An unofficial patch is a non-commercial patch for a commercial software created by a user community instead of the original developer. Similar to an ordinary patch, it alleviates bugs or shortcomings.
Unofficial patches do not usually change the intended usage of the software, in contrast to other third-party software adaptions such as mods or cracks.
Motivation
A common motivation for the creation of unofficial patches is missing technical support by the original software developer or provider. There are several potential reasons:
- the software product reached its defined end-of-life and/or was superseded by a successor product (planned obsolescence)
- the software was originally designed operate in a substantially different environment and can bear additional improvement/optimization (porting)
- the developer has gone out of business and is not available anymore (abandonware)
- support is economically not feasible (e.g. localization for small markets)
- a fast solution for a time critical problem (e.g. security holes) when an official one takes too long
- the official developer is unable to cope with the problems
Types
In the computer game domain, where unofficial patches are most common, unofficial patches are also sometimes called Fan patches, especially if produced by an individual person. Combined patches, including the work of several developers and authors from the community, are also called Community Patch. They are aiming typical for critical bugs in the program flow which could lead to program crashes and technical compatibility fixes, e.g. for newer operating systems, increased display resolutions or new display formats.
While unofficial patches are most common for the PC platform, they are also existing for console games e.g. in context of the emulation community.
Translations
As another kind of unofficial patches are fan translations of software, especially games, to local languages. Fan translations are most common for Japanese role-playing games which are often not localized for Western markets.
Another variant of unofficial patches are slipstream like patches which combine official patches together, which are only available online or as small incremental patches.
Methods
The most common case is that the source code and the original development tools are not available for the software. Therefore, the faulty software's binary must be analyzed at run time by reverse engineering and debugging. If the problem is found, a fix to the program must be applied. Sometimes only small changes in configuration files or the registry are required, sometimes binary hacks on the executable itself are required to fix bugs. If a software development kit (e.g. for modding) is available, fixes to the content can be easily produced, otherwise the community would need to create their own tools. These found fixes are typically packed to user deployable patches (e.g. with NSIS, Innosetup).
If the source code is available, support can by provided most effectively. Sometimes the source code becomes available by intendation, sometimes by leaking or mistake, such as what happened with the game engine of the Thief series. With the source code available even the support of completely different but actual platforms by Source ports becomes possible.
Reception
Reception of unofficial patches is mixed, but by large, copyright holders are ambivalent. When the software is not considered commercially viable unofficial patches are ignored by the copyright holder as it is not seen as a source of lost revenue. There have been seldom cases of cease & desist letters to unofficial patch and fan translation projects.
Sometimes the copyright holder actively support the patching and fixing efforts of a software community by releasing the source code under a software license which allows the software community the continued software support by themself. Examples for such software are in the List of commercial video games with later released source code.
Examples in video games
Examples in general software
See also
- Fan labor
- Source port
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