All details surrounding the Character Art and Modernization Update coming to SWTOR in Game Update 7.6 Galactic Threads. Releasing December 2024.

Character Update

SWTOR 7.6 Galactic Threads was teased back at the end of the 7.5.1 livestream for Galactic Season 7, only hinting at what is coming in text form. On the 10th of October, SWTOR released a youtube video showing off the upcoming Public Test announcement for 7.6 Galactic Threads.
SWTOR 7.6 will release on December 2024 however the story will not be available until at least January 2025 due to quality control delays.

During the signoff for the SWTOR 7.6 Galactic Threads livestream, Broadsword casually dropped a huge bombshell that ALL human and humanoid aliens (Chiss, Mirialan, Zabrak etc) characters and NPCs across the entirety of SWTOR will be getting a graphical makeover, which players have been demanding since Knights of the Fallen Empire released in 2015.

Developer Update

The harsh appearances of the character update on the PTS appear to be bugged, the developers are looking into it and will be putting out more information soon!

Update Trailer Video

During the livestream, the SWTOR developers released an Art Modernization video, featuring several slides towards the end of the new Character art modernizations.

For a comprehensive guide to ALL of the Content coming in 7.6 Galactic Threads, check out this master guide:

Character Art Modernization

Miraluka

Rattataki

Zabrak

Human

Mirialan

Chiss

Male Chiss
Credit: ThaddeusPondgull

Latest News

• 
  SWTOR PvP Season 9 Guide
  SWTOR PvP Season 9 Gladiators of the Outer Rim Guide, Rewards and Achievements.
• 
  SWTOR Dantooine Stronghold Guide
  How to unlock and ecorate the Dantooine Stronghold in SWTOR!
• 
  SWTOR Master the Fight: Mobile Market Bundle
  Everything you need to know about the limited time Mobile Market Bundle in SWTOR!
• 
  SWTOR Dantooine Dynamic Encounters Guide
  A complete Guide for every Dynamic Encounter on Dantooine in SWTOR.
• 
  SWTOR 7.8 Pursuit of Ruin Update News
  Everything about SWTOR 7.8 including Story, Dantooine and new content.
• 
  STAR WARS: The Old Republic – Enter the Fight Bundle
  Everything you need to know about the Limited-Time Enter the Fight Bundle in SWTOR.

Other Graphics Updates

Ilum Comparison Video

New Galaxy Map Icons

The first noticible change to 7.6 on the PTS is the addition of the new Galaxy Map icons representing active Dynamic Encounters across the Galaxy. Dynamic Encounters rotate in and out every 15 minutes and repeat often, so if you miss one you’ll be able to play it again soon.

You can see which Dynamic Encounters are active on each planet by the icons at the bottom of the travel screen of each planet.

New Statues of the Sith have been added to Korriban, Dromund Kaas, the Imperial Fleet and everywhere else in SWTOR. Roughly half of the old metal statues of the Sith have been upgraded with higher quality and reflective metal textures as well as a new face that looks much closer to Emperor Vitiate. Others remain unchanged.

New Korriban

Korriban has had a complete overhaul to its ambience and atmospheric lighting across the entire planet. Both the upper Valley of the Dark Lords around the Korriban Academy as well as the ambience in the Lower Wilds has all been drastically changed.

The brown slave statues and walls of Korriban have been replaced with brand new, high detailed orange walls and statues.

The Lower Wilds has also recieved some drastic ambience changes to both the desert as well as the entrances to the many tombs across the planet. There are also visible clouds in the distance behind the mountains of the Lower Wilds now.

The entrances to many tombs have had new large statues holding spears added, with a much brighter orange fog added across the entire Valley of the Dark Lords.

The insides of many Tombs across Korriban have all been changed. The stone floors and statues of Sith have all been replaced with much higher resolution and poppier colors. While many of the wall details such as sith writing and stone walls have also had their cartoony graphics replaced with realistic writing and stone walls.

Many tombs, such as the Tomb of Naga Sadow have been made darker and their purple lighting replaced with dark red. The floors, walls and Sith statues in the tombs have also all been graphically updated. The sith writing on the walls has also been graphically updated to be clearer and stand out.

Hoth Update

The Ice wall and mountain textures on Hoth have been updated. The old blue ice texture has been updated to have a white sheen and a high detailed blue reflective texture when viewed up close.

There are several new rock, snow and metallic wall texture updates available across Hoth as well. The overall blinding white seems to have been reduced by the new texture quality in some areas.

New Tython

Tython has recieved several new subtle detail changes. The Jedi Temple now has high resolution stone floor and wall textures. Several Jedi have also been updated to have Yellow or Orange lightsabers around the Jedi Academy.
All Jedi Padawan’s training sabers now glow with yellow light on the environment and nearby NPCs, where as before they just had a thin white light.

All trees, dirt and grass textures and their shadows on Tython have been updated with high detailed flowers, moss and mud patches that didn’t exist before.

Distant Mountains on Tython have been updated with more detailed and shaded cracks and crevices, the moss and grass along the mountain edges has been made brighter and placed in new areas.
New high detailed trees and leaves have been added across all of Tython, including much more realistic tree trunks and shadows on the ground that are also animated to move in the wind.

Several buildings and dead trees across the Gnarls and the Forge towards the South of Tython have also recieved graphical updates, including the Tomb of Rajivari with a much higher resolution Jedi symbol painted on.

New Ilum

The planet map for Ilum has been updated, many of the ice spikes on the map have been removed, which better help see the actual playable areas of Ilum, most notably around the top edges of the Gree Event zone on the North-West corner of the map.

SWTOR has also added yellow roads to the Gree Event zone area which should help with navigation.

Not only has Ilum been updated with new Ice and Snow graphics, but there have been several major lighting updates across the entire planet that give the planet a brighter feeling in the light and a darker feeling in the shadows.

New Areas, Quicktravel and Taxi Points have been added to the abandoned West Ilum Ice Shelf which was removed after the release of 1.0 Ilum PVP in 2011.

As you can see by the above image, new roads and pathways have literally been cut into the ice to allow players access to the Western Ilum Ice Shelf PvP zone from 2011. This area was previously cut off from players unless they travelled through a secret tunnel inside the Gree PVP event area.
The Western Ilum Ice Shelf is now a PvP-free area and has both quicktravel and medical respawn bases for both Republic and Imperial players.

Both Republic and Imperial home bases on Ilum have also been updated with new graphics as well as a new Instanced area!

The doorway appears to lead players into a new Operation (raid) and is found opposite the entry point to the Battle of Ilum and the False Emperor Flashpoint doorways inside both the Republic’s and Empire’s base on Ilum.