Ever wondered how Cheat Engine works?

Source: Dev.to

If you ever played games on PC, you have heard of a tool called Cheat Engine. In this article, I will explain what Cheat Engine is, how it works under the hood, and why developers should protect their variables. I will also show a simple example in C# and explain why using an existing Anti‑Cheat tool can save a lot of time.

This article is written for game developers and anyone interested in cybersecurity who want to understand memory manipulation and how to prevent it.

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What Cheat Engine is and why so many people use it

Cheat Engine is a memory scanner and debugger for Windows. Millions of users have downloaded it over the years. Some use it for cheating in single‑player games, others for learning reverse engineering, debugging, or modding.

I want to be clear:

Cheat Engine itself is just a tool. It does not “hack” games automatically. It simply reads and writes memory of other running programs.

Games store values like:

• Gold
• Health
• Ammo
• Score

Cheat Engine helps users find those values in memory and change them while the game is running.

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How programs store values in memory

When a game runs, it stores its variables in RAM (Random Access Memory). For example:

Gold   = 500;
Health = 100;
Ammo   = 30;

These values are stored as numbers (usually integers or floats) at specific memory addresses. The CPU constantly reads and writes these values.

Memory is not protected by default.
If another program is allowed to read that memory, it can see and modify those values.

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How Cheat Engine accesses and manipulates memory

At a high level (without diving deep into OS internals), Cheat Engine uses normal Windows system APIs to:

1. Open a running process
2. Read its memory
3. Search for values (e.g., “500 gold”)
4. Filter results when the value changes

Example workflow

Once the address is found, the value can be:

• Changed
• Frozen
• Replaced

All of this works without access to the game’s source code.

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Why plain variables are a problem for developers

If a game stores values like this:

public int Gold = 500;

then:

• The value is visible in memory
• It is easy to scan
• It is easy to change

That is why many games do not store important values directly. Instead, they use obfuscation or validation techniques.

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Simple XOR obfuscation example (C#)

An easy‑to‑use method that I often show beginners is XOR obfuscation. It doesn’t provide perfect security, but it blocks basic memory scans and keeps most script kiddies out.

Example: Obfuscated gold value

public class PlayerGold
{
    private int secretKey = 0x5A3F;
    private int obfuscatedGold;

    public void SetGold(int value)
    {
        obfuscatedGold = value ^ secretKey;
    }

    public int GetGold()
    {
        return obfuscatedGold ^ secretKey;
    }
}

Why this helps

Instead of storing 500, memory stores a scrambled number.

Real Gold: 500
Stored in Memory: 23131   // example XOR result

Cheat Engine scans won’t find the real value easily, and changing the memory value often breaks the logic or does nothing when working with honeypots, for example.

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What’s the next step

XOR obfuscation is a good first step, but on its own it is not enough. To harden your memory further and better protect important variables, combine it with additional techniques such as:

• Swapping between multiple keys to prevent static patterns
• Integrity checks (checksums) to detect unexpected value changes
• Fake or decoy variables (honeypots) to catch memory scanners
• Server‑side validation for critical or competitive values
• Anti‑debugging and anti‑memory tools to block common inspection methods

These techniques represent only one part of an effective Anti‑Cheat system focused on protecting variables. Real‑world protection often goes even further, including:

• Time‑based validation
• Global integrity checks
• Installation or environment validation
• Runtime behavior analysis

The most important thing to understand is this:

Anti‑Cheat should never be a single feature; it should be one layer in a larger security strategy.

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Protecting your game without reinventing everything

Cheat Engine works because it observes how memory changes over time and then directly manipulates those values. If important data is stored plainly in RAM, it will eventually be found and modified.

You can build your own protection system by combining the techniques mentioned above. However, building a complete solution from scratch is time‑consuming and error‑prone. Leveraging existing, battle‑tested Anti‑Cheat libraries or services can give you:

• Faster development cycles
• Regular updates against new cheating methods
• Community‑tested reliability

Consider evaluating established solutions before deciding to roll your own.

Complete anti‑cheat systems take a lot of time, testing, and constant updates. Attackers adapt quickly, and maintaining defenses can easily distract you from what matters most: developing your game.

That is why many developers use existing anti‑cheat tools instead of building everything themselves.

There are free anti‑cheat solutions that already provide features like:

• Memory tampering detection
• Variable integrity checks
• Runtime protection mechanisms

For example, if you are using Unity, you can use my free solution:

👉 Asset Store – AntiCheat

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Your key takeaway

Cheat Engine is powerful because client memory is exposed by default.
If you trust raw values stored in memory, someone else can change them.

Whether you:

• Write your own protection
• Use simple obfuscation
• Or rely on existing anti‑cheat tools

the rule stays the same:

Never trust plain values stored in memory.

Understanding how Cheat Engine works is the first step toward defending against it—and toward writing more secure software.

Read more on my blog: www.guardingpearsoftware.com.