Repatching a show without modifying cue list

I know it can be done by editing an ASCII file, but that's pretty labor intensive. Otherwise, switch to a smarter console that stores data in channels, not in patch. Eos is dumb that way. You have to update a patch for one fixture and now all your data is lost for that channel, like palettes and some other stuff. Very very dumb.

Replacing a fixture type in patch will cause the console to make educated guesses about preserving/transferring data.

The parameter data should not be deleted if a channel is unpatched. It is. Parameter data should be stored in channel, not in patch. If channel is simply repatched to different fixture type with different, conflicting properties (such as it doesn't have Gobo Wheel 2 and channel calls for Gobo Wheel 2), then those variables should still be stored and not used, not deleted. One time I unpatched then repatched a fixture exactly the same as before as part of a diagnostic process and that instantaneously obliterated my show because 100% of that channel's palette data was annihilated, so I had one fixture that suddenly had no idea what to do for the entire show. That's absolutely unacceptable from a software dev point of view in my personal opinion. 

Other platforms like MA store the data in the channel so that you never, ever have such a problem, and. it makes far more sense. You can unpatch a channel, forget about it for a year, then repatch it as same type, and all that data is still there waiting for you. 

On MA when you delete a channel and commit that change (equivalent to unpatching on eos), the data is also lost. But back to Eos... have you considered using an advanced merge to recover data that you've unpatched?

On MA when you delete a channel and commit that change (equivalent to unpatching on eos), the data is also lost. But back to Eos... have you considered using an advanced merge to recover data that you've unpatched?

I haven't personally worked with MA, but the training videos I've seen directly indicate that data is stored in the channel, not in the patch, and they make a point to emphasize that. So if you unpatch a channel (for instance, if there's damage in the cabling or something and you need the light to stop flickering and just deactivate until the next show), the data is still in the channel so you don't lose all your stuff. When you fix the cable the next day and repatch the channel, you don't need to go back and re-record all your palettes. In Eos, I did that and had to re-record basically everything for that fixture. I probably could have used a merge from an older version of the show file but this was a year ago. 

On MA there is a fundamental difference between unpatch and delete; likewise, on Eos, there is a fundamental difference between removing the address from a channel (not unlike MA's unpatch feature) and unpatching a channel (which is not unlike deleting a channel on MA).

Have you considered using the Park function (to keep a channel out) or using [At] [Enter] in patch to temporarily remove the address from the channel but not lose any show data?