diff --git a/overviewer_core/configParser.py b/overviewer_core/configParser.py
index 5e792bb..fe2bbfd 100644
--- a/overviewer_core/configParser.py
+++ b/overviewer_core/configParser.py
@@ -253,20 +253,19 @@ class MultiWorldParser(object):
         for key in settingsDefinition.render:
             option = settingsDefinition.render[key]
             if option.has_key("default"):
-                self.defaults[key] = option.get("default")
+                self.defaults[key] = option["default"]
+
             
         self.defaults.update(glob)
 
-        
-        import pprint
-        pprint.pprint(glob, indent=2)
 
     def validate(self):
 
 
         for worldname in self.render:
-            world = self.render[worldname]
+            world = dict()
             world.update(self.defaults)
+            world.update(self.render[worldname])
         
             for key in world:
                 if key not in settingsDefinition.render:
@@ -278,8 +277,9 @@ class MultiWorldParser(object):
                     val = definition['validator'](world[key])
                     world[key] = val
                 except Exception as e:
-                    print "Error: %r" % e
-                    next
+                    #print "Error validating %s: %r" % (key, e)
+                    raise e
+            self.render[worldname] = world
 
                 
 
diff --git a/overviewer_core/settingsValidators.py b/overviewer_core/settingsValidators.py
index 3398e31..1fcf8ca 100644
--- a/overviewer_core/settingsValidators.py
+++ b/overviewer_core/settingsValidators.py
@@ -62,15 +62,22 @@ def validateBGColor(color):
     """BG color must be an HTML color, with an option leading # (hash symbol)
     returns an (r,b,g) 3-tuple  
     """
-    if color[0] != "#":
-        color = "#%s" % color
-    if len(color) != 7:
-        raise ValidationException("%r is not a valid color.  Expected HTML color syntax (i.e. #RRGGBB)" % color)
-
-    r = int(color[1:3], 16)
-    g = int(color[3:5], 16)
-    b = int(color[5:7], 16)
-    return (r,g,b,0)
+    if type(color) == str:
+        if color[0] != "#":
+            color = "#" + color
+        if len(color) != 7:
+            raise ValidationException("%r is not a valid color.  Expected HTML color syntax (i.e. #RRGGBB)" % color)
+        try:
+            r = int(color[1:3], 16)
+            g = int(color[3:5], 16)
+            b = int(color[5:7], 16)
+            return (r,g,b,0)
+        except ValueError:
+            raise ValidationException("%r is not a valid color.  Expected HTML color syntax (i.e. #RRGGBB)" % color)
+    elif type(color) == tuple:
+        if len(color) != 4:
+            raise ValidationException("%r is not a valid color.  Expected a 4-tuple" % (color,))
+        return color
 
 
 def validateOptImg(opt):
diff --git a/test/data/settings/settings_test_1.py b/test/data/settings/settings_test_1.py
index fe1f3f6..370e3d6 100644
--- a/test/data/settings/settings_test_1.py
+++ b/test/data/settings/settings_test_1.py
@@ -7,5 +7,6 @@ render["world"] = {
 }
 
 render["otherworld"] = {
-    "rendermode": "foo"
+    "rendermode": "foo",
+    "bgcolor": "#ffffff"
 }
diff --git a/test/data/settings/settings_test_bgcolor.py b/test/data/settings/settings_test_bgcolor.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a14d5bc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/data/settings/settings_test_bgcolor.py
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+bgcolor="#000000"
+
+render["world"] = { 
+    "worldpath": "test/data/settings/test_world", 
+    "bgcolor":"ffff"
+}
diff --git a/test/test_settings.py b/test/test_settings.py
index c4010cf..15f39ec 100644
--- a/test/test_settings.py
+++ b/test/test_settings.py
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@ class SettingsTest(unittest.TestCase):
         things = s.get_render_things()
         # no exceptions so far.  that's good
         self.assertEquals(things['world']['bgcolor'], (26,26,26,0))
+        self.assertEquals(things['otherworld']['bgcolor'], (255,255,255,0))
 
     def test_rendermode_validation(self):
         s = configParser.MultiWorldParser("test/data/settings/settings_test_rendermode.py")
@@ -22,5 +23,12 @@ class SettingsTest(unittest.TestCase):
 
         self.assertRaises(ValidationException,s.validate)
 
+    def test_bgcolor_validation(self):
+        s = configParser.MultiWorldParser("test/data/settings/settings_test_bgcolor.py")
+        s.parse()
+
+        self.assertRaises(ValidationException, s.validate)
+
+
 if __name__ == "__main__":
     unittest.main()