Guides & User Experiences

Finding health, ammo, and gold in single-player games

Many users report success with this workflow:

1. Start the game and note your current value (e.g. 100 HP).
2. Attach Cheat Engine to the game process (File → Open Process).
3. First scan: type the value, choose the correct type (4 Bytes, Float, etc.), click First Scan.
4. Change the value in the game (take damage, spend gold, use ammo).
5. Next Scan with the new value. Repeat until you have few addresses left.
6. Add promising addresses to the list and change them or freeze them to test.

If the value is stored as something else (e.g. float, or “unknown initial value”), use Unknown initial value and then Increased / Decreased value. The built-in CE tutorial teaches this step by step.

User experience: “My first pointer chain”

A common story from the forum: after finding a value, it stopped working after restarting the game because the address changed. The solution was to find a pointer to that address. In CE you can use “Pointer scan” (after finding the address) to find a base + offsets that stay valid across restarts. It can take a while and use a lot of disk space, but for important values it’s worth it. Many guides on the Wiki and forum explain pointer scanning in detail.

User experience: Speedhack for grinding

Several users share that they use the built-in Speedhack (top menu or speed icon) to speed up idle or grinding sections in single-player games—e.g. 2x or 5x speed to make waiting shorter. It doesn’t work in every game (some use their own timers), but when it does, it’s very handy. Remember: use only in single-player and only where the game’s terms allow.

Saving and sharing your work: cheat tables (.CT)

Once you find addresses or write scripts, you can save them in a cheat table (File → Save). The file is a .CT file (XML in plain text). You can share it with others; they open it in CE and activate the cheats. Warning: .CT files can contain Lua scripts that run code. Only open tables from people you trust, or inspect the file (e.g. in a text editor) before loading. The forum has many shared tables; use reputable sources.

User experience: “Unity / Mono games”

For games made with Unity or other Mono/.NET engines, CE’s Mono features are very useful. You can dissect the Mono domain, list classes and fields, and find object instances. Many users on the forum describe using “Mono → Dissect mono” (or similar) to locate player health, inventory, or settings in managed code. The Wiki Mono section and forum have detailed guides.

Lua: auto-attach and simple scripts

Advanced users often use Lua to automate things: for example, a script that auto-attaches to a process when it starts, or a small script that toggles a value. The Lua extensions forum (Lua Extensions) has many examples. If you’re new to Lua in CE, start with the Wiki’s Lua basics and the built-in Lua engine documentation (Help or script editor).

User experience: “Nothing worked until I chose the right type”

A frequent tip: if you’re scanning a number and get too many or no results, try a different value type. Games often store health or money as 4 Bytes, but sometimes as Float, Double, or 8 Bytes. Try “All” or switch type and scan again. Also, some values are stored multiplied (e.g. displayed value × 8); the CE tutorial and Wiki cover “unknown value” and custom scans for those cases.

How to find “unknown” values (no numbers on screen)

When the game shows a bar or icon without a number, use Unknown initial value. Click First Scan, then in the game change the value (e.g. take damage, gain gold). Back in CE choose “Decreased value” or “Increased value” and click Next Scan. Repeat until the list is small, then add and test addresses.

User experience: Double and Float for coordinates

Several users report that in-game coordinates (X, Y, Z) are often stored as Float or Double. If you’re trying to find your position for teleport or noclip, scan with Float or Double and move in the game between scans. Use “Changed value” or “Unchanged value” to narrow down.

Using “Find what writes” to make god mode

After you find the health address, right-click it → “Find out what writes to this address.” When you take damage, CE will show the instruction that decreases health. You can then replace it with NOPs or change it so health never decreases. This is more stable than just freezing the value in some games. The Wiki has Auto Assembler tutorials for this.

User experience: Cheat table from a friend

If someone shares a .CT file, open it in a text editor first and look for <LuaScript> or suspicious code. Only enable scripts you understand or from people you trust. Tables without scripts are usually safe—they just list addresses and descriptions.

Multiple values (e.g. ammo for several weapons)

When a game has multiple similar values (e.g. ammo for weapon 1, 2, 3), they are often stored in a row in memory. Find one address, then look at nearby addresses (e.g. address+4, address+8) for the others. Or use “Array of byte” scan with a known sequence if you know how they’re laid out.

User experience: Game uses anticheat

Some single-player games still load an anticheat module. If CE can’t attach or the game closes when you attach, the anticheat may be blocking it. There is no safe “bypass” to recommend; either the game allows CE or it doesn’t. Check the forum for that specific game to see if others have found a workaround (e.g. offline mode, specific version).