Well, I installed the latest US version, which was I think 1.7, and it didn't disable the check. Had a funny name, too. Mobulis or something.
So I guess there's no dice with the USA versions of the patches, even though I have the USA release of the game. Can't say as I blame them, but dang it, I'm hell-bent.
So, I've uninstalled, will reinstall from the DVD, and then try the Russian patches, starting from the newest, and hopefully get lucky!
I did it once before; otherwise I wouldn't have even known it was possible til I posted here.
