.ass subs being stripped of formatting by mkvtoolnix and handbrake

[yah.shoor]

I can't figure out what I'm doing wrong. I've made some .ass subs with more than one tool (both Spot 6 and Aegisub) and, when I look at 'em in Notepad++, they have formatting information (some subs are a different color, or in a different position). I have an MP4 video file. I've attempted to mux the .ass and the .mp4 using mkvtoolnix,and I've attempted to hardcode the subs using Handbrake.

In both cases, my formatting is being lost - it looks like it did when I successfully harcdoded .srt subs using Handbrake - boring text, no position or text color information. I really need to position the subs quite accurately (the English graphs I'm explaining with non-English subs sometimes sit right where the subs are being displayed, so I need to move the subs out of the way for a moment). Are there settings I can't find in mkvtoolnix that are stripping out my formatting? Is there a different tool I should be using?

[sneaker]

MKVToolNix has no option to strip ASS subtitles of formatting. So either your files are somehow broken, you found a bug or you are doing something very wrong. It's not possible to tell from the little information you gave us (no sample files, no log files).