Patch it?

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Once again, to the breech, dear friends. I have designated tomorrow as Patch Sunday. Each quarter, I take 4 or 5 hours out of my schedule to download all the updated patches for my games.

I've got an entire cdrom worth of patches. Even the ones I've not played for years. There's patches that are 20meg+, a bunch that are 1 and 2meg. Then there's the odd couple that are 50 or 70meg, and are usually on another cdrom of "addons".

How does everyone else handle their game patches? Do you just install the game, and pray that you never crash your machine to the point where you have to reinstall the game and the patch? Do you burn the game disk back off to another disk, and include a "patch" folder? Do you keep a spare 6gig drive around just for this sole purpose?

 

Ugh. I HATE patching.

With my 56k modem, downloading all the recommended patches for my games could take a lifetime. What I usually do is, play a game until a major bug hampers my fun. At this point, I will either: a) stop playing or b) download the patch.

 

I download them as soon as I get the game; install them, and if I ever format and reinstall the game, it`s redownload and rerun the patch

 

Yeah I do the same as you ej. Although I download patches, game add-ons and customizations at work (T1 vs. my 56k at home), so I'd call it patch Friday. Fridays are usually slow and I stay late in this case, crack a beer or two, or three and let the downloading begin.

I just got sick of having to re-download, especially a large patch. As you said some can be pretty big if not just damn huge! I always make backups of these disks and of course label them with a tittle such as Game Apps. as well as the date. Actually I'm probably about due for another session, my latest Game App. disk was created on July 7th of 2002. I just may have to make this upcoming Friday a patch Friday

[ October 13, 2002, 14:36: Message edited by: Thorongil ]

 

I usually look for patches when I install the game, because some patches (Fallout 2 and Medal of Honor Allied Assault are two examples) will actually invalidate your save games. With MOH it wasn't too bad, I played to the end on the original version with no problems, but with Fallout 2 I ran into a bug that prevented me from going any further. I found a patch that solved the problem, but saw the dreaded "you will not be able to use pre-patch saves" message. I was a fair ways through the game (about halfway, I think), and I had to start all over again!

I put all patches and setup files, etc, in a download folder on my desktop, so if I uninstall the game and want to play it again later, I can re-patch it. I still play some of the Half Life mods (TFC) from time to time, and there are approximately 96571 patches you have to install first. So it's helpful to be able to save them.

I really like the "update" feature that some games like NWN have, but the downside to this is it doesn't (as far as I know) save your patches, so if you uninstall you will lose all the updates.

[ October 13, 2002, 19:50: Message edited by: Nutrimat ]

 

Curse those patches! Why we even need them is beyond me! Why can't a game, once bought, just work!? I never download the beggars unless my game is screwed up, and in most cases at that point I just chuck the game anyways. I can't stand games that refuse to work, I have no patience for them.

 

What i hate is when the patch says that you MAY NOT be able to use previous save games. Not YOU DEFINITELY WON'T or YOU DEFINITELY WILL. They always go for the non-commital option.

So of course, if its non-commital, i tend to go for it with hope that it will be okay.

It was okay once, when i patched dungeon keeper 2 and was able to continue on my current save. But other than that, i hate them. Oh, and of course ToSC where it had a converter to get old games into the new format. Why can't all patches be like this???

 

I would end up falling asleep because I am running low on caffiene

Besides, I hate patching and my it would be my idea of torture