How to use Cheat Engine
Are you just unable to advance in the history of a game and would you like to use some tricks to free yourself from this impasse? Have you heard of Cheat Engine, a program to unlock some tricks in PC games, but you haven’t quite understood what it is and how to use it? Don’t worry: if you want, I’ll help you shed some light on the matter.
If you dedicate a few minutes of your free time, I can in fact explain how to use Cheat Engine by explaining the installation procedure of this program on Windows and macOS and providing you with important information about its use and the potential risks associated with it.
Courage: why are you still standing motionless in front of the screen? Do you want to learn how to use Cheat Engine? I would say yes, since you’ve come this far and are reading this tutorial. Then proceed to put into practice the quick instructions below, which will allow you to reach your goal in no time. There is nothing left for me to do, except wish you good reading and have fun!
Index
- Preliminary information
- How to download and install Cheat Engine
- How to use Cheat Engine
Preliminary information
Before going into the details of the procedure on how to use Cheat Engine , I think it is particularly important that you know some details about this program.
Well, Cheat Engine is a tool designed to enable numerous tricks in video games available for computer: this means that the user can, for example, obtain an infinite number of objects that are perhaps quite rare within a title or increase the speed. of movement of your character. Put simply, Cheat Engine is capable of making any type of game much easier.
As you may have already guessed, the software can be used both harmlessly and with “bad intentions”. In fact, “crafty” players have often tried over the years to exploit the Cheat Engine to win games in online video games: this use of the program is obviously not well seen by gamers or developers and often leads to the ban of accounts that make use of it. Therefore, I invite you not to use Cheat Engine in online video games .
However, the program can be useful to be able, for example, to overcome a certain rather difficult level in the campaign of an offline title : in this case, Cheat Engine is not a problem for other players and, often, it does not even affect too much. on the fun given by the title (therefore, usually, the community and the developers allow this use of the tool).
In short: if you act only at the client level (your computer) and do not go to touch the experiences of other users on the servers, there should be no problem in using the Cheat Engine. On the other hand, the tricks are a classic in the world of single player video games, so much so that they are often implemented directly by the developers.
Despite this, Cheat Engine is not a program that you use without problems. In some cases, in fact, to enable the tricks, the tool modifies the internal files of the games and, for this reason, it could be detected as a virus by some software or it could cause bans in games protected by the VAC system , even if used. in a morally appropriate way. For more information on the VAC ban, I recommend that you consult the official Steam guidelines .
That said, now I’ll explain how Cheat Engine works. Before proceeding, however, I recommend: do an online search and find out if it is possible to use Cheat Engine with the game in your possession, so as not to run into problems whatsoever. I do not take responsibility for any problems that I might encounter as a result of using this software: then don’t tell me I didn’t warn you!
How to download and install Cheat Engine
After explaining in detail what Cheat Engine consists of and what are its possible uses, I would say that you are ready to download and install the program on your computer.
If you have a Windows PC , all you have to do is connect to the official website of Cheat Engine and press on the item Download Cheat Engine [version] . In some cases, you may be required to skip some advertisements before you can download the program. I advise you to pay attention to the smaller writings, where there is usually an entry to skip advertising and avoid installing other software. Unfortunately, I cannot be more precise with my indications, as the advertisements displayed change from time to time.
Once this is done, open the resulting .exe file and click on the Yes button . Then, check the I accept the agreement box and press the Next button three times in a row . At this point, click on the items Click here to customize the installation on both the right and left and remove all the ticks , to avoid installing other software. Finally, press the Next , Install , Next and Finish buttons to finish the installation.
If you are using a Mac , to download Cheat Engine, connected to the official website of the program , click on Download Cheat Engine [version] For Mac and skip the advertising.
At the end of the download, open the .dmg file obtained and press twice on the package icon that appears on the screen, to start installing the software. Then, press the Open button , then Continue and skip all the proposed advertisements by pressing the Skip button .
Once this is done, press the Finish button and open the cheatengine-i386.app file that appears on the screen. Finally, enter the macOS admin password , press the Enter button on your keyboard and the program will be installed and launched.
How to use Cheat Engine
How do you say? Would you like to know what are the main features made available by Cheat Engine and how can you use them? No problem, I’ll explain right away.
Well, at the first start, Cheat Engine should ask you if you want to follow the tutorial on its operation: my advice, if you know the English language, is to answer Yes , since in this way the program will explain you in detail how to use its basic functionality.
If your antivirus reports potential threats in the Cheat Engine (which shouldn’t happen with the most up-to-date programs), I suggest you take a look at my guide on how to exclude a file from the antivirus (obviously by selecting the Cheat Engine file involved).
Next, to use the Cheat Engine, you must first start the game you want to use the cheats in and set it to window view mode . Then, go to Cheat Engine , press on the computer icon with the lens on the top left, select the name of the game of your interest and press the Open button .
At this point, look carefully at the game screen and try to figure out how much the value you want to change could be. For example, life in a video game is usually set to 100 , so if you want to change it, enter 100 in the Value field , then click the First Scan button .
Now, on the left, numerous apparently meaningless addresses will appear. Well, these addresses correspond to all the values used by the game and, by modifying them, you can be able to change the various parameters of the title you have chosen.
To proceed, double-click on the various addresses and read the descriptions that appear at the bottom, in the Cheat Engine screen. In some cases, developers insert descriptions that act as clues as to what each selected value represents. In other cases, however (the majority), this field is left empty and therefore you may have to go a bit “by luck” or perform more targeted searches, as I will explain later.
To change a parameter, click on its Value field , in the list below, then type in the new value and click on the OK item . If everything went well, you should notice the differences within the game, based on the parameter you changed.
In any case, my advice is to search online for more information about the game you are using Cheat Engine: often there are indications of other users who have already modified a certain title.
In addition to this, you can of course change the value within the game (for example, purposely removing some life from your character) and keep an eye on the changes on the Cheat Engine, so you can understand which address each parameter corresponds to .
A feature that, on the other hand, does not require special research in most games is the one called Speedhack : it allows you to change the flow of time within the game, in order to make everything faster or slower.
To activate this feature, just check the Enable Speedhack box on the right, change the Speed value according to your needs and press the Apply button . If everything is correct, you will immediately notice the differences in the game.
To practice with the Cheat Engine, my advice is to press the Help item , present at the top, and select the Cheat Engine Tutorial option from the menu that opens.
Next, click on the computer icon with the lens present on the top left, select the Tutorial process and press the Open button . As you may have already seen, in the window that appears on the screen there is a clearly visible data, that is the one linked to the life of the hypothetical character of a game: it is set by default to 100 and, therefore, you must enter 100 in the Value field of Cheat Engine and click the First Scan / New Scan button .
At this point, press the Hit me button in the tutorial window, go back to Cheat Engine and check the values marked in red in the list on the left: one of them is necessarily the parameter linked to life and you must therefore try to modify these values and bring them to “1000” until you see that the Next button has been made visible.
To do this, press twice on the address that you think can be linked to that parameter, select it from the list at the bottom, change its value, bringing it to 1000 , and press the Enter key on the keyboard.
If everything went correctly, the Next button will now be visible and you will have learned how to use the Cheat Engine and change game parameters.
Of course, you can also combine multiple searches to narrow down the number of addresses involved. For more details, I suggest you consult the Cheat Engine wiki (in English), an inexhaustible source of information about the program.