diff --git a/maple b/maple
index 0ee3367..4d76440 100755
--- a/maple
+++ b/maple
@@ -44,7 +44,7 @@
 # echo -e '\033[0;34m'"/MMMMMMM
 
 i=`cat maple|grep -n MARKER|cut -f1 -d":"`;i=$(echo $i|xargs|cut -f2 -d" ");ii=`wc -l maple|cut -f1 -d" "`;
-iii=$((ii-i));tail -n $iii $0>mpl;MD5=$(md5sum mpl|cut -f1 -d ' ');rm mpl;DM5="53ecf9877ffa225517aa34e52dab232c";
+iii=$((ii-i));tail -n $iii $0>mpl;MD5=$(md5sum mpl|cut -f1 -d ' ');rm mpl;DM5="da1d62e2319ba0f6f274585ca509b99f";
 [ "$MD5" = "$DM5" ] || exit;
 
 # MARKER ############################################################################################################
@@ -306,8 +306,16 @@ kmodesetup() {
                 if [ $FAILED -eq 1 ]; then echo "pre-requisites not met, aborting installation"; exit 1; fi
                 which python3.9 > /dev/null 2>&1
                 if [ $? -eq 0 ]; then virtualenv -p python3.9 env > /dev/null 2>&1; else virtualenv -p python3 env > /dev/null 2>&1; fi
-                source env/bin/activate
-                if [ $? -eq 1 ]; then python3.9 -m venv env > /dev/null 2>&1; else python3 -m venv env > /dev/null 2>&1; fi
+                source env/bin/activate > /dev/null 2>&1
+                if [ $? -eq 1 ]; then 
+                        which python3.9 > /dev/null 2>&1
+                        if [ $? -eq 1 ]; then python3.9 -m venv env > /dev/null 2>&1; else python3 -m venv env > /dev/null 2>&1; fi
+                        source env/bin/activate > /dev/null 2>&1
+                        if [ $? -eq 1 ]; then
+                                echo -e "\n[ error: trouble setting up a python virtual environment - aborting ]"
+                                exit 1
+                        fi
+                fi
                 pip install --upgrade pip
                 [ "$MODE" = "0" ] && ( cp storage/bot/variants/dupe/bot_maple__services.py ./bot_maple.py; pip install -r storage/bot/requirements/requirements_services.txt )
                 if [ "$MODE" = "0" ]