Absorb & Balance

By Ninel - version 1.3.16

Time your landings, balance grinds and manuals, and let the board react to the skater's weight. Choose between three presets, from demanding timing to more forgiving gameplay.

Presets

The minimum height determines when absorbing becomes necessary. The maximum height is the plugin's allowed drop limit. The timing window gets smaller as the drop approaches that limit. These are gameplay settings, not a guarantee that every landing can be saved.

Preset buttons are at the top of the menu. Each balance category supports LB/RB or the left stick. Circular balance uses the stick; Medium and Fun select single-axis balance. Changing a preset value marks the profile Custom. Saved named presets are updated with this release; Custom profiles retain their settings until another preset is selected.

Landings

Press RB, LB or F before touchdown:

• Clean: press within the final clean portion of the timing window.
• Sketchy: press within the rest of the valid window, triggering a recovery.
• Too Early, No Absorb or Too High: invalid landing, requesting a native wipeout.

The final verdict uses the actual touchdown and replaces the HUD prediction. Native recovery outputs follow that verdict. Blending with the game's own landing animation still needs in-game verification.

Open Absorb > Timing zones to adjust the minimum and maximum timing windows and the clean-zone percentage. Height settings support tenths and can be displayed in metres or feet.

Grinds and manuals

• Independent category switches and control choices.
• Native ReSkate board tweaks with adjustable strength and smoothing.
• Progressive grind friction near the front/back edges, with a separate on/off switch. Added friction releases below 1.2 m/s.
• Soft manual exits based on the direction and speed of the lean.
• Directional controller vibration through the included local XInput relay.

Menu and HUD

Open Insert > Plugins > Absorb & Balance. Separate tabs contain Tweak, Absorb, Grinds, Manuals and Display settings.

The menu uses the original large ASCII cat background. The in-game HUD keeps its blue/purple palette, landing verdicts and optional reactive ASCII cat. The balance circle has adjustable position and background opacity, and replaces the balance bar while active. Ctrl + H toggles the HUD.

The plugin cannot selectively hide the game's Flick-It visualizer, which may remain visible beneath a transparent circle. The retired custom menu and 3D preview are not included.

Installation and updates

Use the existing Thunderstore package Ninel / Absorb_and_Balance. Its internal name is unchanged so this archive updates the existing package. Package files are directly at the ZIP root.

For manual installation, extract the package into ReSkate/Mods/Ninel-Absorb_and_Balance, then reload the plugin. Custom preferences remain saved.

87 simulated scenarios passed. Physical tail contact, slowdown strength and animation appearance still require in-game testing.

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.