Hmmm... I'm using CS16_v17 because I can't be bothered to install Steam, and I don't have any problem.
The danger factor is determined in the file "podbot.cfg", located in your cstrike\addons\podbot folder. There's a line "danger_factor 800" in there, at least in my cfg.
You could try lowering that value, although I'm not sure if that would help.
Anyway, why do you say "error message"? Does a window pop up saying that sentence, or is it just the last thing you can read in the console before CS crashes?
It just occurs to me that you might also try to comment out that command (so that it's deactivated and gets ignored) and then try to open a game. If it works, you can try to enter the command into the console (ought to be either "danger_factor nnn" or "pb danger_factor nnn" - never tried). If it crashes after entering, you know something with that command is wrong. If it only crashes when interpreted automatically during startup, you can find a workaround, and if it crashes anyway, you know that something else is wrong...
Can't think of anything more spontaneously and without further infos... as I said: Tell me exactly what you see on your screen, and don't forget to mention which versions of MM and Podbot you're running.... can't hurt to know that.