The pitfalls of upgrading to OFP V1.30. Learn from my suffering!

Here was my situation, plain and simple. Before I installed the Ultimate Upgrade 3 patch, I was running OFP version 1.29 beta. I had previously also been running OFP beta versions 1.27 and 1.26 before that. In addition, I had two major user addons installed in OFP: Kegety's Winter Kolgujev Island and Gunslinger's Editor Update version 1.2.

When I ran the Ultimate Upgrade 3 patch, I got some warning messages that the update didn't recognize OFP version 1.29 but I assumed that was OK since version 1.29 was a beta version. I noticed that the patch's execution to very little time.

I rebooted my computer (I always do that as a habit after updating Windows software) and decided to check things out. Some problems became apparent very soon:

• I created a quick test mission with me piloting the A10 with the new laser guided bombs (LGBs). When the above mission started, I got an error message "Cannot open object DATA3D\SNAKE.P3D". I pressed OK and was able to begin the mission. 

• In the same mission above, when I went into 3rd person view, I noticed the new bomb racks under the plane's wings but I could not see any LGBs. However, my heads-up-display (HUD) showed that the planes was indeed armed with LGBs. I clicked my left mouse button till the LGB counter went down to zero. While I did not see the bombs, there were plenty of explosions on the ground behind me.
  
  I have since seen reports that the same thing occurs with the Apache helicopter, i.e., there are invisible hellfire missiles on the Apache's pylons.

• To test out the new laser target designator (LTD) I created another mission, with myself equipped with it. Here, too, at the start of the mission I got a "Cannot open object" error message for the LTD. Clicking OK, I immediately switched from my MP5 gun to the LTD. However, it didn't show up. Indeed, in 3rd person view, it was totally invisible, though I could target objects with it. Some people report that they spin around uncontrollably when switching to the LTD.
  
• Some folks who've upgraded from a 1.2x beta version to 1.30 have seen flying BMPs!

So, I thought I would be smart and simply rerun the Ultimate Upgrade 3 patch again, in the hope that, now that OFP is at version 1.30 and not at a beta level, the patch would reinstall everything properly.

Nope. I got dozens of checksum errors when the patch verified my installation files. I had to hit IGNORE, when prompted to RETRY, ABORT or IGNORE each error.

Looking on the forums, I noticed several posts that hinted to similar problem or circumstances and, indeed, the only solution that seemed to be working was to fully reinstall OFP.

That's what I did and I was sure that my troubles were over. OFP wouldn't let me rest, though. When I started it, I got the ever-famous "Cannot create 3D device" message. I was about to faint but I remembered my own words of advice to run the OFP preferences program under these circumstances and click on the program's AUTODETECT button. I did and everything is just fine now, thank you. I've even restored the Winter Kolgujev Island and Gunslinger's Editor Update addons with no side effects.

If you're in a similar situation, I suggest that you follow my recipe for reinstalling. Better safe than sorry.