Cheat Engine

[hitmetwice]

Searching for a pointer using the manual mehtod is no problem. It works fine (unless there are too many levels, because I keep getting into loops).
But the pointer scanner is not working the way it works for others. I read this guide:
modacity.net/forums/showthread.php?21745-Cheatengine-pointer-Scan-tutorial
and also watched some youtube tutorials. This one for example:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8CJdV1Vfvv0

In the videotutorials these guys have only ONE single pointer left after scanning about four times.
For me the number of pointers is only decreasing by ~100 per scan:
Win7 Minesweeper:
-first scan: 70000
-20 scans later: still over 60000
The game from the youtubevideo above "assault cube":
-first scan: 22563427
-second scan: 22562672
-third scan: 22562031
Cheatengine Tutorial tool (step2):
-first scan: 145699203
-second: 13858584
-third: 13644803

I'm doing the pointerscan exactly how they do it in the videos.
Especially for AssaultCube.
Also I know that the pointer of the Cheatengine Tutorial tool (step2) has 2 levels (one offset means 2 lvls right?).

I don't want to restart my PC for the pointerscanner. I don't even think that it would solve the problem.
So however, I wanna know why everyone can get their pointer without any trouble??

Btw I'm using Win7 Ultimate x86 and I didn't cahnge any settings in CE, I used the default settings.

[++METHOS]

It is not uncommon to have to scan 20+ times for multilevel pointers. The tutorials/videos that you'll find will probably scan simple games for the sake of reducing the amount of time/work involved. You just have to keep at it. Sometimes, moving around in the game a bit, between each scan, can help. Be sure to close out the game if your results are only decreasing by small amounts. If that doesn't work, only then would you try rebooting your computer and/or scanning from a different machine, altogether.

[Dark Byte]

The number of results don't mean much.
As long as the pointer is correct it's usable
Doing a rescan on another computer tends to have the best effect.
13644803 isn't too big which if compressed is small enough to quickly transfer to another system

[hitmetwice]

I am using the exact same game the guy in the tutorial is using "AssaultCube" and I'm of course restarting the game before rescanning.
If I'd reboot for every pointer it would probably take multiple years to get all the pointers I want to have.

I think that something is wrong with my CE or PC. The guy in the video needed like 4 scans to get his address. I recanned 20 times, starting with ~22563427 ending with ~22500000. This is ridiculous.
Why would I have to restart my PC while others can simply do it with gamerestarts? I mean seriously, is that possible? My pointercount should at least decrease faster. Right now it looks like:
guy in the video needs: 4rescans
i would need: 10000rescans

edit: I'd really like to work on a big project, but I only have one PC and I can't just restart my PC because I am working with the PC and I have about 20 worddocuments open. Until I finished working on them which is mostly in the evening I don't want to restart my PC because it would take hours to find the documents again.

[++METHOS]

It looks like the guy in the video may have had the correct pointer on his first scan...offset 0 and offset F4. As Dark Byte mentioned, it doesn't matter how many results you have, as long as you have a working, reliable pointer.

[hitmetwice]

So I could simply pick the first pointer from the pointerscan results?
Shouldn't there only be ONE correct pointer? Or are there actually 22mio working pointers?
How do I know if the pointer is relyable?

[Dark Byte]

There are multiple paths to the same destination yes. See the pointerscanner like a routeplanner where each offset is a street you go in from the current road. Some streets link up again and lead to the destination you need

The thing is that sometimes a roads destination changes, or is completely blocked. Use rescan to filter out those paths.
Eventually you will be left with enough pointers that stay correct most of the time, and then just pick one

[++METHOS]

[hitmetwice]

Okay, thanks.
But there is one problem. I heared that games have mostly one important pointer for each unit/plyaer in which all informations like "Health", "Max Health", "Ammo", "Position X", "Armor" etc are stored in.
For example:
0x57C310 with offset 0x458 is the Health
0x57C310 with offset 0xC4 is the Armor
etc

Are there any tricks to get these kind of pointers?

edit:
Say I have no idea how many levels my pointer has. Would it be smart to start scanning with maxLvls=1 then maxLvls=2 etc?

[Dark Byte]

Your example isn't really a special thing/different pointer

E.g if Armor was stored at address 123450c4 then Health is stored at 123450458

By doing a dissect structure at offset 0 (12345000) you can get a list of elements that are in that region. And you will often find related elements grouped with eachother. (e.g health and maxhealth are often stored right next to eachother, and armor is usually not far away)


If you don't know how many levels your pointer has then do the maximum amount of levels your system can handle without taking too long (longer than 2 days)
Doing a low level is just a waste as the higher levels will find all the results of the lower levels on top of their own

[hitmetwice]

Thank you soo much Dark Byte and GNIREENIGNE. You saved my life.

[jgizle]

[++METHOS]

A few things to consider...

1. Is the game online?
2. Are you running an emulator or similar virtual environment?
3. Have you made any adjustments to your pointer scanner settings (max offset value and levels etc.)?

Sometimes, you just need to write a script. You can have the instruction give you the address that you need, every time...and even if the code shifts, you can incorporate AOB to find the instruction.

[jgizle]

1. no
2. no
3. no

I can make a video but i don't know if i can post links yet.

every pointer in my pointer scan results (1335 total) says

"THREADSTACK1"-00000xxx" as the base address and then different offsets which all happen to lead to my stats value within 5 offsets.

[Dark Byte]

Yeah, 1335 is way to little. That should already say there is something wrong (at least a million left after multiple rescans and reboots is best)