For anyone with the Runtime Error, are you running a 32bit OS? If not, how much RAM do you have?
The problem is related to what i call EK-Syndrome, essentially the mod is so feature-heavy at this point that RAM becomes a issue, the crash is from lack of memory, 32bit OS are limited to 3.3gb of RAM, 64bit OS's dont have the limitation, but if you dont have enough RAM, the same issue applies still. Here's a potential fix, this will apply until effectively the mod exceeds the limitation even in a vanilla state, turn off Portraits and Unit Sprites first, all of them. Now load the game, if it works, you have enough RAM to run it in vanilla mode, if it doesnt you are pretty much out of luck. Afterwards you can activate portraits one by one, until you get the runtime error again, thats the limit you got.
For reference, i am running it currently with only the african portrait DLC active and have turned off everything else, since otherwise i get the same runtime error on account of a 32bit OS. Hope this helps for the meantime.