Unfortunately this error occurs inconsistently, and some mwldmips runs are fine and others are not. Using wine does not seem to result in the same issue. Full error:
#0 548.4 wibo tools/compilers/mw/2.3.1.01/mwldmips.exe -map -nostdlib -m _start -nodead -g -o build/SCUS_971.11 SCUS_971.11.lcf @build/o_files
#0 548.4 Unexpected error in CWParserSetOutputFileDirectory [3]
mwldmips is used by my Dark Cloud decompilation project here.