diff --git a/lib/settings.js b/lib/settings.js
index acb48e8..3a1b0c3 100644
--- a/lib/settings.js
+++ b/lib/settings.js
@@ -955,64 +955,156 @@ exports.blockchain_specific = {
   }
 };
 
-exports.reloadSettings = function reloadSettings() {
-  // Discover where the settings file lives
-  var settingsFilename = "settings.json";
-  settingsFilename = "./" + settingsFilename;
-
-  var settingsStr;
-  try{
-    //read the settings sync
-    settingsStr = fs.readFileSync(settingsFilename).toString();
-  } catch(e){
-    console.warn('No settings file found. Continuing using defaults!');
-  }
-
-  // try to parse the settings
+exports.loadSettings = function loadSettings() {
+  var settings_filename = "./settings.json";
   var settings;
-  try {
-    if(settingsStr) {
-      settingsStr = jsonminify(settingsStr).replace(",]","]").replace(",}","}");
-      settings = JSON.parse(settingsStr);
+  var json_settings;
+  // define an exception list of setting json paths (period separated) that do not have defaults and should not throw 'unknown setting' errors 
+  var exceptions = ['labels'];
+
+  // check if the settings.json file exists
+  if (fs.existsSync(settings_filename)) {
+    try {
+      // read settings.json into a string variable
+      settings = fs.readFileSync(settings_filename).toString();
+    } catch(e) {
+      console.warn('The settings.json file is missing. Continuing using defaults.');
     }
-  }catch(e){
-    console.error('There was an error processing your settings.json file: '+e.message);
+  } else
+    console.warn('The settings.json file is missing. Continuing using defaults.');
+
+  try {
+    // check if the settings string was populated
+    if (settings) {
+      // get settings string ready for json conversion
+      settings = jsonminify(settings).replace(",]","]").replace(",}","}");
+      // convert settings string to json object
+      json_settings = JSON.parse(settings);
+    }
+  } catch(e) {
+    console.error('There was an error processing your settings.json file: ' + e.message);
     process.exit(1);
   }
 
-  //loop trough the settings
-  for(var i in settings)
-  {
-    //test if the setting start with a low character
-    if(i.charAt(0).search("[a-z]") !== 0)
-    {
-      console.warn("Settings should start with a low character: '" + i + "'");
+  // check if the json settings were populated
+  if (json_settings != null) {
+    // loop through all settings from the settings.json file
+    for (var current_setting in json_settings) {
+      // merge settings from settings.json with the defaults from settings.js
+      merge_settings(json_settings, exceptions, json_settings[current_setting], current_setting);
     }
 
-    //we know this setting, so we overwrite it
-    if(exports[i] !== undefined)
-    {
-      // This check uses old .user and .pass config strings if they exist, and .username, .password don't.
-      if (i == 'wallet')
-      {
-        if (!settings.wallet.hasOwnProperty('username') && settings.wallet.hasOwnProperty('user'))
-        {
-          settings.wallet.username = settings.wallet.user;
-        }
-        if (!settings.wallet.hasOwnProperty('password') && settings.wallet.hasOwnProperty('pass'))
-        {
-          settings.wallet.password = settings.wallet.pass;
-        }
-      }
-      exports[i] = settings[i];
-    }
-    //this setting is unkown, output a warning and throw it away
-    else
-    {
-      console.warn("Unknown Setting: '" + i + "'. This setting doesn't exist or it was removed");
+    // re-initialize the exceptions list
+    exceptions = ['loadSettings'];
+
+    // loop through the loaded/default settings (settings.js) to look for missing settings
+    for (var current_setting in exports) {
+      // look for missing settings from settings.json based on the defaults from settings.js
+      check_missing_settings(json_settings, exceptions, exports[current_setting], current_setting);
     }
   }
 };
 
-// initially load settings
-exports.reloadSettings();
\ No newline at end of file
+// define a recursive function used to merge settings from different json objects
+merge_settings = function(json_settings, exceptions, current_setting, path) {
+  // check if this is an object with more properties
+  if (typeof current_setting === 'object' && current_setting !== null) {
+    // this is an object
+    // check if this object already exists in the default settings (settings.js)
+    if (Object.byString(exports, path) == null) {
+      // this setting object does not exist in settings.js
+      // show warning msg
+      console.warn("Unknown setting '" + path + "' has been ignored. This setting doesn't exist or was removed.");
+    } else {
+      // the object exists in the loaded settings
+      // check if the object is an array or is one of the exceptions
+      if (Array.isArray(current_setting) || exceptions.indexOf(path) > -1) {
+        // the object is an array or is an exception
+        // merge the object into settings.js without checking object keys
+        eval('exports' + fix_object_path(path) + ' = ' + JSON.stringify(Object.byString(json_settings, path)));
+      } else {
+        // the object is not an array or an exception
+        // loop through the object keys to continue checking for missing properties
+        for (var setting_name in current_setting) {
+          // recursively step through all properties of this object and merge setting values
+          merge_settings(json_settings, exceptions, current_setting[setting_name], path + '.' + setting_name);
+        }
+      }
+    }
+  } else {
+    // this is a property
+    // check if this property already exists in the default settings (settings.js)
+    if (Object.byString(exports, path) == null) {
+      // this setting property does not exist in settings.js
+      // show warning msg
+      console.warn("Unknown setting '" + path + "' has been ignored. This setting doesn't exist or was removed.");
+    } else {
+      // the property exists in the loaded settings
+      // get the settings.json value
+      var setting_value = Object.byString(json_settings, path);
+      // overwrite the property value with the value from settings.json
+      eval('exports' + fix_object_path(path) + ' = ' + (typeof setting_value === "string" ? '"' : '') + setting_value + (typeof setting_value === "string" ? '"' : ''));
+    }
+  }
+}
+
+// define a recursive function used to check settings for missing entries between json objects
+check_missing_settings = function(json_settings, exceptions, current_setting, path) {
+  // check if this is an object with more properties
+  if (typeof current_setting === 'object' && current_setting !== null) {
+    // this is an object
+    // check if this object exists in the json settings (settings.json)
+    if (Object.byString(json_settings, path) == null) {
+      // this setting object does not exist in settings.json
+      // check if it is an exception
+      if (exceptions.indexOf(path) == -1) {
+        // this is not one of the exceptions
+        // show warning msg
+        console.warn("setting '" + path + "' is missing. Loading default value.");
+      }
+    } else {
+      // the object exists in the json settings
+      // loop through the object keys to continue checking for missing properties
+      for (var setting_name in current_setting) {
+        // recursively step through all properties of this object
+        check_missing_settings(json_settings, exceptions, current_setting[setting_name], path + '.' + setting_name);
+      }
+    }
+  } else {
+    // this is a property
+    // check if this property exists in the json settings (settings.json)
+    if (Object.byString(json_settings, path) == null) {
+      // this setting property does not exist in settings.json
+      // check if it is an exception
+      if (exceptions.indexOf(path) == -1) {
+        // this is not one of the exceptions
+        // show warning msg
+        console.warn("setting '" + path + "' is missing. Loading default value.");
+      }
+    }
+  }
+}
+
+// define a function used to fix object paths
+fix_object_path = function(path) {
+  return "['" + path.replace(/\./g, "']['") + "']";
+}
+
+/* Special thanks to Alnitak for the Object.byString function: https://stackoverflow.com/a/6491621/3038650 */
+Object.byString = function(o, s) {
+    s = s.replace(/\[(\w+)\]/g, '.$1'); // convert indexes to properties
+    s = s.replace(/^\./, '');           // strip a leading dot
+    var a = s.split('.');
+    for (var i = 0, n = a.length; i < n; ++i) {
+        var k = a[i];
+        if (k in o) {
+            o = o[k];
+        } else {
+            return;
+        }
+    }
+    return o;
+}
+
+// populate settings
+exports.loadSettings();
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/scripts/sass_theme_reader.sh b/scripts/sass_theme_reader.sh
index f29ebff..38c161e 100644
--- a/scripts/sass_theme_reader.sh
+++ b/scripts/sass_theme_reader.sh
@@ -1,3 +1,7 @@
 #!/bin/bash
 
-echo "\$theme-name: \"$(./node_modules/.bin/strip-json-comments settings.json | ./node_modules/.bin/json shared_pages.theme)\";" > ./public/css/_theme-selector.scss
+if [ -f ./settings.json ]; then
+  echo "\$theme-name: \"$(./node_modules/.bin/strip-json-comments settings.json | ./node_modules/.bin/json shared_pages.theme)\";" > ./public/css/_theme-selector.scss
+else
+  echo "\$theme-name: \"Exor\";" > ./public/css/_theme-selector.scss
+fi
\ No newline at end of file