So, I've been a long-time legit ableton live user (for 4 years now), and I've recently read a few things on a couple of releases of third party m4l devices which has led me to wonder some crap about the whole system.

I've tested many of the third-party devices available on sister site, etc, throughout the years, and the only thing i've noticed is that many of them "cannot install"... they appear to install, but some aspect of copying the files to the local[custom] packs folder(Usually samples I think i've observed?) brings up an error dialog to the effect of it not being able to install (i think sometimes it says 'some' parts) not sure.. but anyways, other than that it appears to be effectively installed and usable. other than a nag screen that asks you if you want to use it without licensing (obviously!) WIthout limitations, or so I believed until I read that maybe I was not getting the full experience at all? Are the devices installed being neutered somehow? I've noticed that one of the only "limitations" appear to be corrupt / unlicensed notif on 0orange background in the bottom frame of the window. when trying to use / locate (particularly .aiff format) audio files, and otherwise, with no basis of comparison it appears to be unencumbered by live. Or am I wrong? I've tried again and again to use many m4l devices that seem to fulfill something I very much want on paper, but in practice seem to fall short in various ways so it got me thinking that there IS some kind of mechanism to hide or abridge various things within live. Kind of makes sense as licensing a device would/could not be as easy as downloading an alp, installing it, and then confirming that you want to use it without a license. Duh?! So, i wanted to test this theory and found what seemed to be a decent release (Ableton.Live.11.Suite.v11.3.11.Patcher.WiN-bobdule w the linked build in the nfo from ableton. I installed and ran the (it says generic) patcher and copied all of my packs to another folder and pointed to that within the new live build. I installed beside the existing beta release that i've been testing (in ableton's QA team). And everything appears to be the same. ONe thing about the patcher is that it does not allow you to specify which folder/version to apply the patch to iirc. And it says 'generic' (which ive no clue means) but also successfully patched.
Is this all superfluous? Can i Do something about the limitations (if there are any) without installing a separate trial release? what are the limitations without doing so, and what is a reliable / vette'd release that will load devices without a hitch?
thanks