Function GetSettingInt(ByVal name As String) As Integer
Check()
If FileIO.FileSystem.FileExists(subdirName & "s." & name & ".n") = True Then
Return CInt(File.ReadAllText(subdirName & "s." & name & ".n"))
Else
Return Nothing
End If
End Function
should be

Function GetSettingInt(ByVal name As String) As string
Check()
If FileIO.FileSystem.FileExists(subdirName & "s." & name & ".n") = True Then
Return File.ReadAllText(subdirName & "s." & name & ".n")
Else
Return Nothing
End If
End Function