My game just crashed while I was in sector space, and now when I open up the Launcher it's stuck on Patching. There's no status bar, no indication that it's downloading anything, and clicking Cancel does nothing. I have STO allowed through my firewall, so that shouldn't be the issue.

Same problem here

i have the same problem, but I had logged out last night and tried to log in this morning.

Try restarting your PC, then try launching the game again and see if it'll update. You may have to restart it multiple times.

You can try adding the game folder/files to your exceptions list in your antivirus and firewall software. Please see the help menu or support website for the software that you use if you aren't sure how to do it.

At your own risk, you may have to disable your antivirus, firewall, and other security software temporarily while you download, install, update, login to, and play the game. Sometimes the security software will block it or throttle it, no matter what you try or even if you try to add exceptions for the game files in your security software.

I've figured out the solution to this. After the game crashes, open up Task Manager and stop the GameClient.exe process. The launcher will run the verify process, and then it will let you start the game.