3078479 - R3trans -d ERROR: first character of SAP-Release is not a digit - SAP ASE for Business Suite

SAP application server does not start. "R3trans -d" fails with error code 0016 or 0012 like so:

I have some problems during TADIR access.
Connected to DBMS = SYBASE --- --- SYSTEM = '???'.
The HEAD entry in TADIR is missing.
ERROR: first character of SAP-Release is not a digit, but ...
Please contact the SAP support.

trans.log reports following messages:

4 ETW000 [ dev trc,00000] (208) [42000] [SAP][ASE ODBC Driver][Adaptive Server Enterprise]SVERS not found. Specify owner
4 ETW000 [ dev trc,00000] .objectname or use sp_help to check whether the object exists (sp_help may produ
4 ETW000 [ dev trc,00000] ce lots of output).
4 ETW000 [ dev trc,00000] sql statement is ==> SELECT VERSION FROM SVERS
4 ETW000 /* R3::0 T:SVERS */
4 ETW000 [ dblink ,00000] ***LOG BZA=>table SVERS does not exist on database
4 ETW000 [ dev trc,00000] ERROR: -1 in function StartSelect (execute) [line 34746]
4 ETW000 [ dev trc,00000] (208) [42000] [SAP][ASE ODBC Driver][Adaptive Server Enterprise]DDNTT not found. Specify owner
4 ETW000 [ dev trc,00000] .objectname or use sp_help to check whether the object exists (sp_help may produ
4 ETW000 [ dev trc,00000] ce lots of output).
4 ETW000 [ dev trc,00000] sql statement is ==> SELECT * FROM "DDNTT" WHERE TABNAME = 'SVERS'
4 ETW000 /* R3::0 T:DDNTT */
4 ETW000 /*0*/
4 ETW000 [dbntab.c ,00000] *** ERROR => NTAB: get_ntab_db_structure(): ddntt_column_check() returned dbsl error 103
4 ETW000 [ dev trc,00000] NTAB: db_ntab(): init_ntab failed, returning 4
4 ETW000 [ dev trc,00000] ERROR: -1 in function StartSelect (execute) [line 34746]
4 ETW000 [ dev trc,00000] (208) [R] [SAP][ASE ODBC Driver][Adaptive Server Enterprise]XXXXT not found. Specify owner
4 ETW000 [ dev trc,00000] .objectname or use sp_help to check whether the object exists (sp_help may produ
4 ETW000 [ dev trc,00000] ce lots of output).
4 ETW000 [ dev trc,00000] sql statement is ==> SELECT * FROM "XXXXT" WHERE TABNAME = 'SVERS'
4 ETW000 /* R3::0 T:XXXXT */
4 ETW000 /*0*/
......

• SAP Adaptive Server Enterprise (ASE) 16.0 for Business Suite
• SAP Adaptive Server Enterprise (ASE) 15.7 for Business Suite

R3trans, start, "TADIR access", TADIR, SVERS, DDNTT, XXXXT, trans.log, 0016, 0012 , KBA , BC-DB-SYB , Business Suite on Adaptive Server Enterprise , Problem