DOSBox Cheat Engine (0.83 API Challenge Accepted!) #5021

Hi everyone! 👋

While reading the fantastic release notes for DOSBox Staging 0.83, I noticed this specific challenge regarding the new Web Server API:

"HTTP API to muck around with the emulated memory and DOS internals to write modding and cheat tools as simple single-page web applications. The first one to reimplement Gold Box Companion using this API gets a prize!"

I decided to take up the challenge! While it's not strictly a Gold Box Companion clone, I built a full-fledged, cross-platform DOSBox Cheat Engine (heavily inspired by GameConqueror and Cheat Engine) utilizing the new API.

Repository: https://github.com/tethragon/DOSBox-Cheat-Engine

✨ Key Features:

• Memory Scanning: First Scan / Next Scan to easily find values (gold, health, ammo) using 8-bit, 16-bit, or 32-bit types.
• Active Freezing: Lock memory addresses so your health/ammo never decreases.
• Live Polling: Real-time UI updates to watch memory values change (with a toggle to disable background polling during CPU-heavy game segments, preventing emulator overloads during memory overlays).
• Cheat Tables: Save and load your cheat tables as JSON files.
• Cross-Platform & Lightweight: The backend uses pure Python standard library (zero pip dependencies!), launching a Single-Page Application (HTML/JS) directly in your default browser.

I've also uploaded a pre-compiled Linux binary in the Releases section (Windows coming soon), so anyone can just double-click and run it without setting up a Python environment.

Huge thanks to the dev team for implementing this API — it's incredibly powerful, fast, and a lot of fun to work with! I'd love for you guys to check it out, test it with some games, and let me know your thoughts.

Did I win the prize? 🏆😁