diff --git a/core/src/main/java/com/threerings/getdown/net/Connector.java b/core/src/main/java/com/threerings/getdown/net/Connector.java
index 544d2cc..f651250 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/com/threerings/getdown/net/Connector.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/com/threerings/getdown/net/Connector.java
@@ -143,15 +143,23 @@ public class Connector {
      * If the connection failed for proxy related reasons, this changes the state of this connector
      * to reflect the needed proxy information.
      */
-    public void checkConnectOK (URLConnection conn, String errpre) throws IOException
-    {
-        // if it's not an HTTP connection, there's nothing to check
-        if (!(conn instanceof HttpURLConnection)) return;
+    public void checkConnectOK (URLConnection conn, String errpre) throws IOException {
+        int code = checkConnectStatus(conn);
+        if (code != HttpURLConnection.HTTP_OK) {
+            throw new IOException(errpre + " [code=" + code + "]");
+        }
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Returns the connection status of {@code conn}. If the connection failed for proxy related
+     * reasons, this changes the state of this connector to reflect the needed proxy information.
+     */
+    public int checkConnectStatus (URLConnection conn) throws IOException {
+        // if it's not an HTTP connection, we assume it's OK
+        if (!(conn instanceof HttpURLConnection)) return HttpURLConnection.HTTP_OK;
 
         int code = ((HttpURLConnection)conn).getResponseCode();
         switch (code) {
-        case HttpURLConnection.HTTP_OK:
-            return;
         case HttpURLConnection.HTTP_FORBIDDEN:
         case HttpURLConnection.HTTP_USE_PROXY:
             state = State.NEED_PROXY;
@@ -160,7 +168,7 @@ public class Connector {
             state = State.NEED_PROXY_AUTH;
             break;
         }
-        throw new IOException(errpre + " [code=" + code + "]");
+        return code;
     }
 
     /**
diff --git a/core/src/main/java/com/threerings/getdown/net/Downloader.java b/core/src/main/java/com/threerings/getdown/net/Downloader.java
index 505958a..2298d60 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/com/threerings/getdown/net/Downloader.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/com/threerings/getdown/net/Downloader.java
@@ -140,6 +140,11 @@ public class Downloader
      */
     protected void downloadFailed (Resource rsrc, Exception cause) {}
 
+    /**
+     * Called when a to-be-downloaded resource returns a 404 not found.
+     */
+    protected void resourceMissing (Resource rsrc) {}
+
     /**
      * Performs the protocol-specific portion of checking download size.
      */
@@ -150,9 +155,10 @@ public class Downloader
             if (conn instanceof HttpURLConnection) {
                 ((HttpURLConnection)conn).setRequestMethod("HEAD");
             }
-            // make sure we got a satisfactory response code
-            _conn.checkConnectOK(conn, "Unable to check up-to-date for " + rsrc.getRemote());
-            return conn.getContentLength();
+            // if we get a satisfactory response code, return a size; ignore errors as we'll report
+            // those when we actually attempt to download the resource
+            int code = _conn.checkConnectStatus(conn);
+            return code == HttpURLConnection.HTTP_OK ? conn.getContentLength() : 0;
 
         } finally {
             // let it be known that we're done with this connection
@@ -232,7 +238,13 @@ public class Downloader
     protected void download (Resource rsrc) throws IOException {
         URLConnection conn = _conn.open(rsrc.getRemote(), 0, 0);
         // make sure we got a satisfactory response code
-        _conn.checkConnectOK(conn, "Unable to download resource " + rsrc.getRemote());
+        int code = _conn.checkConnectStatus(conn);
+        if (code == HttpURLConnection.HTTP_NOT_FOUND) {
+            resourceMissing(rsrc);
+        } else if (code != HttpURLConnection.HTTP_OK) {
+            throw new IOException(
+                "Resource returned HTTP error " + rsrc.getRemote() + " [code=" + code + "]");
+        }
 
         // TODO: make FileChannel download impl (below) robust and allow apps to opt-into it via a
         // system property
diff --git a/launcher/src/main/java/com/threerings/getdown/launcher/Getdown.java b/launcher/src/main/java/com/threerings/getdown/launcher/Getdown.java
index 64eabdc..1cc6922 100644
--- a/launcher/src/main/java/com/threerings/getdown/launcher/Getdown.java
+++ b/launcher/src/main/java/com/threerings/getdown/launcher/Getdown.java
@@ -601,6 +601,8 @@ public abstract class Getdown
             int ii = 0; for (Resource prsrc : list) {
                 ProgressObserver pobs = pragg.startElement(ii++);
                 try {
+                    // if this patch file failed to download, skip it
+                    if (!prsrc.getLocalNew().exists()) continue;
                     // install the patch file (renaming them from _new)
                     prsrc.install(false);
                     // now apply the patch
@@ -663,6 +665,10 @@ public abstract class Getdown
                 log.warning("Download failed", "rsrc", rsrc, e);
             }
 
+            @Override protected void resourceMissing (Resource rsrc) {
+                log.warning("Resource missing (got 404)", "rsrc", rsrc);
+            }
+
             /** The last percentage at which we checked for another getdown running, or -1 for not
              * having checked at all. */
             protected int _lastCheck = -1;