> but why don't I need this when I load the cyclone externals?

If every cyclone external has already been loaded before your patch loads, then there's no problem.

The problem comes when Pd tries to search for a binary to load-- for example, when you type a name
into an object box that Pd doesn't know.  If that name has characters that can't appear in a filename
(like "<") then you need to have hexloader loaded already.