Part 2: Ultimate FRHD NSB Ghosting Guide

Part 2: The Ultimate FRHD Non-Spacebar Ghosting Guide
Contents
Part 1
1. Introduction: What you will find in this Guide (Universal to both parts)
2. Ghosting in General: Getting the Basics
3. The Specifics: Ghosting in Detail
Part 2
4. Ghosting: Anything and Everything
5. Powerups: Ghosting Smart
6. Advanced: Pro Ghosting Techniques
7. Conclusion: Bringing it all Together

Part 1 of the Guide: https://community.freeriderhd.com/threads/14208/

4. Ghosting: Anything and Everything
Quick Rundown
You're about halfway through this guide, but there is still more to get through, and this is the really important stuff! As briefly mentioned in the Quick Rundown of the last section, ghosting has 4 main disciplines, fast ghosts, vehicle ghosts, auto cut ghosts and trickghosts. All of these are ordered in relevance. Practising in all of these categories is vital to becoming a developing or top nsb player (except trickghosts don't worry about those so much). Without further ado, let's get going!

Fast Ghosts
Brief: Without realizing it, a normal jump track ghost, no matter how long or hard, is simply a classic fast ghost. It is by far the most common category to ghost. Not much is needed for a fast ghost, but here is what I recommend to get you started.

1. Although you're not trying to get a featured ghost as that is not the point of this guide, find a respected track with a certain length, type or difficulty related to your current skill to go full out on.
2. Scout the track, find where the stars are at, any possible shortcuts that come to mind and techniques you have learnt from this guide to aid some parts of the track.
3. Test the ride, you don't have to complete the track though, just see how it rides.
4. One of the more important steps, check out whoever is first on the track at that time, get ideas or elaborate on them on how you could get a ghost faster than them.
5. Ghost! Note though, that this is not going to be your final ghost, just make a ghost and see how it plays out.
6. Make any final observations of the track/your first ghost to make it better. Then, simply improve and improve till you can't anymore to your ability.

As you get better and better, you will start to see results. You will no longer need to follow all these steps and you will be able to get ghosts faster and of higher quality. Fast ghosts pave the way for every other ghosting category essentially with the steps you follow.

Vehicle Ghosts
Brief: To count as a vehicle ghost, a Vehicle Powerup must be used for a high percentage of a track and is essentially a Fast Ghost but with a Vehicle. I could go on all day about them and their properties but this guide is already long as hell! So, following the steps of Fast Ghosts, I will give you a quick rundown of each vehicle and how to ghost with them without getting too complicated or extended.

Helicopter
Basics: By far the most used, helicopter is something every good nsb player should play around with and know. It isn't necessarily the hardest to learn, but requires some practice to get used to it. A quick rundown of its properties: it has a large propeller that when holding 'up', will rise upwards. A smaller directional propeller on the end of the helicopter acts as a pivot point. When you press 'Z', the opposite direction that the propeller is facing kinda acts like an anchor and makes the heli move faster. This is also possible as when you lean left and right, the heli will move in that direction no matter what direction the smaller propeller is facing but it makes the heli move faster. Using the same steps for fast ghosts, it is usually wise to scout the track you're ghosting first for certain obstacles to avoid so you can go around them with notice and ease.

Advanced: Important to note that the heli can sometimes be hard to control, so it is important to take it slow sometimes as the heli can die when one of the propellers hits a physic line. The heli has a hitbox, meaning you can use the shorter extended propeller for reaching stars in hard or tight spaces. This can be utilized with a very nifty trick but it is very difficult to pull off. Although usually stars on tracks utilizing heli sometimes may have stars in tight spaces, some are put on the other side of physic lines on purpose or as a possible shortcut. You can bypass the physic line believe it or not without dying, but it may take a while to get right. Go right up next to the wall with the cabin of the heli just hitting it (without dying, will take a while). Once you line up with the star and the cabin slightly pokes out the other side in part of its hitbox where it can't die, hit 'Z' quickly twice to get the star and bring the smaller propeller back from the wall before you move and die.

Blob
Basics: The blob is probably the most interesting vehicle due to it's weird physics. The blob is the only vehicle that can move forward without having to hold 'up' (by holding 'right' or 'left'). However, you go faster by holding both 'right' or 'left' with 'up' as the blob shrinks. 'Z' is not needed to control the blob as you just use 'left' and 'right' to control the direction you're going. Besides that, the movement is straightforward. By releasing 'up', the blob can hop which is useful in getting over obstacles. The brake simply stops the blob and it stops it hard and fast. The whole blob is a hitbox, so although along with the truck, it is invincible to physic line hits, a bomb will kill it.

Advanced: The blob is something that requires skill and luck. Although it is good to play around with it, don't get annoyed if something isn't working for you. However, some very helpful but harder tips here will sure spice things up. You're probably aware of this, but the blob can go through physics lines if they're open or go into one due to speed. This can be utilized for creating shortcuts. With the use of 'up' and 'left + right', you can move your way through these physic lines and exit through the other end for time saves. A similar purpose of hooking onto these lines is also vertical instances of this case. However, it takes much more skill and you'll probably fail a lot xD. The brake plays a huge role in this, and also using 'right or left' to maneuver up the ledge or around this line to progress in a ghost.

A very important thing to note is the direction of certain lines. If the blob has contact with a vertical ramp or set of lines, the contact to a physic line is reversed. You're probably thinking "what the hell is TPlacella saying?" Well, if the blob hits an upside-down line, simply hold 'up' and the opposite button in the direction you're going. For example, you're going right so you hold 'up' and 'left' to stick to that hanging physic line. Note it doesn't always have to be upside down, just on an angle where you have to change inputs to go faster. Sometimes it may not even work but it certainly helps or is purposefully part of a track.

Truck
Basics: The truck is by far the easiest to learn, maybe because it's got similar controls to the bike. But besides being invincible to crashes and only bombs can kill it, it isn't always fun using this powerup. Although the truck is super cool to mess around with, once you get on the roof/one end of the truck, there is almost no way of getting back the right way up unless you have enough speed or a jump/ledge to fix your position again. Similar to the blob, holding 'right' and 'up' makes the truck go faster, but you must hold 'up' to accelerate the vehicle. Be careful using this though, excessive use can cause front flips and clipping on jumps, losing heaps of time in ghosts and overall control. The wheels and the cabin can be pierced by physic lines and can easily get the truck stuck. Although rare, try to avoid this.

Advanced: Never use the brake to slow the truck down as you would do with the bikes! Even with the enhanced brake, you will flip out. When you want to slow down on a jump to hit it low, let go of 'up' and press 'Z' at the same time if you want. If this is not possible depending on where you want to brake, I highly recommend enhancing braking forwards, you will flip out a bit but the brake will be done nicely with good control. Another important thing to note is don't over-commit on the back wheel, like with braking, the bike and the truck have different properties in the wheels. Keep it flat when doing fast ghosts and you should be good. Similar to the blob, the truck can get caught in lines. Use 'Z' and 'up' to move through this in cases for shortcuts.

Balloon
Basics: Balloon is probably the simplest vehicle powerup. Just like the helicopter, holding 'up' will make the balloon move up and forward but you sometimes need to let go so you don't go too high and control the balloon so you don't hit something. The balloon is so simple to learn as it can only go in one direction, right. By also holding 'right' the balloon will move faster which quite a lot of people don't know about. As always, a hit from a bomb will kill the balloon, but its death hitboxes to physic lines are just the balloon itself, the basket can land safely with control and low force onto a line or obstacle. Similar to the fact that the balloon only goes in one direction, it cannot be flipped. No matter how hard you suck at balloon or even try, it is not possible, even with boosts I believe but the balloon will get pushed backwards (from right to left).

Advanced: Balloon tracks are usually straightforward or kinda difficult. There isn't much to it, simply having good control and speed while using the balloon. But how do you control speed besides going faster with the 'right' arrow key? Well, it so happens, that if you hold 'left' the balloon can slow down. This is perfect for avoiding those tight spaces but continuing to move as the balloon doesn't stop unless the basket hits something. Only use it if needed, it is still important to maintain speed and only use it when stuck in tight spaces as it may affect another part coming up. The balloon is something you shouldn't pay too much attention to as not many tracks use the powerup and it's quite simple to learn.

Auto Cut Ghosts
Brief: You're probably thinking, what's the difference between an auto cut and a shortcut. Well, a lot. Shortcuts are cuts in a normal track, whereas an auto cut occurs in automatic/hold-up tracks. Although this part will be short, I highly recommend giving this a go as it is nifty to learn. Sometimes, tracks are impossible to cut because of bombs, the speed, the direction of the star etc. However, usually on one-star tracks, it is possible. Using the same universal steps for fast ghosting, we'll slightly change the outline of how to ghost these tracks.

1. Find a respected track, one which has a certain length, type or difficulty related to your current skill to go full out on that offers a great auto cut.
2. Scout the track, find where the stars are at, usually only one, any possible shortcuts that come to mind, and techniques you have learnt from this guide to aid some parts of the track.
3. Test your theories, you don't have to complete the track though, just see how it rides or if it's possible.
4. One of the more important steps, check out whoever is first on the track at that time, get ideas or elaborate on them on how you could get a ghost faster than them. Do they use the same method as you?
5. Ghost! Note though that this is not going to be your final ghost, just make a ghost and see how it plays out.
6. Make any final observations of the track/your first ghost to make it better. Then, simply improve and improve till you can't anymore to your ability, or, find a new route for the auto cut.

Most of the time, these auto cuts in tracks are easy to spot but extremely hard to pull off. As we go further into this guide, you will learn much harder and more advanced techniques, and practice what you know/can do. Most of the time even, you will miss where a possible cut is on an automatic track, but you have the skill to pull it off. Much sure it is a respected cut, not something too easy where you then need to find another track or one that isn't possible or slower than the intended automatic route. More techniques to aid in ghosting like this will be talked about later in this guide.

Trickghosts
Brief: If you want to learn to trickghost, I'm sorry, we're not going to talk about it much here. Usually, trickghosts are spacebarred and that is not what we're talking about here in this guide. However, here are some steps to get you started.

1. Find a track that isn't too hard and has some nice flat or sloped areas to flip/do wheelies/tricks on. Select a bike appropriate for it, usually BMX as it can be controlled better in wheelies and tricks etc.
2. Quickly scout the stars and the path you're going to take. It could be long to incorporate more tricks, it could be straight to the star while maintaining a wheelie/trick.
3. Get inspiration from others on the track or other tracks. What tricks did they do and how can I do them/pull them off here?
4. Get started! Most of the time, the first ghost you get is the best as then you will have to log onto an alt or make the ghost shorter to record another one.
5. Some simple tricks that any nsb player should be able to pull off to get started: Wheelies on the back and front wheel or stoppies, brake flip-off ramps, constant flips with control etc.

That's pretty much it. It just takes inspiration, a good track and the skill to pull off a trickghost. Not much else needed to be said. Trickghosting is usually left to be done with spacebar but with the right knowledge and skill, nsb players should have no problem getting decent trickghosts.

5. Powerups: Ghosting Smart
Quick Rundown
You're getting closer to the end of this guide! Only a couple more sections before you've made it to the end. We've already talked about the main principles of ghosting certain tracks with techniques and ghosting disciplines. It is time to think a bit smarter when it comes to ghosting, which refers to the knowledge and utilization of the Powerups. Some of them are insignificant and you shouldn't worry about them all. The Powerups include: Goal (Star), Boost, Gravity, Slowmo, Bomb, Checkpoint, Antigravity and Teleport. It is important to take note of how each works and possible ways to use them to your advantage to make your ghosts faster and better.

Star
The Star or Goal is the objective/s of every single completable track in FRHD. There isn't much to it, the more stars there are, the harder the track is most of the time. The positioning of the stars also plays a role in the difficulty of tracks. Most of the time, you shouldn't pay too much attention to the stars. Sometimes you will have to scout out the stars and that's pretty much it. Besides finding routes of getting them as fast as possible, the only thing worth noting is being able to hit the stars with the bike's hitbox as smooth and fast as you can. Typically, it isn't that difficult, but that's all there is about the Star.

Boost
The Boost Powerup is sometimes overused in crappy tracks, either ruining or enhancing the ride for faster ghosts. On generally good tracks, it is always good to take into account the boosts that align parts of the track. Some of these can be skipped by enhanced braking or utilized to go faster. Leaning back when going over boosts makes you go faster. If done with the 'lean back and forward technique', ghosts start to become much cleaner. It is also worth mentioning that not all boosts need/were intended to be used in the ride of tracks. Sometimes taking that extra second longer to either hit or miss a boost can make your ghosts faster and smoother. In other words, boosts make or break a ghost. The longer the time you hit a boost, the faster you go, so hitting the boost at the very end will propel you forward at greater speeds.

Gravity
Gravity can be tricky to get your head around and master. Although you know how it works, a simple sentence describing it could be "Gravity changes/resets the bike's trajectory." 'Changes' refers to when the gravity is placed at a different angle than straight down at 270 degrees. 'Reset' is when a second gravity powerup following the first one is 270 degrees. As gravity is like a constant boost which is also much smoother, a wider range of shortcuts with it is possible. Note though, intentions such as these only suit shorter tracks, the longer the track, the harder it will be to reset the bike's trajectory. Most of the time, it is always better to follow the route of gravity instead of skipping it. But sometimes, brake flipping can help skip unnecessary gravity parts or fly further for longer to possible stars. I won't go on about gravity much longer, techniques and other things behind it are more complex.

Slowmo
Probably one of the more useless Powerups, Slowmos wreck ghosts as they were intended to amplify the ride of tracks, and make it more interesting and creative. They significantly slow down the speed/time a bike travels, 'slow motion' as the name suggests but shorter. Whilst they are usually hated by ghosters alike, dealing with them properly can give you an upper edge. Hitting slowmo jumps low with the 'lean back and forward' technique makes it possible to hit jumps not only faster but get rid of the slow-motion effect. Whilst sticking close to the ground where slowmos are present works, sometimes they can occur in midair. Unless speed is required to get over an obstacle/jump, sometimes it is better to skip them. Just brake like you've been taught from this guide and you should have no problem getting faster ghosts. Brake flipping also works to go over slowmos.

Bomb
The Bomb. Hit it with whatever vehicle and you're gonna explode. In this section, not much about it will be explained and more complex stuff will appear in the final worded section of this guide. Most of the time, bombs are placed to challenge people when ghosting or block off a restricted area. Usually, you'll be able to avoid hitting them as they're sometimes a minor obstacle. But on the rare occasion, they were purposefully spammed or put in a challenging spot to make ghosting that little harder. When this happens, when you're scouting a track quickly, incorporate bomb locations. As mentioned, although they can be annoying/challenging, they were usually put there on purpose and are most of the time easy to avoid. Just conventionally deal with it with the techniques explained in this guide. More will be talked about it in the next section.

Checkpoint
Ahh, the humble Checkpoint. Most of the time, you should be good enough to not need them or sometimes they're put in the wrong spots on tracks. Some tracks have no checkpoints on purpose instead of people not bothering/wanting to put them in their tracks. In the rare case you need/want to use a checkpoint, you simply press 'ENTER'. Usually, if I die during a ghost, I restart instead of using the checkpoint. There are exceptions for much harder tracks such as trials where using checkpoints with 'ENTER' and 'BACKSPACE' to go back to certain checkpoints is necessary. I wouldn't dive into or use checkpoints much if I were you.

Antigravity
Antigravity is by far the least used Powerup in FRHD. It's kind of a more mixed and controlled version of boost and gravity combined. Although if used well in a track, is extremely cool and fun, most of the time it is misused or challenging to ghost with. To reset the trajectory of the bike, a 270-degree gravity powerup does the trick. Besides that, once you hit the antigravity, the original built-up speed and the speed/direction off physic lines keep you going in a fast/different direction when the powerup is active. You don't need to know how it works as you won't stumble upon it much. But in cases where you have to maneuver your way through obstacles, just lean back when needed, accelerate at the right points and mind your head by maintaining control with 'left' and 'right'.

Teleport
Teleport is a fun Powerup to use. When in the editor, by holding down the left click and dragging the powerup, you can position it from wherever you held the click first to when you release it. As it suggests in its name, when you go through one of these powerups, you teleport to its connecting one. There isn't much to it, so I wouldn't go diving for more information after reading this as I'm not going to explain much. Most of the time, just follow the teleports, don't try to skip them unless you tested them and figured out an insane cut. The only other important thing to add is depending on the speed, location and angle you hit the first teleport, you will fly or hit differently each time depending on what's on the other side. Besides that, there is not much to the teleport so don't bother trying to perfect what I mentioned as you won't stumble upon it much.

6. Advanced: Pro Ghosting Techniques
Quick Rundown
You've almost made it! Now, this last part of the guide is for all of those pro nsb players. In this short section, tubing, simple bomb dodging and line hooking will be briefly explained to wrap up this extended guide with a bit more complex terminology and techniques to add to your ghosting arsenal. Well, without another question, let's wrap this up!

Tubing
Tubing is a very hard technique to learn. Although we're going to explain simple/straight line tubing and not curved, it is still very complex and difficult to learn. A tube is classified as a tube when the head of the rider is higher than a certain set of gaps or in this case, tubes. To get through such gaps. A small but definite run-up is needed. This means the head must be lower than the top of the tube when leaning back with speed from however long the run-up is. Just as you enter the tube while holding down 'up', press 'Z' and hold down 'left' too to not die. If you want to go faster, spam 'Z' at even intervals while still holding 'up' and 'left' to move even faster. Once you learn to do this, it isn't that hard. But it is one of the most difficult skills to learn quickly, taking many hours to get right. Such tubing is typically done with the MTB.

With BMX, the same could be done but there is a faster way. Spamming 'Z' in a tube with BMX doesn't work. So, using the same start-up with MTB, lean back but as you enter the tube, press 'Z' and then change inputs from the 'left' arrow key to the 'right' arrow key while still holding 'up'. This will make the bike ride flat if done precisely, this is made easier with spacebaring. BMX tubing is harder to learn but more beneficial than MTB tubing. I suggest learning MTB first before BMX. Similar principles can be put into roof riding, where pressing 'Z' while holding 'up and using 'left' and 'right' can make the bike move faster and stay alive in tight gaps.

Bomb Dodging
There isn't much to bomb dodging unless you learn the complex version where you can go through bombs with the middle of the bikes where there is no hitbox to die. Stuff like that is teachable to nsb players but not in this as it is too difficult to learn quickly and is rage-inducing (heaps of resetting ghosts). However, simple bomb dodging is much easier to learn. First of all, bounce dodging is rather easy, only requiring bouncing skills from previous sections in Part 1 of this guide to launch over the set of bombs. Brake flipping can also be used, great when the bomb is on the edge of ledges or when you need heaps of height for another obstacle. Flat bomb dodging is a bit more difficult but once you get the inputs right, it shouldn't be too hard. With a run-up, give some room to the bomb before leaning back. once you do this, brake and let go of buttons before readjusting before landing over the bomb/bombs. you can also dodge hanging bombs by leaning back and then braking to kinda limbo under them. Those techniques are easier said than done, so practice is essential.

Line Hooking
Probably the most versatile advanced ghosting technique in this guide, line hooking can change the whole flow of ghosts. Briefly mentioned about vehicle ghosting, you can hook onto lines with the bikes too, but only through the wheels and not the centre of their frames. If you manage to hook onto one, you must know the certain directions you will go. Hooking with the back and front wheel and facing left will make you move right and then vice versa. If you hook with just the back wheel, you typically go faster with less control. Hooking with just the front wheel does nothing and you can easily die. In certain trial tracks, stars are put on lines that you need to hook onto. In other cases not mentioned, hooking with a brake at the end of a set of lines can make the bike follow backwards but when you hold 'up', the bike gains speed again and goes forward. I won't go into much detail about hooking onto lines but it is essential for auto cuts and going faster in tracks which are possible with it. You can also go faster on rails by pressing 'Z' before you enter and exit them.

7. Conclusion: Bringing it all Together
Well, you finally made it to the end, good on you! Nothing else needs to be said. A quick recap of each of the sections and what you will gain from them.

1. Introduction
2. Getting started in proper ghosting and running over the basics.
3. Discovering the inputs required for high-quality ghosting and how to use them properly with the respected bikes.
4. Learning the different ghosting disciplines and what is required from them.
5. Figuring out how each Powerup is used and how to ghost smart with them.
6. Finally, learn a few more complex ghosting techniques to finalise your skills.
7. Conclusion (you're here now )

This guide took so many weeks, days and hours to make so please give both parts of the guide a like and answer the short poll. But most importantly, please make a great benefit from this, you can learn a lot from this extended guide which will aid you in your nsb ghosting in the future. Also, please comment on your thoughts and what else I should include as more is always wanted. Before I go, a video recapping almost everything I said will be below the conclusion so go check that out for visuals of what we talked about. Thank you and see you later!

TPlacella (TP)

VIDEO COMING SOON...

 

why not just make 2 posts in 1 thread

 

You could of just typed it underneath the first post just like they do in the Official Ghost Thread

 

ill be waiting for the moment where we see tplacella livestream long curved tubes flawlessly nsb

 

Tell that to Mr..a lol

 

He did it for The Official Featured Ghost Thread

 

Whatever

 

Your getting too attached

 

just saying. either way you still have to click a button to get to the next part