# Skate 3 Rust Engine A Rust and Bevy skating project built from Skate 3 reverse-engineering research. Includes skating, tricks, grinds, offboard movement, difficulty settings and `.skate` map support. Gameplay parity is still a work in progress. ## History Before this rewrite existed, **dumbad** spent more than two years reverse engineering Skate 3 and building the tools needed to understand and work with it. That meant countless hours digging through undocumented file formats, animation data, and game interaction systems, then testing those discoveries in the original game. Much of that work is collected in [DumbadsSkate3ModdingTools](https://github.com/Ethanw05/DumbadsSkate3ModdingTools), including tools for custom maps, meshes, collision, challenges, and DLC. That research laid the groundwork for this project. Chasm later worked on a recompilation and a custom renderer based on dumbad's earlier renderer work, before moving into the Rust/Bevy rewrite. The rewrite's development time tells only part of the story: the knowledge and tools it relies on took years of work to establish. ## AI usage AI coding tools were used to develop this rewrite, but none of it would have been possible without dumbad's extraordinary effort to reverse engineer the original game. The AI had years of hard-earned research and working tools to build on. Describing the project as simply “AI rewriting Skate 3” leaves out the work that made it possible in the first place. AI helped turn that knowledge into a new implementation; it does not replace credit for discovering how the game works. This is still a work in progress, and using original assets or showing working tricks does not mean every system behaves exactly like the original. ## Play [Download Experimental](https://github.com/SK8-ENGINE/skate-3-rust-engine/releases/tag/experimental). Successful `main` builds replace this prerelease. Choose **Latest** in Updates for experimental updates; **Stable** is the default. Extract the Windows release ZIP and run `skate3rust.exe`. Select your Skate 3 Xbox 360 ISO, or select `default.xex` in an extracted game folder. Keep its `data` folder alongside it. Setup prepares the skater, animations and all disc maps, then starts University. The original scoring and session-marker HUD assets are also exported automatically during setup. No Blender, Python or Rust installation is needed. ISO extraction needs internet access. The first conversion can take a while. Use a compatible gamepad to play. SDL3 supports Xbox/XInput, PlayStation, Switch and generic HID controllers; XInput remains available as a Windows fallback. Escape opens graphics, difficulty and map settings. Maps can be switched without restarting the game. **Skate 3 assets are not included.** Your converted files stay in the `data` folder beside your executable. Each freshly unpacked copy runs its own setup; it does not adopt another installation. In-place updates refresh only changed asset groups. ## Build Requires Windows, Rust with the MSVC toolchain, and LLVM installed in its default location. Run `BUILD.bat` to build, then `PLAY.bat` to launch the test world. `PLAY.bat` opens your saved map (University by default); use the in-game menu to switch maps, or drag a `.skate` file onto `PLAY.bat`. An SDL3-compatible gamepad is required for gameplay; Escape opens difficulty and graphics settings. Development builds use a prepared asset set in `assets/private/` or the installed asset directory. `scripts/Build-Release.ps1` builds the portable Windows package and requires Python 3.13. GitHub Actions builds `main` automatically; numbered releases are published separately. Custom animations and climbing support remain available, but no custom clips are shipped. The included format-demo map is original procedural content. Implementation notes are in [`docs/`](docs/). Patched Bevy dependencies and their licenses are in [`vendor/`](vendor/). This is an unofficial project, not affiliated with EA. ## Advanced diagnostics Windows builds support opt-in [performance timeline capture](docs/performance-tracing.md) through the `--trace` CLI option, including optional GPU pass diagnostics. ## License Copyright (c) 2026 dumbad and the Skate 3 Rust Engine contributors. Unless otherwise noted, this project's original code is licensed under the [GNU General Public License version 3 only](LICENSE) (`GPL-3.0-only`). You may use, modify, and distribute it, including commercially. If you distribute a modified version or a binary of the covered software, you must also make its corresponding source available under GPLv3 and preserve the required notices. Third-party code retains its existing licenses and copyright notices, including the vendored Bevy crates and tooling under `tools/vendor/`. This license does not grant rights to Electronic Arts' game code, data, assets, or trademarks, or to content supplied by other map and mod authors.