PayPal PDT questions

My question(s) on which I really need help:
1)is the lack of a PDT so far a possible reason for not getting order details within and from the cart?
I have seen ver 1.3.8 and above the PDT field it says"
Enter your PDT Token value here in order to activate transactions immediately after processing (if they pass validation)."

BUT if so, why have most orders been coming through despite not having pdt setup?

2)If I do NOT upgrade to 1.3.8 (have lots of mods), will the fact that I have now setup PDT in paypal cause additional problems?

3)Is there some patch that can be applied to integrate the PDT part instead of doing a full upgrade? If so, where can this be found?
thanks, thanks and thanks!

1. PayPal has been having some problems intermittently over the last week and a half. That would be the reason for recent payment problems.

2. If you enable PDT in your PayPal account profile but not in Zen Cart, you may end up with orders not going through.

3. If you're using v1.3.7, you can apply this patch: http://www.zen-cart.com/forum/showpost.php?p=365905&postcount=10
   That patch is included in v1.3.7.1 and newer versions.

thanks for the info, dr. byte!

This means I do not really need to have PDT at all (unless for some other reason)?

Also, what is the patch for?

The details of the PayPal patches for v1.3.7 are outlined in the thread I posted a link to. It affects all PayPal modules in v1.3.7.