR(logger, "Unknown error: " << e.what());
-		throw mrmc::exceptions::InvalidSettings();
+		throw mrmc::exceptions::InvalidSettings() << e.what();
 	}
 }
 
diff --git a/src/utility/settings.h b/src/utility/settings.h
index 842074655..0d634697f 100644
--- a/src/utility/settings.h
+++ b/src/utility/settings.h
@@ -52,7 +52,7 @@ namespace settings {
 			 */
 			template <typename T>
 			const T& get(const std::string &name) const {
-				if (this->vm.count(name) == 0) throw mrmc::exceptions::InvalidSettings();
+				if (this->vm.count(name) == 0) throw mrmc::exceptions::InvalidSettings() << "Could not read option " << name << ".";
 				return this->vm[name].as<T>();
 			}