Cheat Engine (CE) is a proprietary,

source available Source-available software is software released through a source code distribution model that includes arrangements where the source can be viewed, and in some cases modified, but without necessarily meeting the criteria to be called open-source ...

freeware Freeware is software, most often proprietary, that is distributed at no monetary cost to the end user. There is no agreed-upon set of rights, license, or EULA that defines ''freeware'' unambiguously; every publisher defines its own rules for t ...

debugger A debugger or debugging tool is a computer program used to test and debug other programs (the "target" program). The main use of a debugger is to run the target program under controlled conditions that permit the programmer to track its execut ...

created by Eric Heijnen ("Byte, Darke") for the

Windows Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for ...

operating system. Cheat Engine is mostly used for cheating in computer games and is sometimes modified and recompiled to support new games. It searches for values input by the user with a wide variety of options that allow the user to find and sort through the computer's memory. Cheat Engine can also create standalone

trainers Sneakers (also called trainers, athletic shoes, tennis shoes, gym shoes, kicks, sport shoes, flats, running shoes, or runners) are shoes primarily designed for sports or other forms of physical exercise, but which are now also widely used fo ...

that can operate independently of Cheat Engine, often found on user forums or at the request of another user. While it is source-available, it is not

free and open source software Free and open-source software (FOSS) is a term used to refer to groups of software consisting of both free software and open-source software where anyone is freely licensed to use, copy, study, and change the software in any way, and the source ...

, as its license contains restrictions on redistribution.

Features

Cheat Engine can view the disassembled memory of a process and allow the addition and/or alteration of game states to give the user advantages such as infinite health, time, or ammunition. It also has some

Direct3D Direct3D is a graphics application programming interface (API) for Microsoft Windows. Part of DirectX, Direct3D is used to render three-dimensional graphics in applications where performance is important, such as games. Direct3D uses hardware ...

manipulation tools, allowing vision through walls "Wallhacking" and zooming in/out "FOV changes", and with some advanced configuration, Cheat Engine can move the

mouse A mouse ( : mice) is a small rodent. Characteristically, mice are known to have a pointed snout, small rounded ears, a body-length scaly tail, and a high breeding rate. The best known mouse species is the common house mouse (''Mus musculus' ...

to get a certain texture into the center of the screen. This is commonly used to create

aimbot Cheating in online games is the subversion of the rules or mechanics of online video games to gain an unfair advantage over other players, generally with the use of third-party software. What constitutes cheating is dependent on the game in ...

s. However, the main use for Cheat Engine is in single player aspect of games, and its use in

multiplayer games A game is a structured form of play, usually undertaken for entertainment or fun, and sometimes used as an educational tool. Many games are also considered to be work (such as professional players of spectator sports or games) or art (suc ...

is discouraged. As of version 6.1, Cheat Engine can produce game trainers from the tables. While trainers generated in this way are typically very large for their intended purpose, generally used for testing purposes, some have been released by trainers groups as "final" versions, and even some popular sites are fully based on CE trainers due to the ease of trainer creation with CE. However, despite their popularity, CE trainer maker has not been updated since its implementation in version 6.1—it is largely unsupported, and emphasis is given on using

Lua Lua or LUA may refer to: Science and technology * Lua (programming language) * Latvia University of Agriculture * Last universal ancestor, in evolution Ethnicity and language * Lua people, of Laos * Lawa people, of Thailand sometimes referred t ...

to generate trainers. Even the trainer maker itself uses Lua scripts to generate trainers.

Implementations

Two

branches A branch, sometimes called a ramus in botany, is a woody structural member connected to the central trunk of a tree (or sometimes a shrub). Large branches are known as boughs and small branches are known as twigs. The term ''twig'' usually ...

of Cheat Engine exist, Cheat Engine

Delphi Delphi (; ), in legend previously called Pytho (Πυθώ), in ancient times was a sacred precinct that served as the seat of Pythia, the major oracle who was consulted about important decisions throughout the ancient classical world. The oracl ...

and Cheat Engine Lazarus. Cheat Engine Delphi is primarily for

32-bit In computer architecture, 32-bit computing refers to computer systems with a processor, memory, and other major system components that operate on data in 32- bit units. Compared to smaller bit widths, 32-bit computers can perform large calcula ...

versions of

Windows XP Windows XP is a major release of Microsoft's Windows NT operating system. It was release to manufacturing, released to manufacturing on August 24, 2001, and later to retail on October 25, 2001. It is a direct upgrade to its predecessors, Wind ...

. Cheat Engine Lazarus is designed for 32 and 64-bit versions of

Windows 7 Windows 7 is a major release of the Windows NT operating system developed by Microsoft. It was released to manufacturing on July 22, 2009, and became generally available on October 22, 2009. It is the successor to Windows Vista, released nearl ...

. Cheat Engine is, with the exception of the

kernel module In computing, a loadable kernel module (LKM) is an object file that contains code to extend the running kernel, or so-called ''base kernel'', of an operating system. LKMs are typically used to add support for new hardware (as device drivers) and/ ...

, written in

Object Pascal Object Pascal is an extension to the programming language Pascal that provides object-oriented programming (OOP) features such as classes and methods. The language was originally developed by Apple Computer as ''Clascal'' for the Lisa Work ...

. Cheat Engine exposes an

interface Interface or interfacing may refer to: Academic journals * ''Interface'' (journal), by the Electrochemical Society * '' Interface, Journal of Applied Linguistics'', now merged with ''ITL International Journal of Applied Linguistics'' * '' Int ...

to its

device driver In computing, a device driver is a computer program that operates or controls a particular type of device that is attached to a computer or automaton. A driver provides a software interface to hardware devices, enabling operating systems and o ...

with dbk32.dll, a wrapper that handles both loading and initializing the Cheat Engine driver and calling alternative Windows kernel functions. Due to a programming bug in Lazarus pertaining to the use of try and except blocks, Cheat Engine Lazarus had to remove the use of dbk32.dll and incorporate the driver functions in the main

executable In computing, executable code, an executable file, or an executable program, sometimes simply referred to as an executable or binary, causes a computer "to perform indicated tasks according to encoded instructions", as opposed to a data fil ...

. The

, while not essential to normal CE use, can be used to set hardware

breakpoint In software development, a breakpoint is an intentional stopping or pausing place in a program, put in place for debugging purposes. It is also sometimes simply referred to as a pause. More generally, a breakpoint is a means of acquiring knowl ...

s and bypass hooked

API An application programming interface (API) is a way for two or more computer programs to communicate with each other. It is a type of software interface, offering a service to other pieces of software. A document or standard that describes how ...

in Ring 3, even some in Ring 0. The module is compiled with the Windows

Driver development kit A software development kit (SDK) is a collection of software development tools in one installable package. They facilitate the creation of applications by having a compiler, debugger and sometimes a software framework. They are normally specific to ...

and is written in C. Cheat Engine also has a plugin architecture for those who do not wish to share their

source code In computing, source code, or simply code, is any collection of code, with or without comment (computer programming), comments, written using a human-readable programming language, usually as plain text. The source code of a Computer program, p ...

with the community. They are more commonly used for game specific features, as Cheat Engine's stated intent is to be a generic cheating tool. These plugins can be found in several locations on the Cheat Engine website as well as other gaming sites. Cheat Engine Lazarus has the ability to load its unsigned 64-bit device driver on

Windows Vista Windows Vista is a major release of the Windows NT operating system developed by Microsoft. It was the direct successor to Windows XP, which was released five years before, at the time being the longest time span between successive releases of ...

and later

x64 x86-64 (also known as x64, x86_64, AMD64, and Intel 64) is a 64-bit version of the x86 instruction set, first released in 1999. It introduced two new modes of operation, 64-bit mode and compatibility mode, along with a new 4-level paging mo ...

bit versions of Windows, by using DBVM, a

virtual machine In computing, a virtual machine (VM) is the virtualization/ emulation of a computer system. Virtual machines are based on computer architectures and provide functionality of a physical computer. Their implementations may involve specialized har ...

by the same developers that allows access to

kernel space A modern computer operating system usually segregates virtual memory into user space and kernel space. Primarily, this separation serves to provide memory protection and hardware protection from malicious or errant software behaviour. Kerne ...

from

user mode A modern computer operating system usually segregates virtual memory into user space and kernel space. Primarily, this separation serves to provide memory protection and hardware protection from malicious or errant software behaviour. Kernel ...

. It is used to allocate nonpaged memory in

kernel mode In computer science, hierarchical protection domains, often called protection rings, are mechanisms to protect data and functionality from faults (by improving fault tolerance) and malicious behavior (by providing computer security). Compute ...

, manually loading the executable image, and creating a system

thread Thread may refer to: Objects * Thread (yarn), a kind of thin yarn used for sewing ** Thread (unit of measurement), a cotton yarn measure * Screw thread, a helical ridge on a cylindrical fastener Arts and entertainment * ''Thread'' (film), 2016 ...

at Driver Entry. However, since the Driver Entry parameters are not actually valid, the driver must be modified for DBVM.

Cheat Tables

Cheat Engine allows its users to share their addresses and code locations with other users of the community by making use of cheat tables. "Cheat Tables" is a file format used by Cheat Engine to store data such as cheat addresses, scripts including Lua scripts and code locations, usually carrying the

file extension A filename extension, file name extension or file extension is a suffix to the name of a computer file (e.g., .txt, .docx, .md). The extension indicates a characteristic of the file contents or its intended use. A filename extension is typically ...

.CT. Using a Cheat Table is straightforward and involves simply opening the Cheat Table through Cheat Engine and enabling/ticking the cheats stored within it. The ability to save and share Cheat Tables has resulted in a large online community for sharing cheats through the Cheat Engine Forums. Popular Cheat Tables are hosted on the Fearless Revolution website. In addition to simple memory addresses, cheat tables can extend the functionality of Cheat Engine using the Lua scripting language. Almost all of Cheat Engine's features are scriptable, and it is even possible to design custom dialogs to interact with scripts.

Controversy

In 2017, the

Entertainment Software Association The Entertainment Software Association (ESA) is the trade association of the video game industry in the United States. It was formed in April 1994 as the Interactive Digital Software Association (IDSA) and renamed on July 21, 2003. It is based ...

(ESA) sent a

copyright infringement Copyright infringement (at times referred to as piracy) is the use of works protected by copyright without permission for a usage where such permission is required, thereby infringing certain exclusive rights granted to the copyright holder, ...

notice asking Eric Heijnen to

cease and desist A cease and desist letter is a document sent to an individual or business to stop alleged illegal activity. The phrase "cease and desist" is a legal doublet, made up of two near-synonyms. The letter may warn that, if the recipient does not dis ...

. The notice claimed Cheat Engine allowed evading anti-cheat technologies, accessing in-game DLC items/

microtransaction Microtransactions, often abbreviated as mtx, are a business model where users can purchase virtual goods with micropayments. Microtransactions are often used in free-to-play games to provide a revenue source for the developers. While microtransact ...

items that could only be bought with real money. Eric Heijnen responded by shutting down the cheat tables section to the public, asking them to be hosted off-site and coming to an agreement with ESA. The Cheat Engine community was not happy with the steps taken, and prominent members moved to a new community website called Fearless Revolution where old cheat tables have been uploaded and new ones are being posted. The Cheat Engine website and forums only focus on development of the tool itself now, and cheat tables have moved to Fearless Revolution forums.

Malware distribution

The installers of Cheat Engine are known to include potentially unwanted programs which are often

bloatware Software bloat is a process whereby successive versions of a computer program become perceptibly slower, use more memory, disk space or processing power, or have higher hardware requirements than the previous version, while making only dubious us ...

malware Malware (a portmanteau for ''malicious software'') is any software intentionally designed to cause disruption to a computer, server, client, or computer network, leak private information, gain unauthorized access to information or systems, de ...

, and as a result, most anti-virus software detects the installer as a virus. Bloatware-free versions are generally available on the product's

Patreon Patreon (, ) is a membership platform that provides business tools for content creators to run a subscription service. It helps creators and artists earn a monthly income by providing rewards and perks to their subscribers. Patreon charges a com ...

page, or users can build the program from source.

References

External links

* {{Official website Cheating in video games Programming tools for Windows Lua (programming language)-scriptable software Pascal (programming language) software