Crash due to "TDirect3DxFile.Start -Cant find xfile"

"TDirect3DxFile" is also my bane - and while I am not running a mod or custom shipset, I do have a few custom files. Specifically, I increased the SystemNames file to include 250+ names and increased the max number of systems generated in the Settings file to 250.

I was running ver 1.71, clicked on a star system and the game crashed (with the TDirect3DxFile error). Visited the site, downloaded and applied latest patch (1.74) - loaded game, clicked on same star system - crashed again. It does not appear that patch 1.74 addresses whatever is wrong.