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SlamFrames 3.1 — Party Performance & Resource Bars

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@Slamrish Slamrish released this 25 Sep 13:40
· 3 commits to main since this release
3.1
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SlamFrames 3.1

SlamFrames 3.1 focuses on Party Frame stability, performance, and usability while retaining all of the features and fixes introduced throughout the 3.0 release line.

This release is recommended for anyone currently using SlamFrames 3.0.x.

What's New in 3.1

Party Frame Performance Improvements

The Party Frame system has received a substantial performance pass.

Previous builds could generate large bursts of work when joining a party or during combat, particularly when health, resource, aura, portrait, and roster events fired close together.

3.1 changes Party Frames so updates are handled much more selectively.

Improvements include:

  • Health changes update only the affected party member
  • Aura changes update only the relevant debuff state
  • Mana, Rage, Energy, and Focus updates no longer rebuild the entire Party Frame
  • Repeated party roster events are coalesced instead of forcing repeated full refreshes
  • Party initialization is staggered to reduce large frame-time spikes when joining a group
  • Party portraits are constructed incrementally instead of generating every portrait slice at once
  • Repeated Blizzard Party Frame suppression work has been reduced
  • Duplicate party events during the initial group refresh are ignored where possible

These changes greatly reduce the chance of hitching during combat and when joining a party.

Party Resource Bars

Party Frames now support resource bars for:

  • Mana
  • Rage
  • Energy
  • Focus

The resource bar appears directly below the party member's health bar.

Resource colors automatically update based on the unit's power type.

A new Party setting allows the resource bar to be enabled or disabled:

Party → Resource Bar: ON / OFF

Resource updates are handled independently from the rest of the Party Frame so rapidly changing Rage or Energy does not cause unnecessary full-frame updates.

Improved Party Join Behavior

Joining a group could previously cause a noticeable frame-time spike while all four Party Frames were initialized at once.

3.1 now spreads that initialization work across multiple rendered frames.

This includes portrait construction and other expensive Party Frame setup work.

The result should be a much smoother transition when joining or changing groups.

Fixes Carried Forward from 3.0.1

Normal Mouse Behavior

The Normal click-casting option correctly restores traditional unit-frame behavior.

This includes:

  • Normal left-click targeting
  • Normal right-click context menus
  • Player right-click menu
  • Party member right-click menus
  • Raid member right-click menus
  • Target right-click menus
  • Target-of-Target interaction
  • Trade
  • Whisper
  • Inspect
  • Follow
  • Invite
  • Party management options where applicable
  • Leave Party options from the Player frame

SlamFrames includes a Vanilla-compatible fallback for environments where the newer secure-frame API is unavailable.

Custom spell and item click-casting assignments continue to work normally.

Fixes Carried Forward from 3.0.2

Click-Casting Defaults

Fresh installations no longer include a preconfigured spell in the click-casting fields.

Left, Right, and Middle Click spell/item fields now begin blank across all modifier layers.

Using Reset All also clears modifier-aware spell and item assignments correctly.

Ornate Cast Bar Cleanup

The finalized Ornate cast bar artwork is included in 3.1.

The Light and Dark skins use their approved individual artwork, with the unwanted internal guide/divider lines removed.

The cast bar retains:

  • Orange cast progress
  • Spell icons
  • Cast timer
  • Latency display
  • Pushback handling
  • Interrupted / Failed feedback
  • Channels
  • Bandages
  • Gathering
  • Professions
  • World interactions
  • Ornate flavor text

The Cast Bar settings page also retains the layout fixes introduced during the 3.0 hotfixes.

Existing 3.0 Features

SlamFrames 3.1 continues to include the full 3.0 feature set.

Player / Target / Target-of-Target

  • Custom SlamFrames artwork
  • Independent positioning
  • Adjustable scale
  • Adjustable frame width
  • Portrait zoom
  • Health and resource information
  • Name and level controls
  • Light and Dark themes

Party Frames

  • Custom SlamFrames artwork
  • Adjustable scale and width
  • Portrait controls
  • Health information
  • Resource bars
  • Heal prediction
  • Click casting
  • Light and Dark themes
  • Test Mode

Raid Frames

Supports:

  • 5-player groups
  • 10-player raids
  • 15-player raids
  • 20-player raids
  • 40-player raids

Available layouts include:

  • 8 Groups Across
  • 4 + 4
  • 2 Groups Across

Raid settings include:

  • Standard and Compact modes
  • Adjustable scale
  • Adjustable frame width
  • Member spacing
  • Horizontal group spacing
  • Group-row spacing
  • Raid opacity
  • Optional group headers
  • Percentage, numerical, or hidden health text
  • Class-colored names
  • Main Tank indicators
  • Debuff preview indicators
  • Adjustable debuff glow size
  • Light and Dark themes
  • Test Frame support

Compact Raid Frames

Compact Mode removes the large portrait layout and focuses on fitting more raid information into a smaller area.

Compact Frames support:

  • Heal prediction
  • Click casting
  • Class-colored names
  • Main Tank indicators
  • Light and Dark themes

Click Casting

Party and Raid Frames support click casting.

Spells and usable items can be assigned directly to mouse buttons and modifier combinations.

Bindings can also be left on Normal to preserve standard unit-frame interactions.

Heal Prediction

SlamFrames includes incoming-heal prediction with HealComm support and local prediction fallback.

Incoming healing is displayed directly on supported health bars.

Diagnostic commands are available:

/sf healpredict status

/sf healpredict test 2000

Main Tank Indicators

Raid members assigned as Main Tanks receive a separate visual treatment.

Main Tank indicators work with both Standard and Compact Raid Frames.

4K + 1080p Artwork

SlamFrames includes dedicated artwork modes for:

  • 4K displays
  • 1080p displays

The 1080p mode uses separate compatible textures and adjusted geometry rather than simply shrinking the 4K assets.

Both modes support Light and Dark themes.

Changing artwork resolution requires a UI reload.

Per-Character Settings

SlamFrames settings are stored independently for each character.

This includes:

  • Frame positions
  • Scale
  • Party configuration
  • Raid layouts
  • Compact Mode
  • Raid opacity
  • Click-casting assignments
  • Cast Bar settings
  • Aura settings
  • Skins
  • Artwork resolution

Existing profiles are migrated automatically when upgrading.

Special Unit Frames

Rare, Elite, Rare-Elite, and Boss portrait decorations remain supported.

Special frames integrate with:

  • Light Skin
  • Dark Skin
  • 4K artwork
  • 1080p artwork

Test Frames

SlamFrames includes Test Frames for configuring layouts without needing to join a party or raid.

Raid testing supports:

  • 5 players
  • 10 players
  • 15 players
  • 20 players
  • 40 players
  • Simulated debuffs
  • Simulated Main Tanks
  • Class-colored names
  • Standard Mode
  • Compact Mode

Installation

  1. Download SlamFrames-v3.1.0.zip.

  2. Close World of Warcraft.

  3. Delete or move the existing:

    World of Warcraft\Interface\AddOns\SlamFrames

  4. Extract the ZIP.

  5. Place the included SlamFrames folder inside:

    World of Warcraft\Interface\AddOns\

  6. Your final path should look like:

    World of Warcraft\Interface\AddOns\SlamFrames\SlamFrames.toc

  7. Start or restart the game and make sure SlamFrames is enabled.

Do not place the ZIP itself inside the AddOns folder.

Do not merge SlamFrames 3.1 into an older SlamFrames folder.

Completely replacing the addon folder ensures old development or test files cannot interfere with the current release.

Your SavedVariables are stored separately and should remain available after replacing the addon folder.

SlamFrames 3.1 is a complete standalone package and does not require any previous version of SlamFrames to already be installed.

Opening SlamFrames

Use:

/sf settings

to open the configuration window.

Compatibility

SlamFrames is designed specifically for the OctoWoW / Vanilla 1.12-style client environment, including SuperWoW / Nampower functionality used by the project.

It is not intended for Retail WoW or modern Classic clients.

Download

Download:

SlamFrames-v3.1.0.zip

from the Assets section below.

For normal installation, use the packaged SlamFrames release ZIP rather than GitHub's automatically generated Source Code archives.

Thank You

SlamFrames 3.1 is primarily a stability and performance release.

A large portion of this update came from real-world Party Frame testing, particularly the performance issues that only became obvious once multiple party events, portraits, health updates, and resource updates were happening together during actual gameplay.

Thanks to everyone testing the addon and reporting these edge cases.

More improvements are planned.

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