Thanks for the advice.
I'm back up and patched to where I was before and all the effects are ok again.
I don't have a clue as to what happened that trashed them but lets hope it doesn't happen again.
...man... I clean forgot what a pain it was to reinstall SHIII. I had repressed memories I suppose about having to go into the Window's registry and track down all those loose ends before it would let me reinstall rather than repair or modify. When SHIII digs into that Windows Install Wizard Shield utility it does so like an Alabama tick on a hound dog's neck.