diff --git a/src/java/com/threerings/resource/DownloadManager.java b/src/java/com/threerings/resource/DownloadManager.java
index 94b6fa243..2af905c07 100644
--- a/src/java/com/threerings/resource/DownloadManager.java
+++ b/src/java/com/threerings/resource/DownloadManager.java
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 //
-// $Id: DownloadManager.java,v 1.10 2003/08/05 23:34:01 mdb Exp $
+// $Id: DownloadManager.java,v 1.11 2003/08/08 17:45:00 mdb Exp $
 
 package com.threerings.resource;
 
@@ -133,7 +133,8 @@ public class DownloadManager
             if (protocol.equals("file")) {
                 return new FileDownloader();
             } else if (protocol.equals("http")) {
-                return new JNLPDownloader();
+                return VERSIONING ? (Downloader)new JNLPDownloader() :
+                    (Downloader)new HTTPDownloader();
             } else {
                 throw new IOException(
                     "Unknown source file protocol " +
@@ -276,21 +277,33 @@ public class DownloadManager
         }
 
         // now go through and do the post-download phase
+        IOException failure = null;
+        DownloadDescriptor fdesc = null;
         for (int ii = 0; ii < size; ii++) {
             Downloader loader = (Downloader)fetch.get(ii);
             try {
                 loader.postDownload(this, obs, pinfo);
             } catch (IOException ioe) {
-                notifyFailed(obs, loader.getDescriptor(), ioe);
-                if (fragile) {
-                    return;
-                }
+                // we want to try to apply as many of the patches as we
+                // can, so we don't fail entirely here, just keep track of
+                // the last failure and report that when we're done
+                fdesc = loader.getDescriptor();
+                failure = ioe;
+                Log.warning("Downloader failed in postDownload hook " +
+                            "[desc=" + fdesc + "].");
+                Log.logStackTrace(ioe);
             }
         }
 
-        // make sure to always let the observer know that we've wrapped up
-        // by reporting 100% completion
-        notifyProgress(obs, 100, 0L);
+        // if we had any failure, go ahead and report it now
+        if (failure != null) {
+            notifyFailed(obs, fdesc, failure);
+
+        } else {
+            // make sure to always let the observer know that we've
+            // wrapped up by reporting 100% completion
+            notifyProgress(obs, 100, 0L);
+        }
     }
 
     /** Helper function. */
diff --git a/src/java/com/threerings/resource/HTTPDownloader.java b/src/java/com/threerings/resource/HTTPDownloader.java
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..f04c7ff8a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/java/com/threerings/resource/HTTPDownloader.java
@@ -0,0 +1,70 @@
+//
+// $Id: HTTPDownloader.java,v 1.1 2003/08/08 17:45:00 mdb Exp $
+
+package com.threerings.resource;
+
+import java.io.File;
+import java.io.IOException;
+import java.net.HttpURLConnection;
+
+import com.threerings.resource.DownloadManager.DownloadObserver;
+
+/**
+ * Downloads resources via HTTP using on last modification timestamps to
+ * determine whether updates are needed.
+ */
+public class HTTPDownloader extends Downloader
+{
+    // documentation inherited
+    public boolean checkUpdate (ProgressInfo info)
+        throws IOException
+    {
+        // read the file information via an HTTP HEAD request
+        HttpURLConnection ucon = (HttpURLConnection)
+            _desc.sourceURL.openConnection();
+        ucon.setRequestMethod("HEAD");
+        ucon.connect();
+
+        // make sure we got a satisfactory response code
+        if (ucon.getResponseCode() != HttpURLConnection.HTTP_OK) {
+            String errmsg = "Unable to check up-to-date for " +
+                _desc.sourceURL + ": " + ucon.getResponseCode();
+            throw new IOException(errmsg);
+        }
+
+        // read size and last modified information from the HEAD response
+        long fileSize = ucon.getContentLength();
+        _desc.lastModified = ucon.getLastModified();
+
+        if (compareWithLocal(fileSize, _desc.lastModified)) {
+            // increment the total file size to be fetched
+            info.totalSize += fileSize;
+            Log.debug("Resource deemed stale [url=" + _desc.sourceURL + "].");
+            return true;
+        } else {
+            Log.debug("Resource up-to-date [url=" + _desc.sourceURL + "].");
+            return false;
+        }
+    }
+
+    // documentation inherited
+    public void processDownload (DownloadManager dmgr, DownloadObserver obs,
+                                 ProgressInfo pinfo, byte[] buffer)
+        throws IOException
+    {
+        // download the resource bundle from the specified URL
+        HttpURLConnection ucon = (HttpURLConnection)
+            _desc.sourceURL.openConnection();
+        ucon.connect();
+
+        // make sure we got a satisfactory response code
+        if (ucon.getResponseCode() != HttpURLConnection.HTTP_OK) {
+            String errmsg = "Unable to download update for " +
+                _desc.sourceURL + ": " + ucon.getResponseCode();
+            throw new IOException(errmsg);
+        }
+
+        Log.info("Downloading updated jar [url=" + _desc.sourceURL + "].");
+        downloadContent(dmgr, obs, pinfo, buffer, ucon, _desc.destFile);
+    }
+}