I couldn't get VGMStream to work at all. Plugin was in the right folder and there were files located where they should have been but every time I selected the plugin using Aali's driver it would switch back to 'none' when I brought the window up again.
So I uninstalled everything and cleaned the registry as well as ran CCleaner. All good.
Reinstalled FFVII from Steam.
Followed the step-by-step to a T using the 1.56 version of 7H in the FAQ.
Installed mods with the load order I listed above, missing out the Remako one listed and shifted things around otherwise for preference.
Loaded the game with no issues whatsoever. Music was working, mods seemed to be working AFAIK.
Beat Guard Scorpion and headed round to leave the reactor and I encounter another guard scorpion that for some reason does 7k damage to me for whatever reason. I had a similar bug on an earlier botched install that made what I assume was a New Threat encounter pop up on my way down the steps after the lift in reactor 1.
I searched and found this:
Your lookup tables in the scene.bin are messed up. You should clean your registry and start fresh. Check the FAQ thread on how to start over with a fresh install.
so I understand what the problem is there, but on two installs in a row? I'm 100% sure I did that bit right. I'll try it in a VM if it doesn't work this time.
That's not a huge issue if it's only the Scorpion that is messed up. I can just use the mod to skip the encs for a bit. Problem is now I can't load the game again because every time I do I get the same
System.ApplicationException: STATUS_INTERNAL_ERROR:unknown error in injected assembler code. (Code 5)
that I had previously which ended in a filepath that links to whoever made the revisions computer.