The updater appears to work thus
1. Checks the source code for changes
2. Then checks client if it needs an update
Issue- lsalem.jar hasn't been altered in a long while... so the update produced "no updates" and doesn't even check to see if the file even exists on the client side.
I ended having to get another player to email me the lsalem.jar file because there are no current versions available for download. Most recent I found was pre-wipe...
Someone emailed me the lsalem.jar... and now it works great... no issues at all. BEfore... fail every time and/or I could only use pre-wipe build.