How do the FA patches get applied?

[Scrontch]

I'm sorry to ask what is probably a dumb question, but didn't find this info.
I need to understand how this works.
How must i interpret infos like "Patch 3612 released" (http://www.faforever.com/?p=355) ?
I guess the patch will be applied dynamically when playing on FAF?
It doesn't seem to apply to my current installation.
What if i *want* it to be applied to my current installation?
(When hosting LAN games)
Is it a binary patch (exe) or Mod?
i'm pretty confused.
I was able to play on FAF without problems, si it somehow works.
But i need to know some more details, because i also play LAN games with friends, including our own selfmade balancing mods on top of an official v1.5.3599 install + Mod Patch 3603 (the mod that mimicks the unreleased GPGNet beta patch 3603).
How do i upgrade this local install to 3612 patch level?

thanks,
Scrontch

[uberge3k]

FAF patches your game in a new directory, C:\ProgramData\FAForever. In the \bin folder, you will see ForgedAlliance.exe, which is the executable that has the latest patch applied to it.

If you would like to use the FAF patch in LAN games with your friends, you will all need to use that executable that has been patched by FAF.

[Scrontch]

Thanks, uberge3k,

Ok, got it.
So a simple copy of all of the contents of the bin folder will bring my installed base to that that of FAF.
For sake of completeness, the path on WinXP is "C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\FAForever\bin".
I was confused at first, because this is NOT the same path that FAF is installed to.
BTW, the FAF client version is written in the title bar, but where/how do i see the FA patch version used by FAF?

[uberge3k]

To clarify, if you're on Windows XP the path will be what you wrote; the Windows Vista/7 path is in my original post. I wasn't aware anyone here was still using XP.

Launch ForgedAlliance.exe, and in the main menu, the patch number will appear in the upper right hand corner. Here is a screenshot (scroll to the right):

mainmenu_patch.png (1.66 MiB) Viewed 2323 times

[Chubbly]

Sorry to hijack this topic but...

Does this imply that if I copy the existing folder in /user/ProgramData/FAForever to something like /ProgramData/FAForever_3612 and launch the exe from the 3612, it will launch the 3612 version from now till forever OR is the exe itself hardwired to look for assets in /ProgramData/FAForever/ regardless of where it is launched from?

[Ze_PilOt]

No, you can do that.

If it's for watching old replays, at some point we will support downgrading.