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Connecting to a console

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REghZy edited this page Feb 27, 2026 · 14 revisions

Click File > Connect to console... or press CTRL+O. It will open up a dialog for connecting to a console. By default, XBDM is selected.

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The left side shows a list of supported connection types.

  • Binary File treats a file as a console. This is useful for searching a memory dump file, but I'd still recommend using cheat engine as it's significantly faster (just note that cheat engine is primarily little-endian, whereas xbox 360 is big-endian).

  • XBDM uses the Xbox Debug Monitor's command system via a TCP connection. It provides the most features that Memory Engine uses and is well tested, but seems slightly slower than XDevkit when reading values

  • XDevkit uses COM objects, implemented by xbdm.dll which you get when you install Xbox 360 neighbourhood. This connection is only really here as a point of concept; the XBDM connection can do almost everything this one can, since XDevkit uses XBDM behind the scenes anyway

Caution

Do not use CCAPI on HEN! It will brick your console. You must be using CFW to use CCAPI

  • PS3 CCAPI uses the CCAPI library to read/write memory values. You must download CCAPI.dll manually and place it in the same folder as MemoryEngine360.exe (when you try to connect it will open a link to enstoneworld.com to download the latest supported version, and then prompt you to specify the location of the .rar file. It will then be automatically unzipped and CCAPI.dll will be placed in the same folder as MemoryEngine360.exe)

  • PS3 MAPI uses the PS3ManagerAPI protocol to read/write memory values. Unlike CCAPI, no additional libraries are required, but you need the manager installed on your PS3, or enabled if you use cobra 7.03 or later (go into the webMAN Mod setup site, expand XMB/In-Game PAD Shortcuts and look for DEL CFW SYSCALLS and set PS3MAPI to Enabled. Watch this video for more info)

When debugging in an IDE, there will also be a debug connection called "Test", that either does nothing, or throws an IO or timeout exception when attempting to read/write. This is an integration test used to ensure errors are handled properly and do not crash the app.

Note

PS3 connections are very slow compared to xbox 360 because of how they are implemented on the PS3 side. A new networking API will soon be implemented to allow memory scanning to run quicker on MAPI, however, refreshing values will still be extremely slow.

Custom plugins

Memory Engine is designed to be flexible, and as such, allows you to register custom connections. So feel free to try writing one for yourself! See MemEngine360.Xbox360XBDM for a codebase example.

Dedicated Connection

Some features such as the Task Sequencer, Debugger, and Lua Scripts, support a "dedicated connection", which is literally just a new connection separate from the engine's connection. It usually has the same icon as the normal connect icon except with a gold arrow

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