How can I distinguish between an official or unofficial patch?
Solution 1:
The last (maybe only) official patch was v2.93.
In order to tell if the patch is installed you can check for the following:
Look for a patch zip or folder
If it exists, it will contain the following files:
- CHANGES.DOC
- CHANGES.TXT
- EIDOS.PCX
- ENG_MTCH.TXT
- HISCORES.BIN
- mgdata.db1
- PATCHZIP.EXE
- players.db1
- PLHIST98.BIN
- READTHIS.TXT
- TMDATA.DB1
The game has post-patch features
Check international squads on match day when playing a friendly - any player that has a club match on the same day will be "club-tied" and therefore unable to play (Wales and Ireland are good candidates for checking).
This should be the second screen you see when loading the game:
The main options screen will show v2.93 in the top left hand corner:
Check database file properties
The key files are:
- mgdata.db1 - 12th March 1998
- players.db1 - 12th March 1998
- TMDATA.DB1 - 11th March 1998
You will need to check the timestamps in the archive (zip file for example) because copying the files directly to your machine will give the files a new timestamp.
Check the editor
Load each database and check the record count in the top left corner:
- MGDATA - 944 records
- PLAYERS - 19505 records
- TMDATA.DB1 - 2085 records
Check key teams in-game
You need a little football knowledge for this. Check England and some key Premier League teams (Man Utd, Chelsea, Man City, Liverpool, Arsenal). If they are filled with anything but 1997/98 players then you know you have unofficial amendments.