Theme-specific Installation Complications?

[Trooper]

Hi

I am using Coa theme and getting my installation to work from root seems to be a complication. In a subdirectory it works just fine.

As mentioned elsewhere on the forum, I have tried, in root:
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d [OR]
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} =/
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ /getsimple/$1 [L]

but that leaves me with http://localhost/getsimple/%slug%.html somehow.

I need http://localhost/%slug%.html (and core files in subdirectory).

I also tried adapting the theme's index.php (alternately copied to root...and not) and various other .htaccess combinations, to no avail.

Could it be a theme-specific issue perhaps? I did raise the issue with the theme creator also, on the off chance I'd get a quick reply from either source

Any assistance greatly appreciated, please.