Are there any must have patches I should know about before playing? There are tons of threads here for patching but none of them indicate if they are recommended or just suggested tweeks to gameplay. Thanks!

The game will run fine as-is, but many people like the fan-made high-resolution patch which is in the sticky thread. The original game runs at 512x384, which is an unusual and very low resolution, and this all but guarantees that there will be some black borders around all sides of the game window when you play it on a modern monitor. I haven't tried the high-res patch myself, though, since I played the game before it was avialable on GOG and I don't think the patch existed yet.

As far as I know, that's the only patch you really need to consider.

Thanks. I saw that patch there but I thought I'd read it might be buggy plus I really don't think the game looks that bad as is. If I get bored I may play with it. Thanks again!

Personally, I didn't want to risk any additional bugs with the high-res patch, so I played it as I downloaded it from GOG.com. It's not so bad once you get used to it. You don't notice the black bars; it only feels as if you've got a smaller monitor.

Some people have problem with music,..so..Music Patch is good option.
And HRP..I use this patch for remove HUD rectangle (it's annoying), but not for high resolution.For me..it reduces FPS..