Along with the Hexagon Core rollout, A3 India gets a large set of client and server changes. Many of them were made over the last two years and have not been listed in a changelog yet, so this post covers everything since our last changelog in October 2024.

The biggest change is the game client. It now runs on a modern graphics engine with an optional Vulkan renderer, proper widescreen support and new shadows. On the server side there are many gameplay fixes, a new Auto-Pot system, and much better protection against cheating and exploits.

Graphics and Display

New Vulkan Renderer

A3 was built for Windows 98 and XP and always needed DirectX 8, which newer versions of Windows are dropping. The client now runs on a modern rendering engine and can use Vulkan, a modern graphics technology that puts less load on your CPU and works better with current graphics cards and drivers.

  • The game tries Vulkan first. If your PC or graphics card does not support it, the game tells you and switches to DirectX on its own.
  • Vulkan needs a graphics card with Vulkan 1.3 support. Please keep your graphics drivers up to date.
  • The client no longer needs the old DirectX 8 and DirectX 9 extra files.
New Borderless, Windowed and Multi-Monitor

The old exclusive fullscreen mode caused slow or broken Alt+Tab and minimized the game whenever it lost focus. The game now runs in Borderless Windowed Mode through the Windows desktop:

  • Instant Alt+Tab with no flicker or lag.
  • The game keeps running when it is not focused, so you can keep it open on a second monitor. It draws at a lower frame rate while unfocused to save your graphics card. Press Windows + Down or Windows + M to minimize it fully; a minimized game stops drawing.
  • Windowed Mode: choose a resolution lower than your monitor's to play in a window.
  • Multi-monitor: choose which monitor the game opens on, with a separate resolution for each monitor.
  • NVIDIA G-Sync, AMD FreeSync and HDR monitors are supported through Windows.
  • The game is no longer blurry on screens that use Windows display scaling.
Improved Better Visuals
  • Widescreen: the game is no longer stretched on wide monitors. 16:9, 16:10 and 21:9 screens show the correct view.
  • Names, Knighthood crests, HP bars and damage numbers above characters are sharper at high resolutions.
  • New shadows: buildings, trees and characters now cast proper shadows, and the jagged shadow patches and black speckles on characters and weapons are gone.
  • Skill auras on the ground now follow the slope of the terrain instead of cutting into hills.
  • Weapon glow and weapon fire follow the shape of the weapon, so card-shaped weapons no longer glow as a rectangle. Item glow no longer flickers at some camera angles.
  • Anti-aliasing now uses optimized MSAA only. SSAA was removed because it cost too much performance.
  • The Brightness slider in the game options works with the new engine.
  • Screenshots are now saved as PNG. Black screenshots and screenshots on multi-monitor setups are fixed.
Improved Performance and Stability
  • Much better performance in crowded areas such as towns and wars.
  • Laptops and PCs with two graphics cards now use the dedicated graphics card.
  • The client can now use up to 4 GB of memory, which fixes most out-of-memory crashes (Intel graphics, several clients open at once).
  • The old graphics options (Texture Detail, Model Detail and similar) have been removed; the game always uses the highest quality. The low-resolution texture files are no longer needed and are removed from your install, making the client about 220 MB smaller.
  • The client sends a crash report automatically if it crashes, so we can find and fix problems faster.
  • The connection is now handled separately from the game's drawing. The ping indicator is accurate, and the high ping after logging in or loading a map has been fixed.

New Features

New Macro Settings (Auto-Pot)

Open it with F5 and the Auto - 2 tab. Auto-Pot automatically uses your stored HP, MP and Shue HP potions when they drop below the percentage you choose.

  • Potting is done by the server, so it is fast and reliable regardless of your ping.
  • Your settings carry over when you change maps. Auto-Pot pauses while you are dead, changing maps or trading.
  • While Auto-Pot is on, manual HP potions are not used. With Auto-Pot off you can pot manually, up to about 4 potions per second.
New Player HP Bars

You can now see live HP bars above players in combat areas. When you are in a party, your party members' bars turn red. Party and apprentice HP bars keep updating on crowded maps.

New Power-Ups Window (J)

The Premium Items window is now called Power-Ups. Its new Buffs tab shows your Sprint Potion, Wisdom of Sage and Sage's Spirit Stone buffs with the time they have left.

  • Sprint Potion now shows a buff icon while it is active, and its cooldown is shown on the item and in its tooltip.
  • Sprint Potion now needs level 100 and has a 4 minute cooldown.
  • Opening the window always shows your current buffs.
Improved Tab Window and Skill Window
  • The Tab window has been redesigned. It shows your connection quality (latency and packet loss), ongoing events such as Aura Power Play and Alliance Resurgence, unique drops and player kills.
  • The skill window now lists every skill for your class. Before, some skills were missing from the list.
  • Skill names and descriptions have been updated to match what each skill really does. Skill scroll names now match the skill names.
  • The Quest button now glows when your quest progress changes.
  • Monster HP bars now update smoothly as your hits land.

Grnita Heath

New NPC Whanhellz on Clarb Second Floor

A new NPC, Whanhellz, stands on Clarb Second Floor (x 80, y 245). Click Whanhellz to be teleported straight into Grnita Heath, skipping the entrance. There is no fee, item or quest needed.

  • Whanhellz sends you to a part of Grnita Heath that matches the level of the player who clicks: one set of areas for below level 91, one for level 91 to 110, and one for level 111 and above.
  • The destination is picked at random on every click, so two parties can end up in the same place.
  • Party entry: every party member on Clarb Second Floor is taken along with you, wherever they are on the map. Party members on other maps stay behind. A member who is rooted, petrified or already changing maps is not moved, and a member who is trading has the trade cancelled.
  • Any party member can click Whanhellz, and that player's level decides where the whole party goes.
  • The usual walk-in portals from Clarb Third Floor and Graybone's Room still work as before.
Changed Disconnecting inside Grnita Heath

If you log out or disconnect anywhere in Grnita Heath, you now log back in at your nation's town, the same way Graybone's Room already works. Before, you logged back in at the same spot.

Gameplay Changes

  • PK penalty uses the original A3 rule again: each player kill adds 30 minutes. A kill made at 570 to 599 takes you straight to 1200, and kills made while you are already Murderer add 30.
  • Experience bonuses (Power Level, Wisdom of Sage and server events) now add together instead of multiplying each other. For example, a 2x event with Power Level now gives 3x instead of 4x.
  • Grade 10 set bonuses now count mixed sets: any 5 pieces from your class's Grade 10 armour sets give the full 5-piece bonus. The bonuses are 20/40/60/80 damage absorb at 2/3/4/5 pieces, +7 evasion at 3 pieces, +5 critical evasion at 4 pieces and 7% Nullity/Razbadge resistance at 5 pieces.
  • A monster walking toward you briefly stops when hit by your or your mercenary's basic attack, as in original A3. To prevent stun-locking, this can happen at most once per tile.
  • A revived shue now comes back at full HP instead of 30 HP.
  • Buffs now keep their real effect after a map change, not just their icon. This covers HP Absorber, MP Absorber, Razbadge and Reverse Cure.
  • Skills can no longer be used again before their reuse delay has passed, and cannot be used while your personal shop is open.
  • Nullity: after the target's buffs are removed, the target's HP is reduced to its new maximum HP. Nullity and Razbadge can no longer hit targets out of range.
  • Stored potions are now sized to your full maximum HP and MP, including buffs, so each one heals more. Mercenary MP potions are sized to your mercenary's MP, and they are no longer used up when no mercenary is summoned.
  • When retrieving stat points, the requirements of an equipped quiver no longer count against you.
  • Hourly and daily events now run on the hour. Daily resets happen at 12:00 AM IST instead of 12:30 AM.
  • Server-wide unique drop announcements now cover every way a unique can drop.
  • The automatic chat ban for spamming now stays when you reconnect. When you have more than one chat ban, the remaining time shows the longest one, and "Chat Ban Released." is shown once, when all of them have ended.
  • Players get the countdown messages again before a maintenance shutdown.
  • Locked items can no longer be remodelled, and mercenaries no longer drop locked items when they die.

Bug Fixes

Gameplay
  • Fixed monsters that could freeze in place until they were killed.
  • Fixed a monster sometimes being counted twice in one area after a long server uptime, which gave double rewards from area skills.
  • Fixed characters that died while moving appearing to walk on to where they were heading.
  • Mercenaries are no longer placed on top of other characters or monsters when recalled or when changing maps.
  • Fixed a mercenary with no weapon sometimes showing another mercenary's weapon glow.
  • Fixed the "next quest" button in quest 612 ("He wants me to bring the heart from Khainen's room."). It now continues to the next quest.
  • Archer armour requirements corrected to match the other items of the same tier: Kokinos set and Epithymia now need 414 STR / 401 DEX, Petra set and Pathos now need 444 STR / 431 DEX.
  • Fixed the camera getting stuck after reviving.
  • Fixed pressing Esc not reopening the "Returning to town." box after it was cancelled.
Trade, Shops, Storage and Hideouts
  • Taking a shue back out of a trade no longer cancels the whole trade. If adding a shue is refused, both players are now told and both trade windows close.
  • The same shue can no longer be listed twice in a personal shop, and shop signboards no longer show leftover letters from an older, longer name.
  • Fixed an issue that could duplicate items when saving personal or hideout storage.
  • Fixed an exploit in the hideout auction "buy it now" option.
  • Moving or selling more Woonz than you can hold now shows a proper message instead of failing silently.
  • Hideout messages now say "Hideout" instead of "Agit".
Server Stability
  • The server now uses a faster and more precise timer, so the game responds better when the server is busy.
  • Fixed many server crashes and freezes, including ones in hideouts, Derby ticket exchange, clan battles, chat bans and monster area skills.
  • Fixed memory leaks so the server stays stable over long uptimes.
Client, Text and Tooltips
  • Fixed a crash when the connection was lost at the login screen, character select or loading screen.
  • The mouse no longer drops movement at low frame rates, and the mouse wheel no longer scrolls windows on your other monitors while you play.
  • Chat emojis no longer overlap, and market shop titles show emojis again. The typing cursor in text boxes is placed correctly.
  • When a chat word is blocked, the message now shows which word it was.
  • Fixed the camera stuttering at the top and bottom of its tilt range, and window animations stuttering after the game has been running for a long time.
  • Fixed the stats layout in the Inspect window and the heading of the Monster Race window.
  • NPC and quest dialogue lines no longer run past the edge of the conversation window, and clickable answers now match the size of their text.
  • Messages that showed garbled Korean or Chinese characters are now in English, including the shutdown countdown, Divine Judgement, mercenary seal, NPC trade and warp error messages.
  • Helmet tooltips now show the % on "Decrease HP/MP Use in Skills".
  • Passive skills: the Robust and Intelligence icons were swapped and are now correct. The learn text now shows how much each level adds, and Enchanter level 3 correctly shows +1%. The Woonz cost shown for Non-elemental Mastery level 6 (130,000,000) and Greed level 6 (1,000,000,000) has been corrected; the amount charged was always correct.

Thank you for your support and patience.

A3 India Team