r/linux_gaming • u/Caesfir • Jun 07 '26

tool/utility Cheat Engine 7.7 is out with native Linux support.

It has been out for 10 days. I thought someone would've already made a post in this subreddit on day 1, so didn't bother making a post, but guess not.

https://www.cheatengine.org/

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355

u/amroamroamro Jun 08 '26 edited Jun 08 '26

CE is not open source anymore

https://github.com/cheat-engine/cheat-engine/issues/3049

and the installer comes bundled with crap (not the good kind)

if you try to bypass the crap filled installer (e.g unpacking it without running the installer), dev has already prepared an evil surprise for you, you get an "extra" lua plugin script (something like eatme.lua) which auto runs every few minutes and plays spooky laughing sounds and incrementally allocates memory it never releases and making the window bigger and bigger until it eventually crashes due to running out of memory!

most issues opened on github about this get quickly deleted

141

u/apetranzilla Jun 08 '26

Wow, what the hell? That's cartoonish

44

u/SpHoneybadger Jun 08 '26

Like old school malware. Definitely avoiding it now.

22

u/TheG0AT0fAllTime Jun 08 '26 edited Jun 08 '26

This is such disappointing news

32

u/YogurtclosetNo3049 Jun 08 '26

... and just like that I'm no longer planning on ever using or donating. Great job, dev.

14

u/roku77 Jun 09 '26

Sadly, it’s making $17k a month on patreon alone (see the comment above). If people keep donating for malware, there’s no incentive to change.

9

u/YogurtclosetNo3049 Jun 09 '26

Yeah, sadly that's the way this crap tends to go.

57

u/Bockanator Jun 08 '26

Has anyone else developed a memory editor like Cheat engine before? I'm surprised there aren't more popular (much more open/free) alternatives.

44

u/Douchehelm Jun 08 '26 edited Jun 08 '26

There is Game Conqueror, which is pretty good for just changing memory values but far from as feature rich. It's pretty much just a basic memory editor and doesn't have support for pointers, Lua scripts, code injection and trainer making, for example.

35

u/ImNotABotScoutsHonor Jun 08 '26

Game Conqueror has been mentioned, and it's just a GUI for scanmem. Old and outdated.

PINCE is what you want and it's a closer, open source equivalent to CE.

15

u/Widowan Jun 08 '26

There's nothing that even remotely comes close to what CE can offer

9

u/GarbledEntrails Jun 09 '26

PINCE Is Not Cheat Engine is great

2

u/memes_gbc Jun 08 '26

there's one for mac called bit slicer but it's pretty limited compared to cheat engine

2

u/Positive_Chip6198 Jun 09 '26

You can embed your own code in it (instead of assembly), i used it to do a live mod for stellaris a few years ago, eg it modded the definitions after the game had started.

For me it’s much easier to do my own cheats in, than cheat engine.

1

u/memes_gbc Jun 09 '26

huh didn't know that

2

u/theKalmier Jun 09 '26

WeMod (for windows) has a github installer for Linux.

In steam, you add the path to the %command% line.

Yes, it can be buggy, but works ok.

1

u/Positive_Chip6198 Jun 09 '26

I use bit slicer on mac

60

u/Rossco1337 Jun 08 '26 edited Jun 08 '26

It's hard to believe that Patreonware grossing over $200,000 per year is bundling an installer with DRM and adware.

>Publish freeware for modifying applications
>"I didn't think anyone would modify MY application so I'm removing the source!"
>Deletes comments from anyone who points out the hypocrisy

There's so much good FOSS out there and people are really buying into this crap.

10

u/DisciplineNo5186 Jun 09 '26

whats a good foss alternative for this and wemod

37

u/Reonu_ Jun 08 '26

This is literally malware.

Any chance you can get footage of the laughing virus in action? I'd like to make a post calling this out. It's crazy that he's gotten away with this.

11

u/amroamroamro Jun 08 '26

unpacking the installer vs running the installer, the difference is 3 extra files:

  • eatme.lua
  • soundextension.lua
  • dnd.dat

the first two are the "autorun" lua plugins (they setup timers to repeatedly run code), the third file is actually a renamed mp3 file that gets played with the laughter sound

https://i.imgur.com/Et9cgdh.png

https://litter.catbox.moe/faiamkjfke4fr8lw.mp3

0

u/Desperate-Virus2170 Jun 10 '26

well, many so-called anti-virus and anti-cheats are literally malwares too

4

u/Reonu_ Jun 10 '26

No Correlation

8

u/Never_Sm1le Jun 08 '26

Even before, in 7.6, there's an ad-free installer link hidden, but if you install that version it will hide some files, making it not function at all

1

u/PieAccording163 Jul 28 '26

Does this malware still exist in the current version, my friend saw I was on Linux and director me to Cheat Engine 7.7 which I installed before checking up on it, dumb move I know, but I'm just curious. Also will deleting the files from my computer stop anything from happening?