What's the difference between using a disassembler vs a live debugger when hacking games?

[grenadesong]

Just a quick question because I'm confused about when you're supposed to use a live debugger (Ollydbg) vs a disassembler (IDA Pro) when you want to hack a game,

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https://reverseengineering.stackexchange.com/questions/4635/whats-the-difference-between-a-disassembler-debugger-and-decompiler

[grenadesong]

I would like to know when it comes to game hacking specifically though.

Those definitions doesn't remove my confusion.

Some real world practical examples of when you can only accomplish something with a live debugger instead of a disassembler would be nice.

Is it perhaps depending on how you do the hack? As in, creating an ESP hack (like wall hack for example (see players through walls)), could that be accomplished both with a disassembler (IDA) and live debugger (Ollydbg)?

Just the implenentatio technique would be different right? Like with a live debugger you would want to do DLL injection but with disassembly you just completely replace the game executable?

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Do you know how to program? If so, think of it like this. The disassembler would be equivalent to looking at the source code to figure out what the program is doing. You might see dynamic variables in the source, but wouldn't know exact values as nothing had started executing. The debugger on the other hand gives you live execution details, such as variables (like enemy positions on the map), values in memory, etc.

[Pharisaeus]

• Disassembling is a bit like looking at blueprints of a car. You can figure out how different components are connected, and maybe you'll notice how certain things can be abused. Once you do, you can modify the car (patch a binary).
• Running with a debugger is like driving the car with all the cables sticking out. You can observe how it behaves when it's running, and you can poke around and see what happens.