I just want to report that Corel has now at least indirectly acknowledged that the Bryce 4.0.1 patch at their website can only be used on the Metacreations version of Bryce, and that Corel Bryce purchasers are stuck at 4.0. No word on whether they plan to do anything about this. I knew I should have tried to find a Metacreations Bryce CD rather than depend on Corel. :(

I don't see how it would be different since Corel has done nothing to the software itself, they just re-packaged it in a package that has their logo on it is all.

Corel has indeed done something to the software itself ... something minor, but that's all it took. When you start up the Corel version of Bryce, you see the Corel logo, and the menu options are changed to point to Corel's website. Both of these changes occurred in files that the patch program apparently wants to update (such as "menus.dat"). The patch program then sees those files as an invalid version (since they need to be byte-for-byte exact before a patch programs will work) and just gives up on the process. Also, the Corel Bryce 4 EXE may not be precisely the same as the Meta Bryce 4 EXE in some other minor unknown ways, as the version numbers are also different. (Bryce's original release was 4,0,0,16, whereas the Corel release is 4,0,0,13.)

Hmm, interesting.

Makes me wonder if Corel were to make a patch for Bryce would the Meta Bryce owners be able to use it? Dave

"Would a Corel Bryce patch be able to patch Meta Bryce as well?" Impossible to say, of course. However, I suspect that IF Corel makes a 4.0.1 patch that works with their version of Bryce 4, such a patch probably wouldn't include anything beyond the fixes and enhancements that were in the Meta 4.0.1 patch, so the current patch would still bring Meta Bryce owners up to the same level. I honestly don't see them spending a significant amount of time fixing anything beyond the 4.0.1 sources (which I presume they should have on hand, since they purchased the program), when they are apparently already working on the next version. Unfortunately my concern is if Corel is even inclined to take the comparatively small amount of time to whip up a version of the 4.0.1 patch that's at least compatible with their own CD. (They sure aren't making it easy for anyone to report problems.) So if you have the Meta version of Bryce, for the moment I'd count myself as pretty doggone lucky if I were you. I for one will certainly not consider upgrading to any future version of Corel Bryce unless they first provide the 4.0.1 fixes and enhancements that I was expecting to get (since they are listed as features on the Bryce product page of Corel's website) when I purchased the Corel version of Bryce 4 last week. The jury is still out for the moment, but if they don't rectify this with a working patch (NOT a paid upgrade), I'm afraid I'll have to consider this to have been a bait-and-switch tactic on their part.

Did you insert the Bryce 4.0 Cd like you needed to with the MC patch. Just Curious

Did you insert the Bryce 4.0 Cd like you needed to with the MC patch. Of course! :) Multiple times, in fact. And in case you missed it at the top of this thread, Corel has already admitted that the 4.0.1 patch doesn't work with their version of Bryce.

What's the link to the admitance by Corel? My friend.

Just thinking if Corel were to create a patch that included some of the features that were supposed to be in Bryce4 to begin with and was never addressed with the 4.01 patch. If it only worked with the Corel version, how many people who own the Meta Bryce would pay the big dollar in order to get it? With Corel's cash flow problems I wonder if they mite be thinking this way in hopes for the quick buck? You can probably tell I have little trust of Corel even though I have some of their apps. Dave

What's the link to the admitance by Corel? Look in the corelsupport.bryce newsgroup on the cnews.corel.com news server. There's a thread about this from over the past weekend, and the latest response from one of the C_Tech people indicates this fact.