latest or all patches??
 

It has been a while since I last loaded this game. I want to load it up on my laptop. Do I need to load all patch versions or does 1.4b(US).exe cover everything?

Just load the 1.04b patch.

Maybe you mean 1.4b.

speaking of the 1.4 patch, I've recently reinstalled the game, I keep downloading the 1.4 patch but when I try to run it, the update program says it will update SHIII from 1.0 to 1.3 Is this a misprint and will it update to 1.4, or do I have to download it from somewhere else? I've tried all the update sites listed at the official SHIII website, but all the files say they only update to 1.3. I'd like to download 1.4 before I start the rather tedious process of putting back all the mods I had on the game before (I should've kept a list).

There is a misprint in the 1.4b update. It says 1.3 when installed on your PC (a overlook by the Dev team).