Duck ... thanks. I really appreciate it.
I downloaded the .ini file ... then I started freelancer without it just to make sure I knew my current build state. It works fine. No white anything. I don't get it, but I'm happy it's working - I have no idea what changed ... maybe a recent patch?
Sorry to any who were hoping to find a magical solution to similar lack of textures by following this thread ... pfm. The only thing I did different was to try to run freelancer from a user account rather than an admin account ... then I tried running it from the admin account like I had been doing previously - it works fine on both.
Good luck to any looking for related solutions and thanks to all for helping me out.