The workaround doesn't hold up in all cases. Will need to dive deeper to find the underlying issue eventually and solve it.
Initial problem: Settings window always immediately crashes (loads as a blank white square on middle of screen the size of the normal settings window) and cannot be closed without using Task Manager.
Initial workaround: 'Hide' the settings window instead of ever closing it.
Problem: Swapping between projects can sometimes trigger the same crash, indicating that at some point, the settings window was closed instead of hidden.
Solution; determine why the Settings window is actually crashing and take care of the root cause.