I have uploaded Othr's version of 1257 to my mega.co account. And as a warning, since its over 1gb (2gb zip file) it will probably ask to install a lame addon for your browser. Dunno why they suddenly added one in recent months...but oh well. Its only upload site (I could use Nexus, but it isn't really my mod and I dunno how that would go over). But mega.co lets me have 129gb of files even if I only am supposed to have 50gb...for free
And its only upload site that has that much space...for free
But addon is a quick install, and...it doesn't add popups or anything, dunno what it actually does.
Link to mod:
https://mega.co.nz/#!nohDxAzA!x70rzwMQ__H-NxNN_Jx7aoTl3vWOnf--X6bOR_0k96EIn any case...onto the mod itself.
Seeing that SVN will be closing its doors soon for 1257...I decided to upload it to a more public space before its lost forever. Plus SVN is hard to figure out for a lot of people.
Unlike the newer version of 1257, Othr's is a lot less buggy. Granted, some things aren't finished (nothing game breaking). Like if you go to a city you can see options greyed out that were never finished.
Map is GIANT, almost the size of 16th century mod map (if you know that mod). It can be laggy on weak machines, but I never had any lag at all in my 100+ hours of playing it.
Music is a lot better, it was removed in later versions and replaced with more common theme music. The music in Othr's version is really epic and stuff you don't hear much in real life:D Except, it plays randomly...so at times it can be quiet. But when it plays, you'll know. I always loved the music in earlier versions a lot more.
The other major difference for me is...because of the size of the map. It doesn't become a zerg fest. I've seen BOTH navarrae AND Welsh take cities/castles and actually win quite a few battles. While rare if I don't join them...on the smaller map the newer 1257 comes with. Navarrae/welsh lose all the time. So the map in Dev 1257 is a lot more random, A LOT more slower paced and a lot more tactical. Some may not like that because I know a lot of people like fast paced gaming these days like call of duty and newer battlefields (not old battlefield)...but for those gamers who enjoy a slower paced, more tactical game will enjoy it a lot more.
One thing to keep in mind, sometimes your marshal will not attack cities/castles or even villages. At some point, to get to the city/castle/village is a LONG journey and they likely may not go that far (just like in real life). Its VERY hard to get 100% of the map, so its a proper challenge to do that. If you want to get 100%, you can try to get lords to follow you yourself and take up command.
The other thing is, patrols won't follow you into battle if you attack FIRST. Let your patrols attack first. Newer 1257 the patrols never follow me into battle either, so its an issue in both versions. I tried the newest version, patrol was right next to me, but never joined the battle. Someone a while back said this wasn't the case, but for me it was.
Now the biggest thing that wins Othr's version (and welsh/navarrae not getting wtfpwned each time is the other HUGE thing for me...much more dynamic, but tactical map)
Battles
If you join a castle battle...archers won't randomly attack if you tell them not to. They'll keep using ranged until they are out of arrows. This does not happen in newer 1257, where the archers will randomly attack without you wanting them to.
The other thing. Formations.
Unlike newer 1257, if you attack the AI...they do NOT walk back and forth in a lame formation without attacking (its super lame you have to attack first, very very unrealistic and game breaking in any mod that forces the player to attack the AI to initiate combat). In fact, in Othr's version...the AI will slowly advance toward you. Sometimes the AI will do the typical square formation...other times they do other formations. Much better formation AI
Also as for the map. There is a lot more life on the campaign map
Caravans (those were removed in newer 1257 versions) and all kinds of stuff (like bandits, barely see those in the new version).
As for bugs I didn't list above.
Nothing really game breaking. I only had 2 ctds in my 100+ hours of playing. 1 was because I set battle size too high (my PC can't do 500 size
). The other I alt tabbed and game crashed.
Like I said, AI marshal sometimes doesn't travel super far (sometimes he does) so he ends the campaign
One thing I can think of wasn't ever finished, and that is the city feature thing to buy property
Map can be laggy (mostly fine) if you turn everything on (no fog of war cheat) because of the extra stuff added to it (like caravans)
Map is huge, so it takes a long time to travel. Its a lot more realistic, but a lot of players may not like a slow paced game
Game takes a lot longer to beat, again a lot of players may not like that.