The volunteer team behind Star Wars Galaxies Restoration has released A New Dawn, a free update built from dozens of small ideas rather than one headline feature. PC Gamer reported the release on 24 October, the day the patch arrived for the 2003 MMO.
A new client and a rebuilt Kashyyyk
At its centre is a game client with DirectX 12 support, which switches on volumetric fog, clouds and atmosphere, a new water shader, longer terrain draw distances and upscaling through DLSS, FSR and XeSS, according to the report. Kashyyyk, the Wookiee homeworld added in 2005, returns with new and reworked instances and a rebalance of its original content.
Restoration also rebuilt the Scout and Ranger professions with fresh traps and advanced creature tracking, added mounted combat for pets and mounts, and raised the top tier for player cities. The team told PC Gamer it had grown by 13 members and asked each one to improve a corner of Galaxies they loved.
None of this makes it an official Star Wars release. Restoration is a community project with no publisher behind it, free to download from its own site, and the setup steps are worth reading before installing.
