settings.dat not showing text...

[HeeZy01]

i posted a while ago about this, but never got a definitive answer to why this happens. sometimes, when i open the settings.dat file in notepad, i get this,

㨰昮汩来慵摲〴䐺〶䔴㠲ぁ㔱い㠵㤹㌱䐸㔱㕄㐴䘲㜰㐴䍆ぁ䅁ㄸ㨵摡彤楤污杯桟獩汴㐳䘺尺䉘塏瑜浥屰潴牲湥獴彜湩潣灭敬整㍜㨳㩆塜佂屘整灭瑜牯敲瑮屳楟据浯汰瑥敥㨹摡灤敲湷㡤븺㤀戺湩彤潰瑲㙩〴㔰ㅥ㨶瑢挮湯敮瑣獟数摥ㅩ㍥㨰瑢渮彯潣湮捥彴潴獟牥楶散彳楬瑳㨶㔲ㄬ〱㐲戺⹴牰潩晟物瑳江獡彴楰捥楥攱〲挺敨正慟獳捯潟彮瑳牡楴攰㈱挺敨正畟摰瑡楥攰㨳楣㉤㨴癌ᨲ⌬룧侧됆ㄺ䖞敥㌱挺潬敳瑟彯牴祡どㅥ㨴潣湮彳汧扯污祬ㅩ攲㜱挺湯獮灟牥瑟牯敲瑮ㅩ攰㨷瑣桟獩汴㍥携瑨どㅥ㨵桤彴数彲潴牲湥楴攰㤱携物慟瑣癩彥潤湷潬摡㐳䘺尺䉘塏瑜浥屰潴牲湥獴彜湩潣灭敬整㉜㨴楤彲捡楴敶摟睯汮慯彤汦条ㅩㅥ㨳楤彲摡彤慬敢楬攱㈲携物损浯汰瑥摥摟睯汮慯㉤㨲㩆塜佂屘整灭瑜牯敲瑮屳㜲携物损浯汰瑥摥摟睯汮慯彤汦条ㅩㅥ㨷楤彲潴牲湥彴楦敬㍳㨶㩆塜佂屘整灭瑜牯敲瑮屳瑟牯敲瑮晟汩獥㈲携物瑟牯敲瑮晟汩獥晟慬楧攱〱携獩扡敬晟楷攰㌱攺慮汢彥捳慲数どㅥ㨵湥牣灹楴湯浟摯楥攲㌱攺瑸慲畟獬潬獴ど㙥攺瑸慲楳攲㨲摦ㅩ攰㤱机極愮瑬牥慮整损汯牯ㅩ㉥㨶畧⹩祢慰獳獟慥捲彨敲楤敲瑣ㅩㅥ㨵畧⹩汤慲整浟湥㙵㨹ⰰⰲⰳⰴⰵⰹ〱ㄬⰱ㈱ㄬⰵ〲㈬ⰵ〳㌬ⰵ〴㐬ⰵ〵㔬ⰵ〶㘬ⰵ〷㜬ⰵ〸㤬ⰰ〱㈰㨰畧⹩牧灡楨彣牰杯敲獳ど㉥㨳畧⹩慬瑳灟敲敦敲据彥慴楢攵㌲机極氮浩瑩彳湩獟慴畴扳牡ㅩㅥ㨹畧⹩慭畮污牟瑡浥湥極攱ㄲ机極瀮牥楳瑳湥彴慬敢獬㠵䄺灰米慇敭米潍楶獥䵼獵捩䵼獵捩嘠摩米灓牯獴呼籖楗摮睯米瑏敨ㅲ㨵畧⹩汵慲整浟湥㉵㨱ⰰⰱⰲⰵⰶ〱ㄬⰵ〲㌬㈰㨵湩瑳污彬潭楤楦慣楴湯瑟浩楥ㄱ㤸〶ㄴ㠰ㅥ欺㨰㨸慬杮慵敧どㅥ㨱潬杧牥浟獡楫㤱㜷〶㍥氺摳ど㡥氺彶楦敬㉳㨹

now if i change an option in General > Close to tray > OK, then the settings.dat returns to normal text. if i change the option back, then it doesn't show text.

why does this happen and it is normal? are there any bad things that can happen because of this? i am using a clean install of 1.7.5 with a clean settings.dat.

thanks.

[Ultima]

settings.dat is not a plaintext settings file. It is bencoded, so it's entirely expected that a plaintext editor won't always open it properly (and editing/saving it that way will normally corrupt it too anyhow). The only way you can really edit it properly is via some hex editor, or some bencode editor, like this (beware that it's still a bit buggy).