It's strange the Couatladdons.ini is empty, since IT IS regenerated with some defaults and yes, I tried, and it is regenerated BOTH if it's missing, but also if I empty it on purpose, leaving with a 0 length.
So, with a missing/empty file, that message shouldn't appear, are you sure it's really empty and is not, instead, containing an invisible char ?
But yes, removing it when the sim is not running, should fix the problem.