I tried searching the forums but cannot tell if the result applied to "zenphoto". Should this file remain named as-is or be changed? Currently I have it as-is but my sub-albums only contain 1 photo each until I get Super Gallery working.

zp-config.php.example should be edited in a text editor with your database login information, and then renamed zp-config.php. If you already have a zp-config.php (that setup created, for example) then you can delete the .example version, it's just there as a starting point.

No, none of my subdirectories show a zp-config.php file. When I fetched the date of zp-config.php.example, it's "active" (current date/time to last use). Does that mean I should leave it alone?

Sounds like you have not run setup.php

I've decided to start over again. Just deleting everything and will FTP up the 07-Mar build (1262 if I recall). Yes, setup was run from zp-core after I installed zenphoto in each directory. Be back...

Sounds like you're making this more complicated than it is.

The steps are:

1. Open the zp-config.php.example file in a text editor.
2. Edit the text in the file and enter the database login credentials for your server (there are instructions once you open it).
3. Save the file.
4. Rename the file to zp-config.php

That's it! Then navigate to the setup page, at [http://your-web-site.com]/[zenphoto-install-dir]/zp-core/setup.php

So, you're correct, zp-config.php should not exist yet, until you follow the above procedure to create it. The date or whatever you were looking at means nothing, just follow the steps.

You could have also looked at the readme.txt file, or the installation instructions. Those are usually a good place to start, and tell you exactly how to do everything. And, as always with computers, don't be afraid to just experiment and try things.