Development diary / 5 October 2026
A Better Everyday Experience in ProtoMU
Hello everyone,
It has been a while since the July development diary. Since then, a lot of work has gone into the parts of ProtoMU you use every time you play: your equipment, the launcher, travelling between maps, the camera and the numbers on your screen.
Some of these improvements took several rounds of fixes and real in-game feedback. Here is a proper catch-up on what has changed, and what is ready for the next round of testing.
At a glance
- Three new wings that now appear and equip correctly in-game.
- A compact M-key travel menu with grouped map destinations.
- Clearer text, corrected camera zoom and a cleaner client folder.
- Improved HP display and separate HP, Mana and stamina numbers.
- More consistent equipment visuals and clearer NPC information.
- Lost Tower, respawn HP and F12 follow-ups prepared for testing.
Three new wings
Wings of Conqueror, Conqueror Steel and Elysium have been added to ProtoMU.
Getting them working took more than adding their appearance. Early versions had problems with missing textures, incorrect stats and characters being unable to equip them. Those issues were worked through over several rounds of testing, and the wings now appear and equip correctly in-game.
Each wing uses its own model, textures and inventory space. Their options were developed around Wings of Soul as the reference, with increasing Defense across the three new additions.
Their appearance, glow and how they are shown on characters have also been part of the work. Thank you for your patience while these additions took shape.
Equipment that looks consistent
We've been reviewing equipment that looked noticeably different from how it should.
Some shields had unusual green or pink colors. Box of Heaven also had an unwanted pink tint, and several armor sets had pieces that didn't match the rest of the set.
The visual work has covered shields, weapons, wings, Dragon set pieces and other armor sets, using the classic 99b item appearance as a reference where appropriate.
The goal is simple: when you collect and wear a set, its pieces should look consistent. Your helmet, armor, pants, gloves and boots should feel like they belong together.
Previously corrected items and the fixed GM Shop items have been preserved during the later reviews.
A simpler way to launch the game
We've worked on making the client easier to use from the moment you open its folder.
Players now have a clear starting point: Play ProtoMU.exe. The supporting game files are organized inside the Game Files folder, so there's less confusion about which program to open.
Alongside that cleanup, we've addressed launcher compatibility, windowed startup and problems affecting the rendering options.
The launcher also retains its automatic Windows high-performance GPU preference for the game.
These changes are intended to make starting ProtoMU straightforward while keeping the features already available in the working launcher.
Travel through the M menu
You can now open a small travel menu by pressing M while playing.
Choose a map, then select the area you want to visit. For example, opening Lost Tower shows its available floors together, making it easier to find your destination without remembering and typing each move command.
Clicking a destination uses the server's existing travel system. You won't see chat input opening or commands being typed on-screen, and the usual travel requirements still apply.
After the first version, we made the menu and its buttons smaller so it takes up less space. We also corrected the cursor behavior so the familiar MU cursor remains visible over the menu.
A small addition that makes moving around ProtoMU much more convenient.
Clearer text and camera controls
Text readability has been one of the more noticeable client problems we've worked on.
At larger window sizes, the text looked fine. When the window became smaller, parts of letters could disappear or become difficult to read. The latest approved text fix has improved that behavior while retaining the working client's window settings.
Camera controls have also received attention. The mouse-wheel zoom direction has been corrected, and the rendering distance has been extended when zooming out.
This helps make a wider view more useful, although monsters and players still depend on what the server sends to your client.
The aim is to make the game easier to read and look around without changing the familiar feel of MU.
Correct health displays
Characters with high stats revealed a problem with the old health display: it couldn't correctly handle some larger HP values.
We've updated how full health values reach the client, then followed up with fixes to the red health gem and the number shown beneath it.
HP, Mana and stamina numbers have also been repositioned beneath their own indicators. This prevents the Mana and stamina values from running into each other when the numbers become longer.
These changes focus on showing the values correctly. They don't change the existing HP formulas or rebalance your class.
The unusually large Swell of Life bonus was identified during this work and will be handled separately.
NPC names and welcome messages
We've also been improving the information players see during ordinary gameplay.
Buffer NPC labels have received attention so you can tell which buff an NPC provides, instead of seeing a confusing Quest NPC name.
Quest and Sky Event NPC presentation have been included in the client review as well.
The welcome message has been personalized to read: You are connected ProtoMU. Powered by Admin.
These are smaller changes, but they matter. You should be able to walk up to an NPC, understand what it offers and recognize the server you've joined.
Server status and event times on the website
You can now find a clearer server status panel and a separate Event Timers box beside the website content. The status refreshes automatically, and the event box shows the next scheduled starts for Sky Event, Happy Hour, Party Bonus, Lucky Jewels and Lucky Mixes.
Times follow the server clock shown in the panel. These are scheduled starts, rather than confirmation that an event is currently running. For Blood Castle and Devil Square, keep an eye on the in-game opening announcements.
Prepared next: Lost Tower leveling spots
A new Lost Tower spawn setup has been prepared for deployment and testing.
The proposal adds 25 spots with 576 monsters across the seven Lost Tower floors, at the requested coordinates. The spots include Shadows, Poison Shadows, Cursed Wizards, Death Cows, Devils, Death Knights, Death Gorgons and a Balrog.
Some groups are set to stay in place while idle. Others have a wider wandering range to give their spots more movement. Stationary monsters can still chase during combat.
To make room within the server's monster limit, four surplus Stadium spots were removed. The remaining Stadium setup still contains every monster species that was there before.
Event spawns, NPCs and the other map entries are preserved from the previous proposal. This update is prepared and still needs to be checked after deployment.
Prepared next: respawn HP and F12 restoration
Two follow-up fixes are ready for in-game testing.
The first addresses a problem where your health display could remain at 0 HP after you died and respawned. The new server patch refreshes the display with your character's actual health after respawning.
The second addresses restoring the game with F12. The game window could return but stay behind whichever application you had been using. The prepared client update requests focus so the restored game comes to the front and accepts keyboard input.
Both fixes have been compiled and packaged. Their final behavior still needs to be confirmed in-game before they're described as fully verified.
We'll continue working through these remaining details so the improvements feel reliable during normal play.
Thank you to everyone following the progress and helping report what feels wrong in-game. If you find another issue, tell us what happened and include a screenshot where possible. It helps us fix the actual problem.
Admin
ProtoMU
