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The last updates installed from the installation disks were from 7/31/07. I assume that means I have sp1.
Don't know what service pack you have installed but you will want SP2 installed to effectively use the Vista SP2 package - you will need to download and install the service pack on your own, it is not a release, it is a requirement.
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Generating tree, no compatible items found." I have zero idea what that means.
It means that when AutoPatcher was run, it determined there are no updates in the release that are compatable with your system. I bet you didn't download the Vista SP2 release, you only downloaded the 'Updater' and 'Engine' files.
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Are the "don't mix with sp1" files what I need, or am I missing seeing something?
There was a package for both SP1 and SP2 for Vista, the SP2 package would remove nearly all the updates from the SP1 package because they were part of the service pack - makes sense right

It looks as if the SP1 package has been removed from the releases list so the note should be removed I suppose.
Bottom line here, you will want SP2 installed to use AutoPatcher for Vista SP2 but, I did look at many of the apm files and I don't see a restriction to SP2 only so I would figure that if you load the release many of the updates will be checked
but - This Is Importatnt! ...
They may not install if they are for a SP2 system. I don't know I don't have Vista.
You can experiment with a few updates at a time and see if they get installed or wait until someone posts with a definitive answer.
Note: Someone is posting while I'm typing so I hope my response doesn't conflict, I'll post anyway.