Dark Souls III is an amazing game. If you're looking to spice things up, or play your own way, you can turn it into an even more amazing game with Cheat Engine. What is Cheat Engine, you ask? Cheat Engine is a program for your computer that allows you to change game data manually - in other words, it allows you to cheat. Whilst some games have console commands and cheat codes built into them to spawn items or change your stats, DS3 doesn't - so you need to use Cheat Engine. This might sound overly complicated or annoying at first, but after using CE (Cheat Engine) for a while, many people find that it's a lot easier and more convenient than using console commands.
Before we actually show you how to use Cheat Engine, there are a few disclaimers we need to get out of the way, because cheating doesn't come without risks. We've put a warning in the red box below so they can't be missed!
Use the buttons below to quickly jump to the section of this page that's most relevant to you. Credit for a lot of data from this guide goes to this Github repository by igromanru.
Before anything, you'll need to make sure you have Cheat Engine (the latest version) installed, and the cheat table that's used with Cheat Engine and DS3 downloaded:
If you've managed install Cheat Engine and download the tables yourself, you can skip ahead to 2. If not, click here to download Cheat Engine. After downloading, open it up, you may receive a message that says "Do you want to allow this app to make changes to your device?", click "Yes". Then (if you agree with the license agreement) click "I accept the agreement" and press Next. Then, press Next again if you are happy with the default install location. Then, on "Select Start Menu Folder", press Next again. Select whether you want a desktop icon and whether you want Cheat Engine to check for new versions, then press Next. If you are then asked if you want to install Avast Antivirus, untick the box and press Next. And finally, press Install, and then after it's done installing, Next and Finish!
To download the table, simply click here, and then save it in a place that you can remember (you'll need it later on)!
Now we've downloaded and installed everything, we're ready for the fun stuff. Start Dark Souls 3, and then open Cheat Engine.
If you're playing Dark Souls 3 in fullscreen, you can minimize the game by pressing the Windows key on your keyboard (next to CTRL) - we recommend that you play in windowed mode while using CE for convenience.
With Cheat Engine now open, click the Open symbol under File, select the table that you downloaded, and press open:
After opening the table, select the Dark Souls 3 prcoess by clicking the find process button (under File), selecting Dark Souls III, and then pressing Open:
With the Cheat Engine Table open, check "Open - Table v1.2.0 - Game v1.15", then check "Helpers", and then Check "Item Gib":
To spawn an item, you'll need an item ID. We have a searchable list of every item ID in the game, which can be found here, but as an example for this guide, we'll be using the item ID for a Shortsword, which is 001E8480.
With Item Gib open, double click the "Item ID (Hex)" field - you need to double click the item code in the "Value" column to change it (highlighted below), not check the box. A small window should then pop up asking you what to change this to. For a Shortsword, enter 001E8480 here, but you can replace this with any item ID if you wish to spawn another item. Then press "OK", and check the "Spawn Item" box in the table:
After doing the above, the item you wish to spawn should be on the floor in-game. This was probably a lot easier than you thought it'd be!
Whilst Dark Souls 3 has an "Offline Mode" setting in the game itself, your save data will still be synced with the game's servers, meaning you can still be issued soft bans. Below we've outlined common methods of preventing your save data from being synced with the game's servers, which will stop your from getting a soft ban - provided you revert your save to the way it was before you go back online.
The most simple way of going into a safe offline mode is by putting Steam in offline mode. Firstly, close Dark Souls III. Then, open Steam and click "Steam" in the top left:
Then click "Restart in Offline Mode":
After doing this, you are free to open up Dark Souls 3 and use Cheat Engine. Make sure that you revert any changes you make to your save, or delete it, before you go back online.
Whilst starting Steam in offline mode is preferable, another method to avoid a soft ban is to completely disconnect your computer from the internet. Firstly, make sure Dark Souls 3 is closed.
If you're using ethernet, you can do this by unplugging the ethernet adapter from your computer.
Otherwise, if you're using WiFi, you can do this by entering airplane mode. On Windows, open up your System Tray and click the WiFi symbol:
Then, click Airplane Mode or Flight Mode to turn it on:
You should then be good to use Cheat Engine on Dark Souls 3. Make sure that you receive a warning message letting you know you are disconnected from the internet when you start your game (otherwise you probably haven't done this properly). Furthermore, make sure you revert your save back to the way it was, or delete it, before you go back online.
Simply put, a soft ban is issued when the game detects that you've used Cheat Engine. When you have a soft ban, you'll only be able to play online with other players who have soft bans.
There are two messages that you will receive when the game has detected that you've used Cheat Engine. The first is a warning message, the second is a message to let you know that you have been soft banned. Below we've outlined what each means and what to do if you receive them.
If you've received the above message, you haven't been soft banned yet, but you will be if you don't stop using Cheat Engine and properly delete your saves. If you properly delete your saves and don't use Cheat Engine again, this message should disappear after around 0-14 days. See below for how to properly delete your saves.
This message means that you have been soft banned. You will have to delete all of your save data and not use Cheat Engine for at least 28 days before the message disappears and your soft ban is removed. See below for how to delete your save data.
Note that following these steps will permanently delete all of your saves. See here for how to make a backup.
To properly delete your save data, first open up Dark Souls 3 (whilst connected to the internet), click "Load Game", and delete every save. You can't be sure which save is causing issues, so the only way to assure you will have the warning message removed is to delete all of them.
After this, close Dark Souls 3, open up a File Explorer and type %appdata% into the address bar:
Then, delete the folder "DarkSoulsIII".
If you're struggling to locate the DarkSoulsIII folder, please see this guide for help finding your Dark Souls 3 save location.
Open up Dark Souls 3 with a connection to the internet and start a new game without Cheat Engine. You need to start a new game that's synced with/save to the Dark Souls 3 servers to overwrite your old save data (otherwise DS3 won't know you've deleted it).
Provided you play legitimately from now on, the message(s) will disappear after a few weeks (note that it can take up to 60 days for the penalized message to go away).