[browned]

I did an upgrade originally, the shortcuts stopped working and did not display art work. I have since deleted the c:\users\username\appdata\roaming\kodi directory and started fresh. Still no smart shortcuts. I notice the file mentioned above is ~250KB in 18.1.13-14, but the 18.1.12 file is ~357KB.

I also noticed the Skin Helper Service Backgrounds supported addon is not in 18.1.13-14 so that would explain why I cannot find the backgrounds I use.

I am on Windows for my testing on Kodi 18.5, with Emby 4.1.16. 

Seems pulling the Script.Skin.Helper.Backgrounds-1.0.33.zip from one of my working systems still on 18.1.12 fixed the smart shortcuts and background issues. However, on a Kodi restart the addon was gone and the problem was back. 

did you got marcelveldts beta repo installed ? if not its strictly needed.
(you can install it from my repo in kodi)

i did a quick test (android phone , kodi 18.5 app store)
with
script.skin.helper.backgrounds version 1.0.34
all fine here by skin update.

section backgrounds
- no issues by current (pre-updated) shortcuts
- no issues if i restore shortcuts to default and use skinhelper section backgrounds (e.g. all movies)

if its an option for you do a fresh install
- deinstall skin (including settings file )close kodi
- install script.skin.helper.backgrounds, from marcelveldts beta repo
- install bingie repo within my repo
(cartman did a good job in update , even if its unrelated to to rotating extra section fanart)
script.skin.helper.service,
script.skin.helper.skinbackup
script.skin.helper.widgets )
- install titan mod again via repo
- set up your section backgrounds in shortcut settings and define your rotation in background settings), may double check the addon settings of sh.backgrounds )

you'll lost all settings, buts worth a try.

(SIDENOTE
script.skin.helper.backgrounds is pretty resource hungry and may not fully up to date code wise , but i still could reproduce a issue on my end)
 

[/quote]

Seems that the Skin helper backgrounds wasn't available in Marcels repo or it just kept removing itself, Installing bingie updated all of the above and added the backgrounds. So it is working as expected now. Strange situation though, having refreshed this install of Kodi 4 or 5 times hoping for a fix it seems the bingie repo did the job. Marcel's repo just wasn't working for backgrounds. My normal repo installs are Emby Beta, Marcels Beta, and your Marduk's repo 1.0.3. Not needed any others until now.