Soly,
i find it odd the patch file did not work


Black Hat Enaged

1 - Do You have a Hex Editor??
you'll need one....

MAKE SURE YOU KNOW WHAT ERA GAME WAS STARTED IN
MAKE SURE GAME IS STANDARD DATE MOD, no mods with changed starting dates!!

FOR GAMES STARTED IN EARLY ERA

save before 1453 copy the file out to another folder
open save file in hex editor
view in HEX
goto offset 26 change the 2 digits/letters you find there to BD
goto offset 27 change the 2 digits/letters you find there to 05
Save Changes,
rename file,
copy back in - date is now 1454


FOR GAMES STARTED IN HIGH ERA
same as above EXCEPT
change data at offset 26 TO E5
change data at offset 27 TO 03

FOR GAMES STARTED IN LATE ERA
same as above EXCEPT
change data at offset 26 TO 15
change data at offset 27 TO 02

Black Hat Disengaged

kinda arcane, but NOT HARD TO DO

credits to Julien for finding the offsets