For starters, I am assuming the game was working pretty recently for you. Did you load any updates? What platform are you using (Win, Mac, Linux)?
Never seen anything like this myself, but from a troubleshooting perspective I would suspect something with the permissions of the folder where PS settings are stored. In Linux that would be in .PlaneShift within your home folder (~/.PlaneShift), for other platforms perhaps someone else could step in to help with whrere they are located.
Anyway, I would try clearing that folder and all its contents entirely (note that it contains everything, including your logs, so you may wish to create a backup at some safe place first) or renaming it so PS can no longer find it, then starting the game and configuring it (you must make sure to properly set the graphics settings at least). If that works, you can then try to restore the contents of individual files, like your shortcut bar settings.