Sims Medieval - Not reading Options.ini file

Hi all,

Can't figure out where to go from here - after some basic troubleshooting, it seems like my Sims Medieval game isn't recognizing the 'Options.ini' file that is created by the game.  Specifically logging the tutorial as completed, which hinders my ability to play anything except the first quest line since I've already played it and I can't save during the tutorial... a vicious cycle.  When I view the Options.ini file (attached), it reads as "enableintrotutorial = 1", so one would think that the game would register it as completed, but nope!  This is the same for other graphics settings, where the options are =! 0, but when I view them in-game they are all set to the lowest setting.  It's almost like when the game launches it's reading from a new .ini file, but there isn't one in the game files.

Things I have tried so far:

- update graphic driver (NVIDIA), restart PC

- uninstall and reinstall TSM after updating graphics driver

- created new game and completed tutorial again

- manually write over 'Options.ini' file to force complete tutorial and save

- launching from EA app and launching from GeForce app

I can't figure out if the game is missing the file upon start up or if something is triggering it to reset.  I'm leaning towards somehow missing the .ini file upon start up, because I periodically checked the .ini file while replaying the tutorial, and I could track changes to the file as I completed the lessons (0s changing to 1s).  So the game is updating the file as I play, but not loading the file at start up?  

Any advice is appreciated!!  I love this game so much, I just want to play. ☹️

Attached is the most recent 'options.ini' file and screenshots of the game screen showing how the .ini file suggests that everything is fine, but then the game plays like it's the first launch.