diff --git a/panda/src/gobj/texture.cxx b/panda/src/gobj/texture.cxx
index 7c200c2353..d0d69cfda3 100644
--- a/panda/src/gobj/texture.cxx
+++ b/panda/src/gobj/texture.cxx
@@ -10055,11 +10055,31 @@ do_write_datagram_rawdata(CData *cdata, BamWriter *manager, Datagram &me) {
   me.add_uint8(cdata->_component_type);
   me.add_uint8(cdata->_component_width);
   me.add_uint8(cdata->_ram_image_compression);
-  me.add_uint8(cdata->_ram_images.size());
-  for (size_t n = 0; n < cdata->_ram_images.size(); ++n) {
-    me.add_uint32(cdata->_ram_images[n]._page_size);
-    me.add_uint32(cdata->_ram_images[n]._image.size());
-    me.append_data(cdata->_ram_images[n]._image, cdata->_ram_images[n]._image.size());
+
+  if (cdata->_ram_images.empty() && cdata->_has_clear_color &&
+      manager->get_file_minor_ver() < 45) {
+    // For older .bam versions that don't support clear colors, make up a RAM
+    // image.
+    int image_size = do_get_expected_ram_image_size(cdata);
+    me.add_uint8(1);
+    me.add_uint32(do_get_expected_ram_page_size(cdata));
+    me.add_uint32(image_size);
+
+    // Fill the image with the clear color.
+    unsigned char pixel[16];
+    const int pixel_size = do_get_clear_data(cdata, pixel);
+    nassertv(pixel_size > 0);
+
+    for (int i = 0; i < image_size; i += pixel_size) {
+      me.append_data(pixel, pixel_size);
+    }
+  } else {
+    me.add_uint8(cdata->_ram_images.size());
+    for (size_t n = 0; n < cdata->_ram_images.size(); ++n) {
+      me.add_uint32(cdata->_ram_images[n]._page_size);
+      me.add_uint32(cdata->_ram_images[n]._image.size());
+      me.append_data(cdata->_ram_images[n]._image, cdata->_ram_images[n]._image.size());
+    }
   }
 }