A possible fix would be to obtain the "Unlocker" program which should unlock, and then delete your locked eqclient.ini file. Then according to this Rogean post
https://www.project1999.com/forums/showthread.php?t=337679, the program should recreate itself once you run the game again.
Like NegaStoat, lately whenever a new patch arrives, I have been picking and choosing files to copy and cover, instead of just blindly running the patch. I just concentrate on those that have had their save date altered and then see what was changed.