I tried New Threat. Got as far as Wall Market, and found random encounters had been turned off. Went back to sector 6, did sewer, train graveyard. Only battle was the boss fight in the sewer. Disabled New Threat, used Ctrl+B a few times to turn random encounters off/on. No difference, random encounters have just not come back at all. Probably will have to drop New Threat and start a new save game if I can't resolve it. Kinda weak. All of my other mods are just graphics mods so nothing else should be touching gameplay.
Back in 2018 Sega Chief posted:
for the small segment where Cloud has left the playpark and is heading south through the scrapyard alone, encounters could be fought in the original game which I disabled and then re-enabled once Barret/Tifa catch up to you
Have to wonder if heading south after being in the park with Aerith caused this. Was it assumed that the only time the player heads south is after the plate falls?
How can I get random encounters to come back on? Would prefer not to restart a new save.