"Doing something" is a relative term.
Of the .txt files, only config.txt "does something". Perhaps you mean the .dat files? Now they do something.
Now, whether they do everything that you and I think that they ought to, is the real question.
Skills.dat and traits.dat ostensibly come from the matching .txt files, but in reality who knows what is really in there. You can import both of these .txt files into their respective slots and change the .dat versions. But what have you accomplished? I don't know.
I think most of the things in the skills.dat and traits.dat files contain info that is currently hardwired OR was future-proofing on Richard's part, but he never implemented it.