Hello Knights-To-Be!

It has been quite some time since you have last heard from us, but rest assured, we have been hard at work.

As we have mentioned in our previous patch notes we are implementing a major update to Talamhel. The reason for this update is to improve the overall performance and frame rates for our players. This is an important step for us to ensure you have a smooth experience sailing on the Sea of Sand going forward.

To shed some light on what this meant for us we had to do the following:

• Update our backend system and engine to support the changes to the world

• Deep dive into key performance and frame rate pressure points

• And intensive testing to ensure the new system works as intended

Many of the improvements may not be visual, but we hope the updates we have made are felt.

However! The biggest update in this patch as a direct result of the improvements made in the backend, is the reshaping of Talamhel.

One of the core pillars for Sands of Aura is to excite the desire to explore. We noticed that the locations of the islands did not hit that note the way we expected to and so we decided to redraw the map. For our veteran players, the Islands are now in completely different locations, and as such we will be conducting a save file wipe. This will occur once you have updated the game. For our new players, you will be able to experience Talamhel the way we have intended.

We will continue to work to improve performance and stability, and we believe this is a good leap in the right direction.

And to give a bit of a teaser of what’s next, we are already developing content for our next major patch. There will be new islands to explore, bosses to defeat and enemies to encounter. More details on this will be provided on a later date!

Until then, we will continue to address issues you may experience and updates to improve your time in Talamhel. We have a long list of suggestions and features given to us by our community that we are actively considering or working to implement. Please consider joining our Discord, if you have not already, to discuss anything with us.

We, at Chashu Entertainment, wish you all a Happy Holiday and a Happy New Year!

As always – Thank You for Playing,
Chashu Entertainment

0.01.07n — Performance Patch Notes

Character

• Aura has been updated with a new model and visual effects

Quests

• Certain quests in Starspire now include clearer objectives

• Fixed an issue where Kauzz would sometimes not appear to aid in The Belfry Priest encounter

• Fixed an issue that would sometimes cause multiple clones of The Belfry Priests to spawn during the encounter

• Added additional objectives for certain quests to clarify how to progress

Islands & Environment

• All Islands have been relocated around Talamhel

• Lighting around the world has been altered, resulting in improved performance

• The Sand Wall now properly prevents players from traveling through it

Items

• Fixed a bug that allowed Weapons and Armors to upgrade beyond their intended max level of the current content

Performance & Stability

• Updated the game engine and systems to improve performance and allow new features to be added in future patches

• Upgraded level streaming system that directly improves level loading into view and overall game performance

• Improved transitions on and off the Grainwake, which fixes issues when near an island or docking

• Made various optimizations to rendering systems to greatly improve performance on lower end hardware

Interface

• Updated the Character Creator interface

• Updated the icon for the .exe file

• Updated the World Map to reflect the changes made to Talamhel

• Updated the World Map to properly show the correct position of the Grainwake

• When crafting the cost is now properly displayed in the format: [Currently Have / Required to Craft]

• Blessing Upgrade menu is larger for description, cost and expanded for further detail in the future

• Added a Waypoint Beacon that moves to the location the player places it on the world map

• Improved functionality of Controller Mapping

• Implemented visuals for the keys/buttons when updating controls

• Improved visibility/user experience with warnings of unbounded keys that would cause other interface issues

SFX

• Fixed a bug causing the “Spellblade Unavailable” SFX to play when reversing the Grainwake

VFX

• Heavily optimized certain effects to improve performance without sacrificing quality