Game distributor Electronic Arts has made available a patch for the massive single-player god-game “Spore” to fix a few bugs, fine-tune the game play and add function to the Sporeopedia library.

Those who installed the EA Download Manager when they first obtained the “Spore Creature Creator” or when they first installed “Spore” can download the patch from there. Otherwise, the patch is available at http://files.ea.com/downloads/eacore/eadm-installer.exe.

The patch works only with PCs. An alternative patch for Mac users is in the works, but EA did not say when it would be made available.

With the patch:

* You can now hold down the Control key in Sporepedia to select multiple creations for deleting or banning.
* You can hold down the Shift key in Sporepedia to select a range of creations for deleting or banning.
* Install a new planet style called Cubes.

The patch also:

* Fixes game entry screen turning black when banning a creature in a saved game.
* Fixes an issue with flora card in Sporepedia.
* In the Space phase, fixes graphic issue with water levels not updating properly with terraform tools so that visible water and atmosphere levels will now correspond in the Atmosphere monitor.
* Fixes problems introduced via atmospheric and drought terraforming tools.
* Improves gaits for multi-legged creatures.
* Improves gaits for creatures with two limbs, but no feet.
* In the Space phase, addresses an audio issue: a missing VOX in some animations in Comm Screen.
* Fixes switching mode to 5.1 breaking music and VOX.
* Fixes an audio syncing issue when minimizing and/or maximizing the game before opening a video.
* Ends crashes with city music player when Save and Load dialogs are present.
* Fixes an audio lag and missing models due to a background loading slow-down on certain single-processor machine configurations. This fix improves overall stability on the machine configuration.
* In the Space phase, fine-tunes relationship status to update in communication window after completing a mission.
* In the Tribe phase, adjusts Normal difficulty mode to make social game easier.
* Fixes the ESC key to consistently skip the game’s introduction movie.
* Sets YouTube video uploads to private. Go to YouTube.com and log in. Then go to Account, then My Videos to set them to Public to share videos.
* Fixes limb joints not being selectable behind other limbs.
* In the Tribe phase, addresses crashes while harvesting fruit and fish.
* In the Space phase, fixes timing bug using Planet Buster during Grox invasion, fixes destroyed turrets mission, and addresses crashes that result when zooming out to full galactic view from the center of the galaxy.
* Fixes problem of game entry screen staying zoomed in after deleting a game and entering/exiting Sporepedia.
* In the Space phase, fixes City Hall updating bug. City Hall will now update to correct version if player has chosen a new City Hall during the transition from Civilization phase to Space phase. Here, too, is a fix for an update bug in Vehicles. Now, vehicles chosen in the Colony planner will update without requiring the player to leave and re-enter a planet’s atmosphere.
* Addresses problem of crashes when transitioning from Tribe phase to Civilization phase.
* Discontinues the Bad Baby Achievement.