Midnight Simple Unit Frames - 5.0 Beta 2

Highlights

• Major font and media stability pass across unit frames, castbars, auras, group frames, status text and previews.
• New safer font application system with better internal Blizzard font handling and stronger fallbacks.
• Menu2 received many usability improvements, including live font previews, better refresh handling and cleaner settings pages.
• Boss unit frame preview now works directly from the Menu2 Boss page.
• Range Fade can now affect either the full frame or only the health bar.
• Unit and group previews are more accurate, with real portrait icons, better level indicator handling and safer font rendering.

Fonts and Media

• Added a centralized safe font setter used across the addon.
• Font application now verifies that a font was actually applied.
• Added stronger fallback behavior when a font cannot be loaded.
• Improved internal font detection for Friz Quadrata, Arial Narrow, Morpheus and Skurri.
• Added better support for locale-specific Blizzard font paths.
• Added FontObject fallback support for Blizzard font objects.
• Added safer font path normalization and comparison.
• Added Expressway aliases for older and alternate MSUF font names.
• Improved handling for bundled Expressway fonts overriding internal-looking font paths.
• Added visual font cache prewarming to reduce first-use font detection issues.
• Font visual cache prewarming now avoids combat lockdown and retries later if needed.
• Font resolution avoids unsafe probing during combat lockdown.
• Added a debug probe for font troubleshooting.
• Internal MSUF fonts are no longer accidentally resolved through LibSharedMedia.
• Castbars, aura text, group frame text, status text and previews now use safe font application.
• Updated the bundled LibSharedMedia-3.0 file.
• Updated LibSharedMedia metadata and CurseForge project reference.
• Improved LibSharedMedia media list updates.
• Improved media path validation.
• Updated handling for the None sound entry.

Unit Frames

• Added a dedicated runtime state for Boss unit frame preview.
• Boss frames can now be previewed from the Menu2 Boss page without enabling normal Edit Mode.
• Boss preview respects combat lockdown and resyncs after combat.
• Boss preview forces preview frames visible, fully opaque and interactive while active.
• Disabled Boss frames can still be shown for the Menu2 Boss page preview.
• Visibility drivers now remember the currently applied driver.
• Reduced redundant visibility-driver reapplication.
• Boss test mode now updates level indicator, portrait and castbar preview more reliably.
• Boss level text now respects the showLevelIndicator setting.
• Level indicator layout is reapplied after relevant Boss test updates.
• Boss portrait preview now uses fitting fallback artwork.
• Class portrait Boss preview uses Death Knight class preview data.
• Non-class Boss portrait preview uses a Boss icon fallback.

Range Fade and Alpha

• Added a new Range Fade target mode: full frame or health bar only.
• Health-bar-only fade keeps text fully readable.
• Health-bar-only fade uses the layered alpha system.
• Edit Mode previews are protected from becoming too transparent.
• Fast Range Fade updates now support the health-bar-only mode.
• Target, Focus and Boss now share the new Range Fade layer selector in Menu2.
• Boss child Range Fade options only enable when Boss Range Fade is enabled.

Castbars

• Castbar fonts now use the safe font system.
• Castbars prefer global font-key resolution before LibSharedMedia fallback.
• Internal fonts are preferred over LibSharedMedia fonts where appropriate.
• Improved fallback behavior for castbar fonts.
• Reworked the Global Castbars Menu2 layout.
• Textures, outline, empowered casts, name shortening, Focus Kick and Interrupt Ready settings are more compact.
• Spell name shortening now uses a clear On/Off button.
• Name shortening detail controls enable only when the feature is active.
• Empowered cast blink time enables only when empowered blinking is enabled.
• Interrupt Ready settings now enable and disable their controls based on active targets and auto-size state.
• Focus Kick settings are arranged more tightly.

Auras

• Aura stack text now uses safe font application.
• Aura cooldown text now uses safe font application.
• Aura count initialization now uses the global font key.
• Auras2 global font refresh applies fonts more consistently.
• Auras2 Edit Mode cooldown previews now use safe fonts.
• Group frame aura cooldowns now use safe fonts.
• Group frame aura stack text now uses safe fonts.

Group Frames

• Group frame names now use safe font application.
• Group frame health text now uses safe font application.
• Group frame power text now uses safe font application.
• Group frame status text now uses safe font application.
• Group frame render text now uses safe fonts.
• Group frame status-state effects now use safe fonts.
• Group Number display now falls back to the global font key.
• Group Number display now uses safe fonts.
• Added Expressway font aliases to group frame font normalization.
• Group Preview now uses safe fonts.
• Group Preview title now uses the accent color.
• Group Bars health color swatch now reflects the active bar mode.
• Group Bars color swatch is editable only when the current mode has one editable color.
• Added clearer hints for Global, Class Color and Health Gradient group bar modes.

Menu2 Core

• Added a shared Menu2 refresh mechanism for active pages.
• Dropdowns now re-read their current values during refresh.
• Color buttons refresh immediately after color changes.
• Dashboard Edit Mode button now shows On, Off or Off (Combat).
• Dashboard Edit Mode button now handles combat lock correctly.
• Menu2 now listens for Edit Mode state changes and updates the dashboard button.
• Menu2 syncs Boss preview when pages change.
• Boss preview is disabled when the Menu2 window closes.
• Boss preview is enabled again when the Boss page is shown.
• Menu page versions were bumped where layouts changed.

Menu2 Fonts

• Font dropdown rows can now preview fonts by font key.
• Dropdown font previews resolve paths through the same safe font logic as the addon.
• Dropdown labels store and restore their default font.
• Global Fonts page now has a live preview string.
• The live font preview uses the selected font, size, outline and color.
• Font selection now handles global and scoped overrides more cleanly.
• LibSharedMedia font names are normalized better and duplicate entries are avoided.

Menu2 Colors

• Advanced Colors page was reorganized for a tighter layout.
• Class color grid now uses dynamic column widths.
• Color swatches support custom label and button widths.
• Reset/action buttons now refresh the page after use.
• Bar Background Tint now has a clearer explanation.
• Bar Background controls were repositioned.
• Bar Colors were split into overlay controls and border/matching controls.
• Aggro Border and Purge Border colors are grouped more clearly.
• Power Bar Background matching label is clearer.
• Reset Bar Colors now refreshes the view immediately.

Menu2 Class Resources

• Class Resources quick actions were moved into the header.
• MSUF Edit Mode now changes to Exit Edit Mode while Edit Mode is active.
• Added a direct button to the Colors page.
• Removed the old separate Quick Actions block.

Menu2 Unit Pages and Previews

• Unit page preview title now uses the accent color.
• Boss unit page now automatically activates Boss preview.
• Boss preview is disabled when leaving the Boss page.
• Boss preview cleanup is delayed safely if combat is active.
• Unit Preview now uses real portrait icons instead of colored blocks with initials.
• Player, Target, TargetTarget, Focus, Boss and Pet previews now have dedicated portrait icons.
• Level indicator preview can now be smaller.
• Level indicator preview now sizes itself to the text instead of a fixed square.
• Level indicator preview aligns better beside the unit name.
• Preview handles now adapt to text width and height.

Status and Text

• Status indicator text now uses safe font application.
• Boss test level text now respects showLevelIndicator.
• Text layouts refresh more reliably during Boss test updates.

Classic Options Pages

• Classic Boss preview sync now understands the new Menu2 Boss page preview.
• Boss preview can now be active through Menu2 even when classic Edit Mode did not start it.
• Combat checks for Boss preview were consolidated.
• Classic options now use the new Boss preview state when available.

Technical Stability

• Added more protected font and UI calls.
• Added more fallbacks for missing or late-created frames.
• Preview sync now retries shortly after activation to catch frames created later.
• More UI state is cached to avoid repeating the same work unnecessarily.
• Menu controls update enabled and disabled states more consistently.
• Font, preview and visibility code is more centralized and less fragile.

Changed Areas

• Auras2
• Core
• Foundation
• GroupFrames
• LibSharedMedia-3.0
• Menu2
• Options
• Main runtime file