VoicelessDruid

Yup, this was the solution. Big thank you to you for this! I did have to disable the ETB plugin/patch from Audio Overhaul of Skyrim 2 as well, but that went smoothly (just setting the ESP as optional in MO).

Very cool, I'll have to look into this and let you know the results. I was sure that something like this existed: many thanks!

Ah, that does make sense. Is there a clear way of doing that on the wiki somewhere, or will I have to figure it out (probably can do this, but why bother if it already exists somewhere)? I just couldn't find anything on this anywhere.

Unfortunately, the MCM doesn't permit disabling the mod itself. From the mod page: I would like to disable the mod so that the standard Skyrim textures display, but am worried that the patch will crash.

I installed STEP Extended as I wanted all the mods in it, except for Enhanced Blood Textures (not a fan of blood/gore). However, I didn't want to manually have to patch the game past Core, so I installed it and then was able to use the Extended patch. My question now is, can I disable it somehow? I'm assuming disabling the EBT plugin will cause issue? I don't necessarily want to get rid of blood entirely, as the vanilla game was fine, but I definitely don't want the large pools (bright red because of lighting) and other things that I can't disable. Thanks! NOTE: I am aware of no-blood mods, but that would be a last restort