Incremental patching is naughty - I don't like it

I present the evidence:
http://www.companyofheroesgame.com/updates/

So, to patch Company of Heroes from version 1 to the latest version (1.71) you have install loads of incremental patches.

Well, I tell you here and now - I jolly-well don't like it.

This can be a pain when you reinstall a game.

Baring in mind some of the patches are like over 100MB each.

I don't get the point of them either, I mean, sure, incrementals are fine for current version users to the just-released version, but keeping all the old ones in the process?

May as well make a universal "update latest version" patch that works regardless of what version your game is currently at.
(sure it'd possibly be a larger download depending on the game, but it solves a lot of headaches)

A snag here is if you can't get hold of one of the intermediate patches, everything thereafter can't be patched. This is a problem for old games whereby the developer/publisher sites no longer host the patches, but you manage to scrape together some patches from around the net.

I like them, as long as you can get an "all in one" patch as well

The worst for this is NWN2, where by (for example) there are five 1.3 pactchs
1.0 - 1.3
1.1 - 1.3
1.16 - 1.3
1.2 - 1.3
1.4beta -1.3downgrade

(I made the numbers up)
Ok so if the auto updater works then no problem, but otherwise (like in my case), you have to make sure you have a complete series from what you have to current (Hence some of the downgrade patches)

Indeed, every update should come with an incremental patch and a cumulative patch.

Especially lovable is when the game lacks a version.txt file, so you can't actually tell what version you have.

That's one case where automatic updaters (in an OS without a central one) would be nice, just as long as they don't run without my permission.

Maybe the game itself should detect new patches and notify the user of how many they have yet to install - or get them downloading in the background while you play.

yeah it's lame. When I made this stock control/accounting/POS software (over a period of 9 years) I made sure we had a non-incremental patching systm for upgrades. In fact actually it WAS incremental but it did that internally, it just auto-detected the old version and ran all the incremental patches up to the lastest one. Was a bitch to code mind you...

Game's should auto update, it's that simple. I don't mind incremental patches if the game doies it itself. WoW and many other MMOPRG's do this and it works fine (95% of the time)

incremental patches are fine if you play the game regularly.
A few years ago I had a HD failure.. I was playing EQ at the time. When I reinstalled the game and connected I pretty much spent the rest of the day downloading patches !

it could be worse. Starwars Battlefront 2 had 1 patch, which broke multiplayer to the point of no even connecting to a server....then the product was dropped from support.

@H&K

Yes NWN2 patching system stinks to the point I no longer play it. When the autoupdater fails Ataris onine advice sucks, their online support doesn't respond, your only hope is the Bioware forums. After the support suggesting 'Uninstall, re install re patch, play the game for at least 7mins then do x, y and z :- I think it is incredible a 'professional' software company get away with such inadequate patching systems. My guess is the NWN market is going to shrivel up....

The only thing left for me to do with it is slap the images into Ultimate Unwrap 3D and play .....