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Image reference (original game): Skate 3 · original-game artwork, provided by IGDB. Image rights remain with their respective owners. This illustrates the referenced original game, not the actual visuals of this rewrite or mod.

Source maintainer: coachfreak · Revision: 96ba67adda67 · Catalogued: 2026-10-12

Source license: MIT · LICENSE · Article: Source README (format adapted)

The source README follows, with formatting adapted for this site and images replaced by source links. Feature, completion and testing claims belong to its authors and have not been independently playtested here. The Traditional Chinese translation was prepared with AI assistance.

README image：skate.live

Skate 3 online again, for skate3recomp on Mac

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Build from source ·
How it works

Skate.live brings back online freeskate for the skate3recomp macOS release. EA’s Skate 3 servers are gone. Instead, one player’s Mac runs a small replacement server and everyone’s game connects to it. No EA account is needed. It works on a local network or over Tailscale with friends anywhere.

Unofficial. Not affiliated with or endorsed by Electronic Arts, the skate3recomp project or Microsoft. Skate.live doesn’t include or modify any game files.

You need

  • skate3recomp 2.0.2 for macOS, installed by you from its releases, plus the game files from your own Xbox 360 copy of Skate 3, as described in skate3recomp’s README. Skate.live doesn’t install it for you.
  • An Apple Silicon Mac.
  • For the host: Python 3. /usr/bin/python3 comes with the Xcode Command Line Tools (xcode-select --install).

Install

  1. Download Skate.live.dmg from Releases, open it and drag Skate.live (and Skate.live Server, if you plan to host over Tailscale) into Applications.
  2. The apps aren’t notarized, so macOS blocks the first launch. Right-click → Open → Open, or allow them under System Settings → Privacy & Security.

Skate.live looks for skate3recomp.app in Applications, ~/Applications and ~/Downloads/Skate3Recomp-macOS/. If it isn’t there, you can choose it in the launcher.

Play on the same network

  1. Everyone opens Skate.live and sets Your Name, which is what the others see online.
  2. The host picks Host and presses Launch Skate 3. This starts the server too. Pressing Start first lets friends’ launchers find it early.
  3. Friends pick Join. The launcher finds the host’s server by itself and shows the host’s name; Enter address lets you type it in instead. Then press Launch Skate 3.
  4. In game, go to Xbox LIVE → Online Challenge Map → Freeskate. The host picks Create Private Freeskate, and friends pick Join Public Freeskate to land in the host’s session.

Everyone the server has seen shows up as a friend automatically, so there’s no friend list to manage.

Play over Tailscale

For friends who aren’t on your network. Everyone joins the same tailnet.

  1. The host opens Skate.live Server. It runs the server on the host’s Tailscale IP in a Terminal window and shows that IP. Closing the window stops it.
  2. Everyone, the host included, picks Join in Skate.live, types that IP and presses Launch Skate 3.

Network and permissions

  • macOS may ask whether Python and skate3 may accept incoming connections. Allow both.
  • The launcher may ask for local network access to find the host. Allow it.
  • Ports:
    • The server uses TCP 42127 and port 80. It also announces itself on UDP 42128.
    • Gameplay goes directly between players over UDP. The port is in lan.log.
  • Logs are in ~/Library/Application Support/Skate3 LAN/:
    • lan.log: the game’s network layer
    • server.log: every server request, on the host only

Status

Tested: two games on one Mac joined the same private freeskate. Playing across separate Macs still needs more testing, so please open an issue with your logs if something breaks.

skate3recomp 2.0.2 sometimes starts with a black screen, even without Skate.live. Quitting and starting again helps. Details are in docs/TECHNICAL.md.

Build from source

You need Homebrew LLVM (brew install llvm), the Xcode Command Line Tools, skate3recomp 2.0.2 in /Applications, and a skate3recomp checkout with submodules for the headers:

git clone --recursive https://github.com/mchughalex/skate3recomp
SKATE3RECOMP=/path/to/skate3recomp ./build.sh   # dist/Skate.live.app, Skate.live Server.app, Skate.live.dmg

Set SKATE3_APP=/path/to/skate3recomp.app if it isn’t in /Applications.

Credits

  • skate3recomp and its rexglue SDK, which make Skate 3 run natively.
  • Skateboard3Server by Hall of Meat (MIT), whose Blaze message shapes the server follows.

License

MIT, see LICENSE. Skate 3 is © Electronic Arts.

License and provenance

The README and its translation retain MIT terms. Changes comprise translation, links and formatting. Editable Markdown, the original README, LICENSE and NOTICE files are included in the linked bundle. This grants no rights to the original games, their assets or trademarks.

LICENSE

MIT License

Copyright (c) 2026 coachfreak

Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy
of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal
in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights
to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell
copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is
furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:

The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all
copies or substantial portions of the Software.

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR
IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY,
FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE
AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER
LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM,
OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE
SOFTWARE.