Sorry to hear about the crash, let's see if we can work out what's happening:
The strings in the interface shouldn't be able change to string table error without the application being restarted - They are set at load time and not touched after, so it sounds like something caused a problem with your install files between ArtRage closing and being reopened. Did all of the strings change, or did you just notice that menus you had not opened before were showing the error? Do the strings appear as string table errors now if you launch the application?
The file you're working on isn't huge, so while there's a chance there could have been a memory problem it doesn't seem likely. Unfortunately without the exact error message I'm not sure what happened. If you do see anything like this again, please make sure to report the error online when it happens: If prompted, opt to search online for a solution then when that finishes, you should be asked if you want to submit a report. Choose to do so and we will get that report which lets us track down what's going on in the application at the time of the crash.
ArtRage 4 does contain a backup system accessible from the preferences panel (under advanced options). Backup copies created by ArtRage 4are exact copies of the previous file, here's how it works: When you have the backup system turned on, when you Save, ArtRage renames the old saved version of the file (it doesn't do anything to that file's contents) and then saves your new version. The recovery file is a file ArtRage attempts to save to a temporary location if it detects a crash. In some cases the file may not be able to be saved properly and this may be why you had problems recovering.
Matt
ArtRage UI
Ambient Design.