Index: modules/simpletest/drupal_web_test_case.php
===================================================================
RCS file: /cvs/drupal/drupal/modules/simpletest/drupal_web_test_case.php,v
retrieving revision 1.80
diff -u -p -r1.80 drupal_web_test_case.php
--- modules/simpletest/drupal_web_test_case.php	19 Jan 2009 10:46:51 -0000	1.80
+++ modules/simpletest/drupal_web_test_case.php	22 Jan 2009 02:04:25 -0000
@@ -891,7 +891,11 @@ class DrupalWebTestCase {
   protected function refreshVariables() {
     global $conf;
     cache_clear_all('variables', 'cache');
-    $conf = variable_init();
+    $conf = array();
+    if (file_exists(DRUPAL_ROOT . '/' . conf_path() . '/settings.php')) {
+      @include DRUPAL_ROOT . '/' . conf_path() . '/settings.php';
+    }
+    $conf = variable_init($conf);
   }
 
   /**