Hey, finally got it working with the help of Capun.
Here's what helped me for those that might have the same issue. Somehow, my SSD and mechanical hard drive developed some sort of conflict, so I had to point the exe to the proper options.ini...I understand that this is not normally the case.
Posted with Capun's permission and changed terms to more closely match the WW2 PDF install document:
1- Go to the folder with the executable program StrikeFighters2 WW2Pacific.exe
2- Create a StrikeFighters2 WW2Pacific.ini file from the SF2-NA version. (MY EDIT: This was probably already created during the mod install process)
3- Modify the ini file, options section:
[Options] OptionsFile=Options-WW2Pacific.ini
4- Create a C:\Users\MyName\Saved Games\ThirdWire\StrikeFighters2 WW2Pacific (MY EDIT: This was probably already created during the mod install process)
5- Inside that folder copy and modify the stock Options.ini file and rename it Options-WW2Pacific.ini
6- Modify the ini file Mods and Screenshots section to point to the actual mod folder
7- Go to the actual mod folder, C:\Users\MyName\Saved Games\ThirdWire\StrikeFighters2 WW2Pacific
8- Copy the Options-WW2Pacific.ini from step 2. (MY EDIT: When I went through the process, steps 7 and 8 weren't necessary as the renamed options.ini is already there...you merely must rename the ini as in step 5 and change the entries in step 6).
Don't know if this helps anyone but wanted to post it here for Captain Google to point to. :-)