Ah! Ok, Windows programs seem to always put EF BB BF at the beginning of a UTF-8 file. It seems like if you're using UTF-8 you need to use the option "Without byte order mark" or "Without BOM" but in that case the text will most likely look exactly like ASCII text anyway.
I don't use any plug-ins normally but I'll try out the POI finder to see how it works.
While I'm digging around there I'm looking at a way to fix the problem with the wrong POIs showing up in the Serpent Sewers and Down Below.
I just now saw
your thread in the EQ2MAP Team forum. Oh, I see.. that's a private forum thing.