Featured Slider vanishes unless page is Static; Main area widgets don't work

Greetings:

My problem is somewhat similar to previous posts, but so far none of the fixes I’ve found and tried have worked, so I hope you can help me. I’m encountering a confusing issue as I use Live Preview to customize my recently-downloaded Supermag theme before sending it live. Several options appear to be missing. I have read your forum responses to other users, where you direct them to select things like “Featured Slider Options” (or options like “Custom” and “Recent Posts” when choosing what to display in the Featured Slider) however these options are absent from my menu.

What’s happening is that I’d like my front page layout to resemble a magazine with section headings classifying/grouping posts by category, but seem unable to do this unless I select “Static Front Page”, and then click “Front page should display: Static page”. If I select “Front page should display: Your latest posts”, then the Feature Section vanishes from the top of my page. I always make sure that “Enable Feature Section” is selected, however this appears to have no effect.

Also confusing is that when I select “Front page should display: Static page”, then the option “Main Content Area” appears under “Widgets”, seeming to enable me to place widgets in the “Home Main Content Area” widget menu, however any widget that I attempt to place in the main content area, also will not display.
Please advise me on what I might be doing wrong, as right now, the features seem to be contradicting each other. Any help will be sincerely appreciated.

Thank you for your time, and for creating a wonderful theme that I hope to be able to use.

With gratitude for your help!

P.S. here is the most recent Acme help page I referenced that mentioned options my menu doesn’t seem to have http://www.acmethemes.com/supports/topic/modules-setting-in-front-page/