RSRD Patch won't download

[Rockin Robbins]

I've always really hated patches. There's just no reason for them to exist, and as happened briefly with the RSRDC patch, the patch is much more likely to be lost than the underlying mod.

So I think all patches should be VERY temporary. The responsible thing for a modder to do is to release a new version of the major mod including the patch. I've done that, releasing RFB 2.0 with patch in our downloads section.

I also think it's a disservice to players to leave TMO 2.5 plus a patch to get the updated experience. When, as a modder, you have to patch your mod that means it's time to release a new version.

As to the RSRDC thing. If you'll notice, the Aces of the Deep gang released FOTRS, not as a patch to TMO, but combined with the underlying TMO, giving conspicuous credit to Ducimus. That is the honest way to package a mod. Nobody playing FOTRS thinks they are playing TMO, and in reality they are not. TMO is the base mod, but the Aces of the Deep assumed all responsibility for the game changes.

I contend that RSRDC should have been released in the exact same way, incorporating TMO into RSRDC. Then players would say they were playing RSRDC, which is accurate, rather than claiming to be playing TMO, which is very inaccurate. As thing stand, if Ducimus and Lurker were both active now, the majority of players with RSRDC problems would be barking up Ducimus' tree. That also is undesirable.

That is why the FOTRSU team uses patches internally for testing purposes. When we have accumulated enough patches to make it worthwhile, we combine the present public beta with the patches to make a private beta (single mod!), which we test briefly before using it as the next public beta version.

I believe supermods should be a single installation onto the stock game: no double mod installs, no patches. I would recommend to Bleiente that he repackage his Mod Soup in exactly that way, and I'll bet the number of people running it would double overnight.