This happened to me again today, and I'm not certain but it might be happening after loading a save after a death. Nevertheless, it doesn't seem like this reversion to default settings should be occurring even under these circumstances.

ситуация не приятная
А как вам такой выход?
Установить нужные вам настройки и запретить всем пользователям на компьютере в том числе системным изменять файл с конфигурацией ? :)

Did you make a game save after you had changed your settings? Since you're obviously in Singleplayer, you need to save after setting changes for them to take effect fully.

Multiplayer doesn't have this problem, but if you have such a problem in Multiplayer, let me know.

Yes, I believe I did save the options settings when they were first set. In fact, they were remaining set through other save loads... except when my character died.

I will keep an eye on this to see if your explanation is actually working or not and let the forum know what I find.

Thanks.