AURA Visual Upgrade

An in-game, hardware-neutral graphics optimizer and optional external visual-upgrade companion for Project Ascension.

Author: Srixun

Features

• Performance, Raid, Balanced, and Quality profiles that preserve user frame caps, textures, renderer, and ReShade
• Adaptive Optimization driven by measured rolling FPS and approximate 10th-percentile lows
• Stable, Balanced, and Quality optimizer goals with selectable 30-240 FPS targets
• A 15-second benchmark with context-aware profile recommendations
• Gradual one-setting changes, measurable-benefit checks, cooldowns, ownership-safe restoration, and explicit conflict recovery
• Live FPS, gameplay-context, target, active-change, and output-resolution reporting
• World detail, particles, weather, shadows, filtering, VSync, MSAA, and FPS controls
• Performance-hit and apply-method details for every setting
• Explicitly opted-in DX11/DX12, ReShade, individual-effect, and frame-generation requests
• Native WotLK dialog, button, slider, scroll-frame, parchment, border, and portrait styling
• Draggable AURA minimap button and Interface Options About page
• /auravis, /auravis optimize, and /auravis benchmark commands
• Capability-aware controls that hide unsupported client CVars
• Peer-reported in-game version awareness with an official release link

Adaptive Safety

Adaptive Optimization measures the client instead of identifying a GPU or assuming a resolution. It waits through world transitions, respects foreground frame and VSync ceilings, avoids likely background-throttled samples, and verifies every CVar write. Keep the background cap distinct from an intentionally identical foreground target because WoW 3.3.5 exposes no reliable cross-platform focus API.

Automatic changes are limited to immediate cosmetic controls such as shadows, ground clutter, environment detail, and weather. Projected textures, view distance, spell-particle density, texture quality, MSAA, VSync, renderer selection, ReShade, and frame generation are never changed adaptively. AURA tracks only values it actually changes and will not overwrite a value changed elsewhere. Saved sessions load paused after a UI reload.

Native Themes

The default Warcraft theme uses Blizzard WotLK interface textures and templates to match the game rather than presenting a flat desktop-style dashboard.

WoW 3.3.5 does not contain a browser or CSS engine, so it cannot import web CSS. Theme addons can provide the equivalent through Lua theme tables, immediate skin callbacks, and optional LibSharedMedia assets:

local AURA = _G.AURAVisualUpgrade

AURA:RegisterTheme("MyWarcraftSkin", {
    font = "Friz Quadrata TT",
    colors = {
        gold = { 1.0, 0.82, 0.0 },
        text = { 1.0, 0.96, 0.84 }
    }
})
AURA:SetTheme("MyWarcraftSkin")

AURA:RegisterSkinProvider("MySkinProvider", function(frame, kind, theme)
    -- Apply addon-specific styling for kinds such as window, button,
    -- setting-row, slider, section-header, and minimap-button.
end)

Declare AURA as a dependency to register a theme before PLAYER_LOGIN. Changing themes after the UI is built requires /reload; skin providers apply to existing and future AURA controls immediately.

Installation

Automatic

1. Download AURA-Visual-Upgrade-Auto-Installer.zip from the latest release.
2. Extract it.
3. Close Ascension.
4. Run START HERE - Install AURA Visual Upgrade.cmd.

The installer detects launcher and common install paths, verifies SHA-256 checksums, fully stages and verifies the replacement, preserves the previous addon version, and rolls back ordinary activation errors.

Manual

Extract AURA-Visual-Upgrade-Addon.zip into:

Ascension\Interface\AddOns

The resulting path must be:

Ascension\Interface\AddOns\AURA_VisualUpgrade\AURA_VisualUpgrade.toc

Automatic Updates

Every auto-installer run checks GitHub Releases for the latest version. Release downloads are installed only when they match the separately published SHA-256 asset.

Run Check for AURA Updates.cmd to require an online update check. The full companion's AURA Visual Sync and Launch.cmd also checks for addon updates before launching the game.

The in-game Updates panel and /auravis update can ask AURA users in your guild, party, or raid which version they run. Peer reports are informational and can be spoofed; verify every reported version on the official GitHub Releases page. WoW addon Lua cannot access the internet, verify GitHub, launch programs, or install files.

Use /auravis acknowledge to clear a persisted restart reminder after you have completed or deliberately dismissed the required restart/relog action.

Frame Generation

The addon shows the approximate doubled displayed-FPS target while a frame-generation request is explicitly staged. Driver frame generation remains a manual or experimental companion setting; addon Lua cannot control driver APIs.

External Companion

The optional companion applies explicitly staged DX11/DX12 and ReShade requests after the client exits. Ordinary external profiles preserve the existing frame cap and dgVoodoo VRAM setting; the frame-generation profile derives its real-FPS cap from the configured refresh rate. It downloads dgVoodoo and ReShade from their official sources and verifies pinned hashes. No third-party renderer binaries or shaders are stored in this repository.

The included ReShade profiles use the unrestricted add-on build for multiplayer depth access. This enables MXAO and bounce lighting but can conflict with server policy or anti-cheat. It is an explicit option and remains disabled unless selected by the user.

Privacy

AURA Visual Upgrade contains no telemetry. The installer contacts only GitHub Releases and the official dependency sources documented in the scripts.

License

MIT License. See LICENSE.