Add Save Management Support for Non-Emulated Games

📋 Summary

Allow users to use LaunchBox Save Management with non-emulated games by manually defining save locations or using suggested save paths from trusted sources such as PCGamingWiki.


❗ Problem

Save Management is extremely useful for supported emulated games, but many users also have non-emulated games in their LaunchBox library.

PC games from Steam, GOG, Epic, itch.io, and standalone .exe installs often store saves in different locations, such as Documents, AppData, Saved Games, the game install folder, or storefront-specific folders.

Without a way to tell LaunchBox where those saves are, users have to manage backups manually or rely on custom scripts.


💡 Proposal

Add Save Management support for non-emulated games.

For each game, users could define one or more save locations, including:

  • A save file

  • A save folder

  • Multiple save locations

  • Optional labels for each save location

LaunchBox could also suggest save locations using public metadata sources such as PCGamingWiki when available.

Suggested paths should be editable before use, since save locations may vary depending on storefront, operating system, Proton/Wine usage, cloud-save behavior, and user-specific folders.

Once configured, LaunchBox could include those saves in existing Save Management workflows, such as manual backups, automatic backups, backup on game close, version history, and restore.


🧩 Use Cases

  • Automatically suggest save locations for known PC games

  • Back up saves for Steam, GOG, Epic, itch.io, and standalone games

  • Track saves for games that do not use an emulator

  • Preserve save data before moving LaunchBox to another PC or drive

  • Replace batch-file backup workflows with built-in Save Management


📦 Benefits

  • Expands Save Management beyond emulated games

  • Helps prevent lost PC game saves

  • Reduces manual save-location research

  • Makes LaunchBox more useful as a full game library manager

  • Provides a consistent save backup experience across more game types


⚠️ Considerations

This should support both manual setup and suggested paths. PCGamingWiki or similar sources should be treated as a helpful starting point, not guaranteed truth.

LaunchBox should let users review and edit detected paths, warn when a configured path is missing, and clearly show whether a backup contains files, folders, or multiple save locations.

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Upvoters
Status

Open To Community

Board
Custom icon

LaunchBox for Windows

Date

4 days ago

Author

Tayley

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