Absorb & Balance

By Ninel. A ReSkate plugin that makes big drops, grinds and manuals something you have to hold.

Absorb big drops

• Press RB or LB (F on keyboard) right before you land a big drop.
• A timing bar shows up under the skater while you fall. The higher the drop, the tighter the window.
• On time: CLEAN. A bit off: SKETCHY, the upper body is thrown off balance, the knees bend, then the skater catches it.
• Too early, no absorb, or a drop above the realistic height: you bail with your momentum.
• The grade also shows in the game's own trick ticker.

Balance on grinds and slides

• Tony Hawk style needle on grinds, slides and stalls. Hold it in the middle with RB / LB (Left / Right keys).
• The needle falls faster the closer it gets to the edge, the body sways on its own, the rail kicks now and then.
• 50-50s and 5-0s are steadier than boardslides and lipslides. Speed helps, stalls are easy.
• The upper body leans toward the side you are falling: front / back when you stand along the rail, left / right on a boardslide. Mirrored in fakie and switch.
• Near the edge the arms flail with the game's own animation.

Balance on manuals

• The same needle, nose to tail, as soon as the game counts your manual (no false starts on slopes or ollies).
• RB / LB (Up / Down keys) to hold it. Nose manuals are harder, cracks in the ground shake you.
• The back folds toward the side you are falling, in regular, fakie and switch.
• Lose it and you slide off the nose or the tail with your momentum.

Settings

Everything is on the plugin's page in the ReSkate menu (Insert > Plugins):

• HUD opacity, timing / balance bar, grades.
• Drop heights and timing windows.
• Difficulty, smoothness and lean amount for grinds and manuals.
• Arms, lean, auto balance (the needle never falls).

Ctrl+H toggles the whole HUD. The body is measured once while you ride: the leans start working after a few seconds on the board.

Notes

• The legs and feet stay the game's: the plugin only moves the back, head and arms, and lowers the hips a little during a sketchy.
• No controller vibration: ReSkate does not offer it to plugins.
• The "trojan" message on the plugin's menu page is a joke: there is no trojan and nothing to pay. The whole plugin is one readable Lua file (plugin/main.lua).

Changelog

1.3.87

• Choose the absorb input in the Absorb tab: buttons, left stick forward (like pumping), or both. F keeps working on keyboard.
• The Absorb tab reminds that the buttons can be rebound on ReSkate's Binds page.

1.3.86

• Grade the last press before touchdown and use the native downward impact speed for the timing window.
• Show timing guidance in the air and display the verdict only at contact.

1.3.85

• Require confirmed deck contact before applying procedural leg offsets. Keep native footwork when the support foot moves outside the deck.

1.3.84

• Let the game handle foot placement when a Sketchy landing triggers a native powerslide or tic-tac.

1.3.83

• Highlight procedural landing reactions, one-foot saves, and weight transfer in grinds in the package description.

1.3.82

• Load modules in small groups and warm landing clips individually. Stop clip discovery after the cache is ready.
• Retry the support toe sample and correct the remaining shoe penetration at the ankle.
• Remove unused graphics and development traces, and refresh the English package description.

1.3.81

• Keep the one-foot support inside the deck and account for raised ends when checking shoe clearance.

1.3.80

• Smooth the support leg and compensate for ankle height lost during blending.
• Restore a wider one-foot catch while retaining extra clearance in a deep crouch.

1.3.79

• Blend out interrupted Sketchy poses while the next drop starts.
• Keep the support leg in sync with the smoothed pelvis and limit raised-knee height during a deep crouch.
• Reserve one-foot recovery for drops up to 1.55 m.

1.3.78

• Increase one-foot reach slightly and soften the return to the board.
• End sketchy recovery and hand control back as soon as the board leaves the ground again.

1.3.77

• Start the one-foot pose on confirmed board contact when the skater is grounded.
• Increase the reach slightly and extend the blend back to the native stance.

1.3.76

• Make the one-foot catch more compact, absorb through the support knee, and open the arms earlier.

1.3.75

• Start one-foot recoveries from the recorded touchdown and show a stronger initial loss of balance before the counterweight.
• Preserve impact direction when a skater snapshot is temporarily unavailable.

1.3.74

• Vary one-foot recovery timing and amplitude, and delay the upper-body catch behind the initial slip.
• Use toe clearance to place the rear foot, and filter the powerslide input during one-foot recovery.

1.3.73

• Increase upper-body counterlean during one-foot Sketchy recovery and relax the free ankle during the lift.

1.3.72

• Anchor rear support to the moving deck and send the free foot farther out over the edge.
• Start earlier, blend back longer and require a stronger landing mismatch for one-foot catches.

1.3.71

• Slow down one-foot recovery and increase the counterbalance.
• Require more landing misalignment and guide the rear foot inward and above the deck.

1.3.70

• Give one-foot recoveries a wider weight transfer and a smoother leg pose. Require a clearer off-axis landing.
• Request the straight-landing tic-tac on one in three eligible Sketchy landings.

1.3.69

• Smooth the front-foot lift and let the skater stand taller over the rear foot with stronger counterbalance.
• Request a short tic-tac on straight Sketchy landings while rolling.

1.3.68

• Start one-foot recovery earlier, lift the leading foot and shift weight onto the rear foot.
• Request a brief native powerslide on faster off-axis Sketchy landings when the player is not steering.

1.3.67

• Make one-foot Sketchy recoveries easier to test with a higher, longer free-foot lift and a slightly lower trigger threshold.

1.3.66

• Restore the softer knee compression and use it on more mid-impact Sketchy landings.
• Trigger one-foot recovery on smaller lateral and heading errors. Increase free-foot lift.

1.3.65

• Trigger deep knee compression on a wider range of large Sketchy drops, including less direct impacts. Keep the same maximum compression.

1.3.64

• Let the knees buckle faster on hard sketchy drops and shift the pelvis toward the loaded side before recovery.
• Give the wheel-compatible recovery a stronger forward fold on the hardest impacts.

1.3.63

• Increase knee compression on heavier sketchy landings and add brief one-foot catches on light, off-centre impacts.
• When Truck Tightness and Wheel Size owns the pose, play a short impact-driven sketchy clip through ReSkate’s animation player.

1.3.62

• Keep manual steering active when the wheel mod owns the skater pose for ride height.

1.3.61

• Give the companion mod its own compatibility tab with an explanation, credit and official install address.

1.3.60

• Optional read-only integration with Truck Tightness and Wheel Size.
• Add a switch and credit with the official Thunderstore address in Tweak.

1.3.59

• Reuse joint reads within each update, including sketchy arm clearance checks.
• Use lightweight movement state reads instead of full telemetry in the main update.
• Reduce idle vibration file traffic and poll relay status once per second.
• Keep active vibration changes responsive and preserve the existing animation and balance settings.

1.3.58

• Replace accumulated development notes with a consistent English description.
• Repackage the 1.3.56 gameplay without the experimental camera fix or modified ReSkate runtime.
• Preserve the existing Ninel / Absorb_and_Balance package identity and saved preferences.

1.3.56

• Dedicated clean landing recovery, adapted to drop height and stance.
• 80 procedural sketchy recovery profiles driven by landing impact and alignment.
• Smooth recovery transitions and arm clearance checks.
• Standard ReSkate support; no modified runtime required.