get rom 2.4

These are generally standalone derivatives of the previous codebase. So unless the site specifically says it's a patch for Circle, treat it as though it's standalone. Should be easy enough to tell by downloading it and unpacking the files.

Could you have edited the codebase any before trying to apply the patch? Perhaps those additions changed the code enough so that the patch didnt fit. If this is true, try beginning from scratch and installing the largest patch first, as they are the ones that need the most tailoring, and then replace the additions youve put since.

If you didnt change the codebase at all, check the version numbers. Perhaps you are using a wrong version of circlemud, or of the patch. If not, that's all I can say without sitting in front of your computer.

Circlemud is a rather low-level codebase. It has everything there in one form or the other, but it is in raw form, without much finesse. This is good for an ambitious coder, because he has a clean plate to begin with, as opposed to the SMAUG codebase, where everything has already been tailored to a specific genre, but the coder has much more work ahead of him then in SMAUG.