ORIG FILES: CONF.INI and CONFUSER.INI ??
 

You can find the originals in the C:\Program Files\il-2 CLIFFS OF DOVER root directory. It appears this is where the original files live. As you make personal edits it stores the personal ones in your MY DOCUMENTS folder.

U can get em from Steam. Move em to a safe place and run Steam and ask it to check integrity. It'll give u new files.

Correct on both counts.

If you delete them from both locations and run a Steam file integrity check, it will place a copy of them in the root game folder.

Then, at the first subsequent execution of the sim it will place a copy of the files in the game's root into the documents 1c sub-folder. This is the instance of the files being edited whenever you make changes to your settings, the ones in the documents sub-folder.

Actually this is exactly the process we Euros had to follow to update our .ini files when they were redone in a newer layout some time back in May, preceded by saving a copy of our control settings first (options->controls->save as).