[Tex/LaTex] REVTeX 4.1 + fixltx2e + includegraphics = doesn’t work

Question

I use MacOSX Leopard and TeXShop. This piece of code works:

\documentclass[preprint,floatfix]{revtex4-1}
\usepackage{graphicx}
\begin{document}

\title{empty}

\section{fixltx2e or REVTeX 4.1 problem or mine?}

\begin{figure}[htb]
\centering
\includegraphics[width=0.5\textwidth]{fig1.pdf}
\caption{Awesome Image}
\label{fig:awesome_image}
\end{figure}

\end{document}

But if I load fixltx2e, the same piece of code it DOESN'T work!

\documentclass[preprint,floatfix]{revtex4-1}
\usepackage{fixltx2e}
\usepackage{graphicx}
\begin{document}

\title{empty}

\section{fixltx2e or REVTeX 4.1 problem or mine?}

\begin{figure}[htb]
\centering
\includegraphics[width=0.5\textwidth]{fig1.pdf}
\caption{Awesome Image}
\label{fig:awesome_image}
\end{figure}

\end{document}

This is the error that is produced:

<fig1.pdf, id=1, 61.25pt x 74.7pt> <use fig1.pdf>
No file test3.bbl.
[1{/usr/local/texlive/2011/texmf-var/fonts/map/pdftex/updmap/pdftex.map}]
! Missing number, treated as zero.
<to be read again> 
\aftergroup 
l.20 \end{document}

Any idea how to fix this?

Answer 1

You can compile it if you load fixltx2e before the class. In that case you need \RequirePackage since \usepackage cannot be used before \documentclass.

\RequirePackage{fixltx2e}
\documentclass[preprint,floatfix]{revtex4-1}