Quickstart

This page walks you through a first plugin: a mod folder, its two manifests, and a script with a console command and a draw handler. It uses the console, overlay and skater.read permissions.

What you make

A plugin called Speedo. It draws your skater’s speed in the top left of the screen, and adds a console command, speedo, that shows or hides it.

Make the mod folder

In the game’s folder, open Mods and make a folder for the plugin, such as speedo. This folder name is the plugin’s id: plugin list, plugin reload and the log all use it.Use plain ASCII for the name: letters, digits, spaces, _, - and ., not starting with a dot, at most 64 characters.You end up with this layout:

Mods/
  speedo/
    manifest.json
    reskate-plugin.json
    plugin/
      main.lua

Write manifest.json

manifest.json is the mod’s own description, the one Thunderstore packages carry. Its name matters to plugins: it is the plugin’s message channel, so the same plugin on every player’s game finds itself under it, whatever its folder is called.

{
    "name": "Speedo",
    "version_number": "1.0.0",
    "website_url": "",
    "description": "Shows your speed in the top left of the screen.",
    "dependencies": []
}

Write reskate-plugin.json

This file makes the mod a plugin. It names the API version, the entry script, where the plugin runs and the permissions it needs.

{
    "api": 1,
    "entry": "plugin/main.lua",
    "side": "client",
    "permissions": ["console", "overlay", "skater.read"]
}

console lets it add a command and print to the console.
overlay lets it draw.
skater.read lets it read the skater’s speed.

The manifest covers every field.

Write plugin/main.lua

The entry script runs once when the plugin loads. It registers what the plugin does: here a console command and a draw handler.

-- Speedo: your speed in the top left of the screen. `speedo` shows or hides it.
local shown = true

reskate.console.command("speedo", "Shows or hides the speed readout", function(args)
    shown = not shown
    reskate.console.print("speedo: " .. (shown and "on" or "off"))
end)

reskate.on("draw", function(d)
    if not shown then return end
    local skater = reskate.skater.get()
    if skater == nil then return end -- no skater: the menu, or a load
    local kmh = skater.speed * 3.6     -- speed is in metres per second
    d:rect(vector.create(40, 200, 0), vector.create(240, 250, 0), {colour = "#000000a0", fill = true, rounding = 6})
    d:text(vector.create(56, 210, 0), string.format("%.0f km/h", kmh), {colour = "#ffffff", size = 26})
end)

reskate.log("Speedo loaded")

A few things to know about this code:

reskate.on("draw", ...) runs its handler every tick. The handler gets d, the drawing object, and draws with d:rect, d:text and the rest. Drawing works only inside a draw handler.
Screen positions are vectors, vector.create(x, y, 0), in pixels from the top left.
reskate.skater.get() returns nil when there is no skater, so check for it.
reskate.log writes to ReSkate’s log, not the console. reskate.console.print writes to the console.

Switch it on

A mod folder that mods.json does not list is on, so a new plugin needs nothing more: ReSkate looks for plugins every 2 seconds, and loads a new one at the next game tick. You do not restart the game.If you switched the mod off earlier, switch it on again in your mod manager.

Check that it runs

Open ReSkate’s console and run:

plugin list

You see a line like this:

speedo: running, 0.3 MB, 0.021 ms a tick, 1 command

Load into a level. The readout shows your speed. Run speedo in the console to hide it, and again to show it.

Edit it and watch it reload

Change something in plugin/main.lua, such as the text size from 26 to 40, and save the file. Within 2 seconds ReSkate notices the change, unloads the plugin and loads it again. The log says:

Plugin speedo reloading: its files changed.

The readout shows the new size. You never restart the game while you work on a plugin.

Read its errors

Errors go to ReSkate’s log, logs/ReSkate.log beside the game (or %LOCALAPPDATA%\ReSkate\logs when that folder cannot be written). The plugin’s own lines (what it logs, its errors, why it stopped) start with its id in brackets.Try it: change skater.speed to skater.sped and save. The draw handler now raises an error each tick, and the log shows each one with where it happened, followed by a traceback:

[speedo] the draw handler: plugin/main.lua:13: attempt to perform arithmetic (mul) on nil and number

After more than 5 errors in 10 seconds, ReSkate stops the plugin:

[speedo] stopped: more than 5 errors in 10 s

plugin list shows it as stopped (more than 5 errors in 10 s). Fix the line and save: the change loads it again.

If the plugin does not show up in plugin list at all, the mod is off or its folder has no reskate-plugin.json. If it shows as stopped right away, its reason says why: a mistake in the manifest, a missing entry file, or an error as the entry script ran. A mistake in reskate-plugin.json shows in the log as Plugin speedo was not loaded: <why>.

Next steps

Events

React to ticks, levels, tricks, bails and players.

Permissions

Find the permission for what you want to do next.

Limits

Learn what stops a plugin, so yours never is.

Overlay

Everything a draw handler can draw.

Get started

Core API

Interface

The skater and the world

Multiplayer

Game

Guides

What you make

Next steps

Events

Permissions

Limits

Overlay

​What you make

​Next steps

Events

Permissions

Limits

Overlay

What you make

Next steps