Cheat Engine

[ScottySR]

I found something that looks like a variable list in memory. Are these in any way useful in hacking/memory editing? There seems to be some space between variables, so I guess those values might point to something (variable value? address of variable?). I also found filepaths elsewhere in memory. Are they useful?

I didn't know variable names were actually compiled in code. I thought the variables were converted to a pointer using rip register (iirc) to find the actual address.

Also, why do games seem to use so many pointers to point to one variable? It makes finding the actual variable that stays the same every time hard, but I don't think that's the reason for that many pointers.

[atom0s]

They can be useful for finding important functions/information that you are looking for. And how they are left in can be a number of different things such as:
- Simple strings used for debugging output/logging.
- Scripted string entries.
- Debug info built into the exe/dll's.
- String specific variable implementations, such as arrays, vectors, lists, maps, etc.

In terms of how useful things like this are, it ultimately depends on what you need it for if its something you plan to use. Debug info/symbol data can be very useful for locating data easily on the fly for example. If you know the name of a variable, such as a global game object/state, and the debug info is left in for it, it can be very useful to you to reverse/find information related to it that you may be interested in hacking.

[DanyDollaro]

atom0s was very clear, I wanted to add that as you have already deduced in an exe there is not only the assembly code of the executable but also of things defined as "symbols" (which as already said atom0s can indicate variables, functions etc.) normally these symbols are removed to not give information about the exe.
The reason why pointers are used and is not the only way to know for sure where a variable/function is in memory.

[ScottySR]

It was actually rbp register, not rip

Anyway, I need to look more into if I can use the values between the strings for something useful.