MidnightSimpleUnitFrames (MSUF)

6.0-Beta1 - 2026-07-01

Short Version

• 6.0-Beta1 is the real upgrade path from 5.60 to 6.0, not a small follow-up patch.
• It is built for WoW 12.1. If you are still using 5.60, export your profiles before trying this beta.
• All Alpha 1-8 changes are included here, plus the final Beta1 fixes and polish.
• The addon should still feel like MSUF, but a lot underneath it has been replaced so it can work properly on the 12.1 client.

What You Will Notice First

• Auras are the biggest change. Buffs and debuffs now use the WoW 12.1 native aura system instead of the old 5.60 aura renderer.
• Group frames should feel more complete and more consistent, especially in parties and raids.
• Class resources and Player power bars have more visual styles, better previews, and more layout control.
• The settings menu is more useful. The new Assistant can find settings, apply many changes, handle followups, run checks, and undo changes it made.
• Castbars are now part of the main 6.0 setup instead of feeling like a separate older layer.
• Profile import/export is more forgiving, especially when older strings, missing fonts, missing textures, or alpha profiles are involved.

New Compared To 5.60

• Auras3 replaces Auras2 for live aura display on WoW 12.1.
• Aura duration bars can now be shown under buff and debuff icons.
• Aura cooldown swipe direction can be normal or reversed.
• Aura lanes can be moved more directly in Edit Mode.
• Buff and debuff lanes have clearer Shared/Custom style controls, cooldown text placement, stack text placement, native filters, and preview support.
• Native dispel detection is wired into the new aura path.
• Party Targeted Spell Indicators can show enemy nameplate casts on the party member being targeted.
• MSUF4 profile strings are now supported, while older MSUF2/MSUF3 strings are still handled as fallback imports.
• Northern Sky Raid Tools nicknames can be used for unit-frame names.
• External anchor support was added, including Skiron cooldown anchors.
• New class-resource and power-bar shapes were added: circle, diamond, hex, round, crystal, and orb-style options.
• Class Resources now has shape presets such as Classic Bar, Clean Dots, Gems, Hex Pips, and Compact.
• The detached Player Power bar can now follow class-resource styling or use its own bar, round, crystal, or orb style.
• An optional extra Player HP bar can be shown near class resources or Player Power, with its own text, size, color, texture, and shape options.
• The in-game changelog can be opened from MSUF after updating.

Reworked From 5.60

• Unit frames were rebuilt for 6.0: health, power, text, alpha, range fade, status icons, prediction bars, borders, and load conditions now use the new engine.
• Group frames were rebuilt instead of patched on top of the old 5.60 group system. Party, Raid, and Mythic Raid now share the same newer frame logic.
• Castbars existed in 5.60, but 6.0 integrates Player, Target, Focus, Boss, Focus Kick, and Interrupt Ready into the main addon flow with better previews and cleaner ownership.
• Class Resources were expanded with better class/spec previews, shape media, smoother resource presentation, detached power-bar controls, and the optional Player HP bridge.
• Menu2 was already present in 5.60, but 6.0 turns it into a fuller settings shell with navigation, previews, search, Assistant support, bug report tools, and better window handling.
• Edit Mode moved from the old EditMode2 path to the new 6.0 Edit Mode, including aura handles, cast/aura popups, popup scaling, and the new logo intro.
• Gameplay helpers were reorganized and hardened around combat, reloads, target sound, totem preview, and related helper settings.

Auras In Plain English

• 5.60 displayed auras with MSUF's own older scanner and renderer. 6.0 lets Blizzard's 12.1 aura system do the live tracking and lets MSUF control how those auras look.
• This should make target swaps, focus swaps, group updates, and combat aura updates more reliable on the new client.
• You get more visible controls for each aura lane: size, spacing, growth direction, cooldown text, stack text, duration bars, filters, and tooltip behavior.
• Existing blacklist data is kept, but old Auras2 filtering may not match perfectly because the new system uses Blizzard's native 12.1 filter strings.

Group Frames

• Party, Raid, and Mythic Raid are now handled by the same 6.0 group-frame system.
• Party Targeted Spell Indicators are the main new gameplay feature here: in dungeon content, a party frame can show when an enemy cast is aimed at that player.
• Group auras now use the new Auras3 path, including native dispel support and better preview behavior.
• Status indicators, spell indicators, range fade, health fade, offline/dead visuals, role filters, threat/aggro visuals, and text handling were cleaned up into one more predictable setup.
• Beta1 also adds more visibility/load conditions, including housing cases, and more control over which roles show aggro borders.

Class Resources And Power Bars

• Class resources are no longer just the old rectangular class bar style. You can use bar, dot, gem, hex, compact, round, crystal, and orb-like looks depending on the resource or attached power bar.
• The Class Resources page now has better previews for real class/spec cases such as runes, combo points, soul shards, essence, holy power, chi, insanity, maelstrom, stagger, and similar resource styles.
• Shape presets make it faster to switch between classic bars, clean dots, gem-style pips, hex pips, and compact resource displays.
• Detached Player Power can sync with class resources or use its own style, size, texture, outline, text, and placement.
• The optional Player HP bar can sit above or below class resources or Player Power, and can follow the Player Power style if you want a matched resource cluster.
• Power-bar and class-resource previews were improved so changes are easier to judge before leaving the settings menu.

Profiles And Migration

• 6.0 tries to migrate 5.60 profiles automatically, but this is a major version jump. Export first.
• Old profile strings, missing media, older alpha data, and some external imports should recover better instead of failing the whole import.
• MSUF4 is the new profile string format for 6.0.
• Older MSUF2/MSUF3 profile strings are still attempted through fallback import paths.
• Imported profiles can be applied to the current profile or brought in as a new profile, depending on the workflow.

From Alpha 1 To Beta1

• Alpha 1 opened the 6.0 branch with the new foundation, previews, castbar work, class-resource work, profile import/export, group-frame work, and the first Auras3 version.
• Alpha 2 moved live aura display to Blizzard's native 12.1 AuraContainer system.
• Alpha 3 improved aura timer colors, Assistant context, geometry followups, castbar controls, class-resource previews, and preview routing.
• Alpha 4 improved Shared aura styling, per-unit aura text overrides, cooldown text anchors, aura previews, and boss preview refresh.
• Alpha 5 added reverse cooldown swipe and fixed important castbar preview/runtime issues.
• Alpha 6 added Party Targeted Spell Indicators, NSRT nicknames, MSUF4 profile strings, class-resource shapes, stronger import handling, and the in-game changelog.
• Alpha 7 added the Edit Mode logo intro and prepared the CurseForge-only alpha release path.
• Alpha 8 added aura dragging, menu performance work, combat performance work, and more Assistant coverage for group and bar settings.
• Beta1 stabilizes all of that for wider 5.60 -> 6.0 testing.

Beta1 Polish

• Aura duration bars and native dispel sensors are now connected through live frames, previews, defaults, menus, and the Assistant.
• The Assistant understands more aura, group-frame, bar, overlay, load-condition, and followup requests.
• Castbar width mode, castbar text, Interrupt Ready refresh, and class-bar quick setup issues were fixed.
• Group-frame layout, group status refresh, menu keyboard handling, unit-frame prediction updates, and font checks were tightened up.
• Local development files, stale bytecode output, and release packaging were cleaned up for the beta build.

What To Test First

• Import or copy a 5.60 profile, then check Player, Target, Focus, Boss, Target of Target, Focus Target, Party, Raid, and Mythic Raid.
• Test auras on WoW 12.1: target swaps, focus swaps, party/raid conversion, dispellable debuffs, duration bars, cooldown text, stack text, aura dragging, and filters.
• Test Party Targeted Spell Indicators in 5-player content with enemy nameplates enabled.
• Test Class Resources on several classes/specs, especially shape presets, detached Player Power, the optional Player HP bar, and preview switching.
• Test castbars for normal casts, channels, empower casts, Boss casts, Focus Kick, Interrupt Ready, and Blizzard/MSUF player castbar ownership.
• Test profile strings, missing font/texture fallback, NSRT nicknames, external anchors, Edit Mode, and /reload after combat.