Technically, Renegade-X is no longer a mod. Also, the reason that we no longer release patches on ModDB is because it is far easier, and less bandwidth consuming to use our launcher. We use a delta update system which automatically detects differences in the files and only downloads what needs to be updated. This reduces the download size dramatically. It isn't easy to distribute that type of update on a website, or there is just lack of interest to put the effort forth and do that.
If you have never used the launcher before, you should reinstall the whole game. All of the downloaded versions from ModDB are pretty far out of date, and it's best to just download it all from the official launcher. Also, the launcher will always tell you to update, and if you by chance didn't open the launcher before the game, the game will tell you the game is out of date. If you are using an older version, you will not see any servers in the launcher. We do not release opt-in betas, or any other beta besides the official and current version, so there is no alternate version to worry about.
Any community member is welcome to keep ModDB updated or to host their own files for others to use, but we can not ensure that they are safe or up to date, so use them at your own risk.
I hope this clears up any questions you might have had.