Cheat Engine

[etioplmld]

If you allow some people to lock down their code, once money gets involved, they will eventually try to wipe out all free-sharing sites just to boost their revenue—even if it means the end of CE Never underestimate human greed. Remember when Microsoft’s former CEO Steve Ballmer called Linux and open source a "cancer"?
Many CT sharing sites face daily DDoS attacks precisely because of this motive—hackers manipulating botnets to take them down. It used to be just sketchy, standalone cheat developers causing trouble.That died down for a while as the rising reputation of CE and open source pushed those standalone cheat developers out of the spotlight. but with the rise of Patreon, it’s all starting up again.
Don't use CE's reputation to endorse uncertain individual projects. There are plenty of alternatives for cheat development—you can even write your own protected, standalone trainers using C# or C++. People choose CE specifically to leverage its established reputation.
People involved in creating viruses, RATs (Remote Access Trojans), or crypto-miners really dislike the Cheat Engine (CE) ecosystem, where code is relatively transparent and user awareness is still high. Why? Because CE tables reduce users' reliance on standalone .exe files. Users get used to "opening and seeing the code," making them much more wary of black-box programs.
As their market shrinks and profits dip, they have a strong motive to attack free sharing sites, or even target CE itself.
While encrypting or obfuscating CE scripts might seem like a way for authors to protect their work, objectively, it undermines the foundation of trust based on "auditability" for average users.
So, why might paid authors have the incentive to attack free sharing sites?
1. Direct Conflict of Interest
The more prosperous free sites are, the fewer people are willing to pay. If users can easily download working tables from sharing sites, they won't bother paying on platforms like Patreon.
2. Creating an Impression that "Free Sites are Unstable or Hard to Use"
Frequent DDoS attacks force websites to implement heavy-duty protection and strict verification. This makes access slower and more frustrating, degrading the experience for average users. Consequently, some users switch to paid channels. This is a classic tactic of "improving one's own relative attractiveness by degrading the competitor's user experience."
3. The Botnet Comes from Their Own User Base
Some paid or encrypted trainers sneak in RATs or botnet modules. These compromised machines (zombies) can naturally be used to attack free sites. Using their own "bot army" to hit competitors involves extremely low costs but offers high motivation.
While public information makes it hard to prove that "a specific group of paid authors is definitely behind these continuous attacks," looking at the match between motive and capability, the paid author group is indeed the most likely candidate fitting the profile of having "motive + potential botnet resources."
This isn't to say all paid authors do this. Rather, it highlights that within this ecosystem, there are clear profit-driven incentives pushing some individuals to weaken or even take down free sharing channels.

[AylinCE]

1. The Open-Source Developer's Motivation:
"Why Do They Do It for Free?"
There isn't just one reason why a developer invests time, training, and effort into creating and freely updating a .CT (Cheat Engine) table:

Learning and Passion (Hobby):
For many developers, reverse engineering and memory analysis serve as a puzzle-solving hobby.

Community Reputation and Prestige:
By sharing their code openly, they gain recognition, a reputation for expertise, and standing within the community.

Feedback and Collaborative Development:
Open code allows others to identify bugs and add new features, resulting in higher-quality code.

2. The User Perspective:
"Why Doesn't Everyone Just Learn to Do It Themselves?"
The answer to the question, "Why don't people create their own .CT files when there are so many tutorials online?" lies in the time investment and the technical barrier to entry:

Expertise Requirements:
While using Cheat Engine might start with a simple search, it eventually requires knowledge of dynamic memory addresses (DMA), pointer chains, AOB (Array of Bytes) scanning, and Assembly language.

Time Cost:
Most gamers dedicate only 1–2 hours a day to playing.
Spending days learning reverse engineering—and having to relocate addresses after every game patch—is impractical for the average user. People look for ready-made tools to save time.

3. Profile of Paid Content Creators:
(Two Distinct Classes)
Those who offer .CT files or cheat tools for a fee do not constitute a single group; they fall into two main categories:

Original Creators (Those Seeking Compensation for Their Effort):
Individuals who write complex code through their own hard work, provide immediate support whenever the game updates, and seek to be compensated for their time and effort via channels like Patreon or Discord.

Code Thieves (Resellers / Obfuscators):
Those who download open-source tables shared for free and sell them as their own products by obscuring the code structure (obfuscation) or embedding it within an .exe file.
The group most targeted by the criticism in the text is, in fact, this group that "appropriates the labor of others."

4. Security and Antivirus Aspects:
"Is There a Solution to the Fear?"
Mechanisms exist to prevent users from falling prey to security risks (such as RATs, viruses, or crypto-miners):

Trusted Community / Moderator-Approved .CT Files:
Files shared by individuals holding "Admin," "Moderator," or "Trusted Table Maker" badges on established CE platforms—such as Fearless Revolution—undergo community vetting.

Static Code Analysis and Antivirus Software:
Since .CT files are text/XML-based, one can check for malicious code simply by using a text editor.
Suspicious .exe files, meanwhile, can be analyzed using advanced antivirus software and sandbox (isolated environment) tools. Conscious Use: It is sufficient for the user to adhere to basic security rules—such as avoiding the execution of unknown .exe files and opting for open-source code—to protect themselves against suspicious situations.


In conclusion:

Neither is the open-source model flawless (as it is vulnerable to the theft of effort), nor is the paid model inherently malicious (as it requires significant effort and time dedicated to updates).
The healthy functioning of the ecosystem depends on user security awareness, community oversight mechanisms, and respect for the work involved.

Ultimately, don't overthink it; choose what's easy for you in the short term and have a good time.

[etioplmld]

If you truly want to "protect" your code and your hard work, you should at least try building your trainer in C++, or at the very least, C#. If your argument is that security relies on moderator review, that claim still holds up—moderators can review standalone executables just as well.
Creating a trainer requires very little code, and the learning curve isn't steep; it's arguably easier than trying to encrypt CE scripts. CE's encryption doesn't actually prevent code from being "stolen"—it simply prevents ordinary users from inspecting it.

the hacker and trainer scene has plenty carrying RATs and miners. In the long run, CT encryption can't protect code — it damages Cheat Engine's reputation and benefits the very people who want CE gone.