Eliralis

0.9.8. crashes at the map loading screen.

I've updated the first post and re-uploaded the map, removing the loading screen image texture from it (apparently, there's something wrong with your game client when it extracts the map files during loading; it seems that encountering the texture (loading screen image) causes an error and a crash. For me, it works perfectly with or without the image; I'm using a standard 3.1 client with no mods at all (they might also be affecting it).

Added 11 minutes later

Another point: when playing as the Stronghold, having the "Fearsome Roar" battle cry in the castle is extremely important... without it, the Stronghold's magic is ridiculously weak.

I specifically didn't remove the "Fearsome Roar" from the Stronghold castle; with each new game, the spells that appear in the castles appear there randomly. It seems you're just unlucky.