Ah, I thought we were talking about the same files. You were referring to something different. So I must assume my confusion failed to come across.
The problem on my part was "failure to read". The entry in 2.D. just said to download and install; didn't specify that I'm not downloading and installing the default file at this point. So I just clicked the link and hit "Download (NMM)" instead of going to the files page and selecting the correct file... and was rather confused as to why the installer wanted me to have already installed stuff from later steps (because I downloaded the compilation file instead of the textures file). Just an ID10T error on my part, but I'd be surprised if others don't make the same error.
Next observation. Procedure has me installing Trade and Barter in section 2.D. I am sorting in preparation for a benchmark, and LOOT is complaining that I haven't yet installed SkyUI, which STEP places under 2.E. I am going to assume this isn't a problem so long as I don't need to activate it under the MCM. I am about to test that assumption.
EDIT: Assumption correct. I don't know if Trade and Barter does anything at this point, but the lack of SkyUI doesn't make the game crash or anything.
Edited by Tarvok, 28 November 2015 - 12:33 PM.