The most common case is that the source code and the original development tools are not available for the software. Īnother variant of unofficial patches are slipstream like patches which combine official patches together, when individual patches are only available online or as small incremental updates. Fan translations are most common for Japanese role-playing games which are often not localized for Western markets. Unofficial patches are not limited to technical fixes fan translations of software, especially games, are often created if the software has not been released locally. Main article: Fan translation (video gaming) While unofficial patches are most common for the PC platform, they can also be found for console games e.g. for newer operating systems, increased display resolutions or new display formats. Unofficial patches are also sometimes called fan patches or community patches, and are typically intended to repair unresolved bugs and provide technical compatibility fixes, e.g.

the official developer is unable to cope with the problems.

security holes) when an official one takes too long

a fast solution for a time critical problem (e.g.

support is not economically viable (e.g.

the developer has gone out of business and is not available anymore ( abandonware).

the software was originally designed to operate in a substantially different environment and may require improvement/optimization ( porting).

the software product reached its defined end-of-life and/or was superseded by a successor product ( planned obsolescence).

A common motivation for the creation of unofficial patches is missing technical support by the original software developer or provider.

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