Here is a list of all the essential patches that I was able to find online for EA Cricket 2004 PC. Without these patches this game is full of bugs and the gameplay is unrealistic, but if you install and use these patches correctly, the game is improved tremendously.
It took me a very long time to find all these patches for EA Cricket 2004 and as you can imagine it wasn't easy. Unfortunately, some of the patches are not the latest versions, and trying to find the latest ones to no avail only made my search even more frustrating, so I am posting these patches in the hope that someone out there might reciprocate and send me the latest versions.
I would also like to know how to correctly edit the player attributes in EA Cricket 2004. In much older cricket games, when you wanted to edit players, all you had to do was just enter the player's averages and specify the type of bowler and batsman, whereas in EA Cricket 2004 and later cricket games you must enter a massive array of player attributes and I don't know every single attribute to enter for every single player. (I mean, who does?) Every cricket fan wants the perfect cricket game where their created players are as accurate and genuine as possible...
Make sure you READ the readme files of each patch. Some patches will require you to download and install COMDLG32.OCX, MSCOMCTL.OCX and MSSTDFMT.DLL files if you don't already have them. Once you download them, just insert them into the folder of the patch. If you still find the patch does not open then type "regsvr32" in the command prompt in order to install the downloaded files. Make you sure run command prompt as Administrator. A proper Google search will help you find out how to properly install OCX and DLL files.
What each patch basically does:
Cricket2004.zip - the quintessential patch that fixes the worst bugs. CPU bowlers now occasionally bowl no-balls, among a few other fixes.
c2004runout.zip - the patch you might need to run when you are bowling. This prevents the CPU batting team from making an unrealistically high number of silly run-outs (sometimes as high as 6) in each innings. You do not need to run this patch if you are the BATTING team - in this case just exit the game and run the Cricket2004.zip patch.
Cricket_2004.zip - this is a BETA patch that does what the 2 afore-mentioned patches do, but also adds more features, such as a nice zoom-in camera when bowling, more noticeable pace and swing, and a fix for the rain "bug". The zoom-in camera can be disabled if you desire and the rain bug-fix can also be disabled if necessary. Use this patch while bowling and batting. The only disadvantage in using this patch over the 2 afore-mentioned patches is that you cannot use the cursor.zip patch in conjunction (because this takes away realism).
LineUp-Editor.zip - I believe this patch fixes the bug that reverts your team selection to the default team after an innings has finished. So without this patch, choosing what players you want in a team is futile because you will still be playing with the default players. However, I dont think this patch is the latest version so if anyone out there can send the latest version, that would be great.
SaveTweak2.zip - this allows you to change the weather and pitch conditions after saving a game. This might be appropriate in test matches, because without this patch you get the exact same pitch and weather conditions between Day 1 all the way to Day 5. So for example, if there is no rain forecast for Day 1, it will also be impossible to see any rain for Day 2, Day 3, Day 4 or Day 5, which is unrealistic without this patch. (What I do is use a random generator to decide what the weather will be throughout the remaining days in test matches). As for pitches, I normally just choose a Normal pitch for the whole match, which is conducive for both batting and bowling for Day 1 all the way to Day 5. I don't choose green, wet or damp pitches otherwise the game is far too hard and the test match never ever even goes to Day 4, let alone Day 5. I don't choose hard, dusty or dry pitches in test matches otherwise the batsmen play as if they are in a T20 game. With this patch you can also swap teams in a match, and adjust the amount of overs that are being played in a limited-overs match.
Sound Importer.zip - this allows you to change or remove just about every single sound in the game that you desire. For example, you can transfer other player names that the late Richie Benaud verbalizes in EA Cricket 2002 and put them into EA Cricket 2004 with this patch. All new sound files must be in a small size and in OGG format. Just download audio conversion software. I used this patch to remove all of Jim Maxwell's comments except where he does the pitch reports, as I felt his commentary to be annoying. Please be aware that this version of the sound importer might crash after running for about 30 minutes, so it can be very annoying to close and open this patch again each time.
Player_EditorV2.1.zip - this makes the editing and creating of players a little quicker and easier than the game's default player editor. It also adds extra body types and hairstyles that the default editor does not have. It also stops a bug in the default editor that slightly alters the player attributes to attributes that you did not choose after saving. Unfortunately, there is no guide on what player attributes each player should have. While you can look up the stats of real players online, you will have to make educated guesses when it comes to editing their attributes, and that brings a dilemma. For example, if the in-game batting attributes for Sachin Tendulkar are all mostly at 99, then what what are you supposed to enter when you create Don Bradman who averaged nearly 50 runs higher than Tendulkar? (I don't think merely entering the player's average in the player editor of EA Cricket 2004 does anything in terms of the player's performance.)
Graphic ImporterV2.2.1.zip - this allows you to change most if not all of the graphics in the game, such as kit colours, balls, bats, stumps, player appearances, umpire faces, pitch ads, and ad boards. You will need a program like Best or Free Image Converter to use in conjunction with this patch if you intend to make your own graphics, otherwise there are plenty of different already-made grahpics for EA Cricket 2004 that you can download on this site.
Fixture Editorv099.zip - this allows you to skip certain matches that you do not want to play in a series or tour, and also re-arrange the itinerary.
Config Editor.zip - this allows you to adjust the pace of the outfields and adjust the effect and timing of the batsmen's shots. Without the correct use of this patch, its sometimes very easy to constantly hit the ball to the boundary the whole time, even in test matches, which is unrealistic.
cgpv5full.zip and cgpv5odifix.zip - configurations that are arguably the best adjustments you can make to make the game play realistic. This patch comes with different configurations for Test, T20 and ODI matches. Install them using the Config Editor and Graphic Editor depending on what type of match you intend to play. Generally you should only run this patch if 1) the CPU batting team is playing extremely poorly and unrealistically, and 2) if you are batting and you find batting way too easy. (Remember that the key to get the gameplay you want is to experiment)
cursor.zip - this gives players who are batting the choice to see the mark on the pitch that the ball will land upon LONG before the ball is bowled. Simply run this patch in the background before running a new game of Cricket 2004. You will need this if you are playing with Cricket2004.zip, but note that this patch will be rendered useless if used in conjunction with the BETA patch.
So there they are - all the essential patches for EA Cricket 2004. Dont forget to give thanks to this post if you feel this has helped you.
For those who can answer my questions above and help with the latest versions of each patch and provide a simplistic but effective guide or formula to making the correct player attributes for every single player in the player editor, please let me know.
