True Darkness
Make nights feel like nights. Inspired by the True Darkness Minecraft mod: realistic, weighty night-time skating where lights feel impactful. Early release.True Darkness
Early release of the True Darkness plugin for ReSkate, inspired by the True Darkness Minecraft mod.
Make nights feel like, nights. Immersive night-time skateboarding!
The goal of this mod is to make night-time more realistic, more weighty and overall make lights feel impactful like real life. This mod has been through many iterations and is one I personally use, so it is constantly being tested and improved on. Expect bugs and improvements. Right now the functionality is basic but it does include some sliders and toggles for customization. Everything can be accessed in the mod menu by hitting Insert in game and clicking on the True Darkness tab under PLUGINS.
Disclaimer: I am using assistance from Claude, all testing done by me.
If you have a suggestion, comment or want to report a bug, join the official ReSkate Discord server and search "[Plugin] True Darkness Early Release" in the "mod-releases" channel, and I will get back to you.
Requirements
ReSkate 2.1.2 or newer (Plugins Beta).
How to use
- Install with the ReSkate launcher (or extract the zip into
Mods\in your ReSkate folder). - In game, set the time of day to night in ReSkate's world menu.
- Press Insert > PLUGINS > True Darkness and switch it on. Ctrl+F8 switches it on and off while you skate (change the key on ReSkate's Binds page).
Note: True Darkness only works properly when the map is set to night. On public servers you may not control the time of day, so results can vary there.
Settings
| Setting | What it does | Default |
|---|---|---|
| True Darkness | Locks exposure so the game stops brightening the dark, and turns off the sky's ambient light, bounced light and shadow lifting. Off gives the game's own lighting back. | Off |
| Adaptive exposure (experimental) | Off (locked): brightness stays exactly where the EV sets it, like a camera in manual mode. Steady and consistent, so the dark stays dark everywhere. On (auto): brightness adjusts to what you're looking at, like a camera on auto. It adapts as you move between light and dark, but it can shift or "breathe" as the scene changes. Set how dark with Adaptive darkness. | Off |
| Exposure (EV) | Used when Adaptive exposure is off. 2 to 14. Higher is darker, lights included. | 8 |
| Adaptive darkness | Used when Adaptive exposure is on. How much darker than the game's own auto exposure, -6 to +2. Lower is darker; each whole step halves the light, so -2 is a quarter as bright. | -2 |
| World brightness | Fine-tunes how bright the world looks after the exposure, a bit like a brightness setting. Below 0 is darker, above 0 brighter. Small steps make a visible difference, so start between -0.10 and +0.10. 0 leaves the game's own. | 0 |
| Black sky | Stops the sky from glowing. | On |
| Edge darkness | A dark vignette at the screen edges, 0 to 95%. | 50% |
| Overall dim | A flat dim over the whole picture, 0 to 85%. It darkens lights too, so keep it low. | 0% |
| Contrast grade | Deeper, wider shadows. It also shifts colours a little (more saturated and warmer). | Off |
| Distance haze | Thickens the map's own fog so far hills and buildings fade in layers, like night air. It works from each map's own fog, so it suits every map. The map's own fog comes back when it's off, or when True Darkness is off. | On |
Every slider has a Reset button, and Reset all settings to defaults (under the True Darkness toggle) puts every setting back at once; True Darkness itself stays on or off. In the game's menus (the pause menu, settings and the customization screens), the game's normal brightness comes back so your skater and clothes show, and it goes dark again when you leave. Replays stay dark, and edge darkness, dim and the contrast grade show in them too: leave them on to record the same look you skate with, or switch them off for a clean replay.
Console
darkness on|off, darkness ev <2-14>, darkness adaptive on|off, darkness adapt <-6-2>, darkness world <-1-1>, darkness sky on|off, darkness haze on|off, darkness grade on|off, darkness vignette <0-95>, darkness dim <0-85>, darkness status
Notes
- Settings change one at a time, a quarter of a second apart, because changing several lighting settings at once can crash the game.
- When the mod is switched off or the game closes, ReSkate gives every setting back.
- skate.'s street lamps mostly light the ground through baked lighting, so exposure darkens lamps and darkness together. Real per-lamp lighting is being worked on.
- Only changes your own game; other players see their own lighting.