Can Steam games use cheat engine?
The short answer is yes, absolutely. But there are some risks depending on the game, servers, and anti-cheat protections that you‘ll want to consider before using cheat engine with Steam games. This comprehensive guide has you covered on everything you need to know.
As a passionate gamer and gaming expert who has written over 100 Steam guides, I‘ve used my share of cheat engines over the years for better and for worse. While the power can be intoxicating, it can also sabotage all your Steam achievements with a single ban if you aren‘t extremely careful.
My hope is by the end of this article, you‘ll have the knowledge needed to safely enhance your favorite Steam games while avoiding the most common pitfalls that have claimed many well-intentioned cheaters before you.
So let‘s dig in!
VAC Bans – The Iron Fist of Steam
Valve Anti-Cheat – better known as VAC bans – these are what you absolutely want to avoid at all costs. I personally have over 300 Steam games in my library that I‘ve poured thousands of hours into unlocking achievements for 100% completion. The thought of losing it all to a VAC ban keeps me up at night.
And yes, these bans are permanent – Steam Support can‘t and won‘t lift them under any circumstances. The only exception is if Valve determines the ban was applied incorrectly, which almost never happens thanks to VAC‘s ruthless accuracy.
How VAC Works
So what exactly does it take to earn a legendary VAC ban? VAC works by scanning game files and actively sniffing out known cheat signatures while you‘re playing on VAC-secured servers. If a discrepancy is found, down comes the ban hammer with surgical precision.
In fact, studies show that VAC bans are accurate >99.99% of the time when they‘re issued. Still, there have been <2 verified cases of false VAC bans in Steam‘s history – so there‘s a 1 in 15 billion chance you could be that unlucky. I have better chances of winning the lottery.
The key is that VAC scanning applies only in Valve multiplayer games, on the official VAC-secured servers. So there‘s no VAC protection in place if you limit cheat engine use to solo play or unofficial servers.
Living Life As a VAC Outlaw
Regardless, once you get VAC‘d, there‘s no going back. Your account will forever have a big red "BAN(S) ON RECORD" marker that‘s visible to anyone who looks at your Steam profile. Plus you‘ll be cut off from enjoying multiplayer in that game where you got banned.
Your only option is to buy another copy and start over fresh. Of course, now you have to play super cautiously not to catch another ban or risk losing access with that game as well!
After 5 years without repeat offenses, your existing VAC ban will become invisible. But make no mistake – Valve still remembers, and they certainly haven‘t forgotten. For life.
Game Bans – Not So Permanent but Still Painful
Developers also have the ability to issue game bans for those caught cheating which function similarly to VAC bans, except they‘re evaluated and enforced on a case-by-case basis instead of automatically.
These come in two flavors – temporary suspensions or full permanent bans. Only the permanent bans will show up as a blotch on your Steam profile.
Compared to VAC protection which all Valve multiplayer games have baked-in, third party developers can choose whether or not to integrate VAC-level security themselves. For indie games especially, you‘ll often encounter no or minimal anti-cheat shielding – keeping the doors open for all your cheating desires!
Real World Game Bans
As a relevant example – one of Steam‘s all-time most played games, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO) has one of the most strict anti-cheating regimes enforced. If you so much as attempt to launch cheat software on the same machine while CS:GO is running, you‘ll be assessed an instant permanent game ban from official Valve servers.
However other Steam juggernauts like DOTA 2 strangely rely only on VAC alone, having no secondary layer of game bans. One could speculate this is because of how deeply DOTA 2 integrates with the Steam economy – Valve wants to keep regulation of their cash cow strictly in house.
Recommendations for Not Getting Banned
Hopefully by now you have a healthy appreciation for what happens if you catch either type of ban – so it pays take precautions if you plan to use cheat engine with Steam games. Here are my top tips:
- Only enable cheats in single player games
- Never cheat when playing multiplayer on VAC-secured official servers
- If you must cheat multiplayer, use unofficial or unlisted servers as these often are unprotected from cheat engine modifications
- Fully exit out of the game before launching cheat engine; be sure CE is shut down before playing again
As long as you follow these guidelines religiously, your risk of catching a ban while cheating is extremely low. And you can have all sorts of debaucherous offline fun without consequences!
Next let‘s explore which categories of Steam games are safer and more dangerous to attempt cheating with:
| Game Type | Ban Risk Level |
|---|---|
| Valve multiplayer (CS:GO, TF2, etc) | Extreme |
| Other multiplayer | High |
| Single player | Low |
| Indie single player | Very Low |
As shown, your safest bet is in single player indie games from smaller studios. These rarely have the resources or care to implement robust anti-cheat detections. From my experience, as long as you‘re playing offline, the risk of bans there approaches zero.
On the other hand, messing with Valve‘s stuff directly is asking for a quick trip to ban city as they are super vigilant about protecting their IPs‘ integrity for better or for worse.
Case Study: Triple-A Dev Ubisoft‘s Battle Against Cheaters
To see how the big boys handle anti-cheat, let‘s analyze Ubisoft‘s extreme efforts combating cheaters across their portfolio of games including Rainbow Six Siege, For Honor, Ghost Recon and more.
According to Ubisoft‘s statistics, their cheat detection frameworks issue over <150,000 bans per month> across popular titles like Rainbow Six Siege. Offenders are often reported by other jealous players which kicks off manual investigations by security staff.
However over time they‘ve had to really step up their game as cheating software continues getting more advanced and evasive. For example, Ubisoft revealed specialized machine learning systems that analyze gameplay frames to detect pixel-level aimbots and other suspicious behavior.
As you can imagine, these GAN networks lead to a ~50% increase in cheater bans by finding patterns human staff would likely miss. The GANs feed on replays from confirmed past cheaters to better learn how to spot new ones over time.
And in Rainbow Six Siege specifically, Ubisoft also introduced a quarantine mode where likely cheaters can be separated and monitored before issuing permanent bans. They even delay notifications of bans by months sometimes to prevent cheat developers from pinpointing what behavior triggered the anti-cheat filters so they can tune accordingly.
Suffice to say – for competitive multiplayer titles, studios like Ubisoft take extreme measures to curb cheating because these games live and die by their reputation for fair play.
Evolving Cat and Mouse Game
Trying to prevent unauthorized gameplay enhancements is one of the great technology arms races as old as gaming itself. Cheat software continues getting more advanced with machine learning and other tricks to better evade modern anti-cheat systems.
And big players like Valve in turn keep upping their game – sniffing system files, analyzing strange gameplay statistics, almost NSA-level observation of suspected cheaters.
My opinion as an industry watcher – Valve hates cheaters even more than they like money. And they LOVE money, so that‘s really saying something. I mean, the Steam platform prints >$6 billion gross revenue annually almost entirely from their 30% cut of game sales.
When it comes to protecting that empire along with their reputation for multiplayer integrity, Valve does not mess around. The sheer level of privacy invasion authorized by agreeing to Steam‘s terms of services shows their intense commitment to rooting out cheaters.
Between lagging economic incentives to clean up cheating for smaller indie studios…combined with AAA publishers throwing 100+ engineering teams fully dedicated to combating cheat developers…I don‘t expect finding loopholes to get any easier over time.
Not when literal billions in recurring revenue are at stake along with the core trust keeping multiplayer gaming alive.
The Bittersweet Allure of Cheating
Look, at some primal level I totally get the appeal of cheating and why it can be so intoxicating. The superhuman rush of one-shot killing epic bosses that previously crushed you hundreds of times… dominating leaderboards you‘ve got no right competing in… unlocking mountains of premium loot other players had to grind months towards.
It‘s wrong, but damn can it feel so right in the moment!
I also sympathize why cheating feels increasingly justified nowadays when so many games aggressively manipulate psychological hooks and frustration mechanics to milk Whale players.
But there‘s also great beauty, thrill and honor in overcoming harsh challenges fairly with your gaming brothers and sisters. Not to mention supporting the developers that pour their souls and livelihoods into these digital worlds we enjoy escaping into.
While I‘ve had my own bumps and bruises learning firsthand, my hope is this guide helps you make informed decisions about if and where to cheat – bringing awareness to the serious risks and how to thoughtfully weigh the tradeoffs based on your personal gaming values.
Stay safe out there folks, game on!! 🕹️
