Game Backup Monitor v1.3.2

New in 1.3.2

All Platforms:

• Fixed an issue that could cause imports from the web to stop functioning after a failed download.
• Fixed an issue that caused recent changes to be lost if GBM was unexpectedly closed while working in certain windows, like the Game Manager.
• Fixed a crash that occurred when the "Configuration Links" window is opened on the Game Manager while adding a new configuration.
• Fixed various issues when importing backup files:
  • Backup files created by v1.2.8 can now be imported without errors.
  • Fixed the broken 7z file filter when importing backup files.
  • Fixed an issue that could cause ManifestID constraint errors.
  • Fixed an issue that could cause differential backup imports to always fail.
• Changes to folder and file naming:
  • Removed the "Use Game ID for folder and file names" option from Settings.
  • Configurations using duplicate names will now use a more descriptive name format:
    • Game Name [Game ID] Ex. Metro Exodus [8ac11c11-8d18-471b-8f0d-aa154dc77f0e]
  • The length of folder and file names is now more strict to minimize issues with the Windows max path limitation.
    • Only the first 64 characters of a game name will be used when creating folder and file names.
  • Modifying the name of a configuration will no longer automatically rename existing backup folders and files.
  • The above changes are only applied when creating new backup files.
  • I understand the recent naming changes may be frustrating to some users. Please leave any feedback in the GitHub issues or discussions section.
• Improvements to the Game Manager:
  • Added a "Copy" feature.
    • This will make a copy of the currently selected game configuration(s).
    • The Core Configuration, Game Information, Tags, Processes and Configuration Links are included in the copy.
  • Added buttons to quickly open the current "Game Path" or "Save Path".
  • Some game configuration options have been renamed for clarification.
    • The "Monitor this game" option has been renamed to "Allow monitoring".
    • The "Monitor only" option has been renamed to "No backup when game ends".
  • The "Backup limit" and "Full backup interval" fields will no longer reset to 0 in the Game Manager if toggled off during an edit.
• Improvements to Importing Game Configurations:
  • The list will now try to retain the last scroll position after being refreshed.
  • You can now "Ignore" (or "Unignore") any configurations on the import window using the right-click menu.
    • This allows you to hide any configuration(s) that you never want to add or update during an import.
    • The ignored configurations are saved and persist between sessions.
    • You can show any hidden configurations by unticking the "Hide Ignored" checkbox.
  • Added new icons to indicate auto-detected and ignored configurations.
• General Interface improvements:
  • Added an "Open Backup Folder" option to the File menu (Main window and system tray).
  • You can now filter by "Tag" specifically in some search fields by using a hashtag in the search term. Ex. #Steam
    • In prior versions you didn't need to use a hashtag in the search term to filter by tag, but the results included both name and tag matches.
    • This feature is supported on the Main window, the Game Manager, and the Import window.
  • All windows can now be closed and/or canceled out of edit mode by using the "Escape" key.
  • More windows will now ask for confirmation before closing if changes aren't yet saved.
  • Double-clicking a game in the main window list will now open it in the Game Manager.
  • You can now use the "Enter" key to confirm the "Ludusavi Options" window.
• General performance improvements:
  • Some features that caused the interface to become unresponsive now run on a seperate thread.
  • Optimized various database queries.

The entire version history of GBM releases is available at http://mikemaximus.github.io/gbm-web/versionhistory.html

Game Backup Monitor v1.3.1

New in 1.3.1

All Platforms:

• Support for importing configurations from the primary Ludusavi Manifest or any file using the manifest structure.
  • Ludusavi is another open source saved game backup tool.
  • The primary Ludusavi Manifest contains thousands of backup configurations sourced from PCGamingWiki.
  • See the Ludusavi Manifest section of the manual for more information about this feature.
• Support for games that use Steam Cloud save locations.
  • The official game lists may now contain configurations that use Steam Cloud locations with valid path variables.
  • Configurations using Steam Cloud locations will not be displayed for import unless the required path variables exist.
  • GBM can auto-configure the path variables required for Steam Cloud locations if possible.
    • This feature must be enabled manually in Settings -> General -> Optional Features -> "Enable automatic configuration of store paths"
  • See the Store Variables section of the manual for more information about this feature.
• Improvements to the Import window.
  • Configurations with detected saved games are selected and displayed by default when importing from official lists.
  • The "Select All" checkbox should now function in a more expected manner.
  • Column sizes will no longer reset when filters are applied.
  • Columns now automatically resize when the form is resized.
  • Added columns to display more information about each configuration.
  • Fixed performance issues when filtering or sorting large data sets.
  • Improved saved game detection.
    • Windows registry configurations are now detected.
    • Better detection of configurations that use file includes.
  • Improved method of loading and displaying configurations.
    • This will provide a better user experience when loading and handling lists with thousands of configurations.
    • Due to the performance improvements, the "Selected" counter was no longer feasible and had to be removed.
  • Removed the initial confirmation when importing from official lists.
• The GameID will now automatically be used for the backup sub-folder and file name of any configuration using duplicate names, regardless of the global setting for folder & file names.
  • This is done as a safety measure to prevent unknowingly overwriting the backup file of another configuration using the same name.
  • Edit any duplicate configuration names and make them unique to prevent this from happening.
• Fixed a long-standing issue with backup manifest data not loading for some configurations sharing the same name.
• Fixed an issue with the import feature not syncing immediately after being used from the main window or system tray.
• Fixed an issue with configuration paths not being updated correctly when changing a custom path variable name and path at the same time.
• Fixed an issue with the Include/Exclude builder in the Game Manager not opening to the correct folder when using a custom path variable in the "Game Path" and a relative "Save Path".
• Improved the pending backup notification feature.
  • Clicking notification now opens the Game Manager to the "Backup Management" tab with the first game selected.
  • The notification will no longer keep reappearing during a session when all pending backups are not restored.
• Improved method of checking for updates and caching files imported from the web.
• Moved "Log Options" to the "User Interface" section of the Settings window.

Linux:

• Fixed games running in Wine not being detected.
  • "wine-preloader, wine, wine64-preloader, wine64" will now be detected instead of just the preloader variants.

Special Thanks:

@mtkennerly for creating Ludusavi Manifest and for providing assistance. 👍

The entire version history of GBM releases is available at http://mikemaximus.github.io/gbm-web/versionhistory.html

Game Backup Monitor v1.3.0

New in 1.3.0

All Platforms:

• New features for importing & exporting game configurations.
  • Added the ability to import any valid XML file from a HTTP or HTTPS URL.
    • This makes it a little easier to host and share your own configuration lists.
    • The last URL will be automatically saved to make it easier to repeatedly check the same list.
  • Added the ability to use import and export features from the "File" menu on the main window and system tray.
  • XML files are now cached in GBM's temporary folder when importing from the internet.
  • Added an optional method of greatly reducing the bandwidth used when hosting XML files.
• System tray menu has been changed to prevent it from getting too large.
  • A "File" sub-menu has been added and some features have been moved to this menu.
• Removed the "Sync Game IDs" feature.
  • This feature was designed to ease upgrades from old versions of GBM and should no longer be required.
• Fixed an issue with some browse windows on the Game Manager not opening to the correct location when using path variables.

Windows:

• Updated 7-Zip to 21.07
• Due to TLS 1.2 support, GBM now requires .NET Framework v4.5 or later.

Notice:

Supported languages other than English may be missing the translation of labels and messages introduced in this version.

Known Issues

#266

The entire version history of GBM releases is available at http://mikemaximus.github.io/gbm-web/versionhistory.html

Game Backup Monitor v1.2.9

New in 1.2.9

All Platforms:

• Added support for Simplified Chinese (Translation provided by @Juijote)
  • Language is automatically selected based on the regional setting of the operating system.
• The GBM tray icon and tooltip is now more informative when the backup path is not available at startup.
• Fixed issues with the Game Manager.
  • UI elements weren't being properly disabled or enabled in some situations.
  • Custom Filter window can now be closed by using the X button.
  • Game Path no longer automatically trims a file name when included, this feature did not work consistently.

The entire version history of GBM releases is available at http://mikemaximus.github.io/gbm-web/versionhistory.html

Game Backup Monitor v1.2.8

New in 1.2.8

All Platforms:

• Differential backups are now supported and can be enabled in the Game Manager.
  • Read the online manual for details on how and when to use this backup method.
• Validation on "Game Path" will now trim off a file name if it's been included.
• Fixed importing multiple backup files for a single game.
  • GBM will now create manifest entries for each file when appropriate, instead of just the newest file.
• The "Save multiple backups" option used with a specific backup limit will now only clean up expired backups when a new backup is successfully completed.
• Fixed unhandled exception on the Launcher Manager when using the "..." (Browse) button with an empty "Executable" field.

Windows:

• GBM no longer tries to determine a relative save path when the "Game Path" and "Save Path" are on different drives.
• Updated SQLite to 3.36.0

The entire version history of GBM releases is available at http://mikemaximus.github.io/gbm-web/versionhistory.html

Game Backup Monitor v1.2.7

New in 1.2.7

All Platforms:

• Added more support for launching games using external game launchers
  • Launchers that use their own executable to launch games are now supported.
    • GOG Galaxy is now available as a preconfigured launcher if it's installed in the default location.
  • More variables are now available to use when configuring launcher commands and parameters.
    • See the "Launching Games" section of the online manual for details.
  • The %ID% variable is no longer automatically appended to launch commands if it's missing.
• Added a new setting to control "Two-Pass Detection"
  • When enabled, the same process needs to be found on two consecutive detection passes to trigger GBM. This makes detection slower, but more reliable. This has always been the default.
  • When disabled, a process is registered as detected after a single pass. This makes detection twice as fast, but it may be unreliable in certain situations.
• Incomplete backup operations and automatic restore operations will no longer run at the same time when starting GBM.
  • Automatic restore operations will now wait for incomplete backup operations to be finished.
• GBM no longer attempts to start a linked process if it's already running.
• GBM no longer needs to be running as Administrator to do Windows registry backups.
• Fixed unreliable logic when detecting a process.
• Fixed an unexpected error that could occur while monitoring games detected with a window title.
• Fixed and changed the "Kill process when game is closed" field on the "Process Manager"
  • The form now properly changes to edit mode when this field is changed.
  • This field is no longer enabled by default when adding a new process.
• Fixed an issue with manually triggered backups being flagged as incomplete when they failed a prerequisite condition.

The entire version history of GBM releases is available at http://mikemaximus.github.io/gbm-web/versionhistory.html

Game Backup Monitor v1.2.6

New in 1.2.6

All Platforms:

• Any linked process that requires administrator privileges will now ask for elevation when being launched from GBM.
  • This means GBM no longer needs to be running as administrator to launch these linked processes.
• If GBM quits unexpectedly during a backup operation, such as a power outage or OS shutdown, any incomplete backup operations will be resumed automatically the next time you run the app.
• The "Play" button on the main form is now disabled for a few seconds after a game launch is triggered.
  • This prevents attempting to launch a game multiple times by accident.
• Fixed a crash that occurs on game detection when GBM cannot access the process details.
• Fixed the possibility of caching the incorrect icon in some situations.
• Prevented a confusing error from being shown in the log when an icon can't be cached for expected reasons.
• Fixed an issue that caused GBM to unnecessarily require the "Game Path" when detecting a game with a "Monitor Only" configuration.
• Fixed an issue with the automatic restore feature that could cause restore operations to trigger multiple times when using linked configurations.
• Fixed an issue that caused GBM to repeatedly detect the same process if an unexpected error occurred while waiting for that process to end.
  • The error message will now be displayed in the log and monitoring will be automatically stopped.
• The "Last Action" field on the main form now uses the regional setting for "Short Time" instead of being set to a specific format.
• Fixed the "Limit" field always displaying zero on the Game Manager.
• Fixed various small issues with the user interface.

The entire version history of GBM releases is available at http://mikemaximus.github.io/gbm-web/versionhistory.html

Game Backup Monitor v1.2.5

New in 1.2.5

All Platforms:

• Overhauled the user interface.
  • The "Start-Up Wizard" and "Add Game Wizard" instructions are now easier to read with a larger font.
  • Most buttons in the application are now larger with icons (Thanks to @Darthagnon for help with icons).
  • The redundant "Close" button has been removed from many forms.
  • The "Main Window" now has a collapsible game list with a search filter and quick access to features such backup, restore and game launching.
    • These new features can be disabled or hidden by default in Settings -> User Interface.
  • The "Game Manager" has been slimmed down for ease of use.
    • The size of the form has been reduced and the sections have been split into tabs.
    • Certain buttons and checkboxes have been moved into sub-menus.
  • The "Settings" form has been reorganized into more sections.
  • The "Quick Launch" feature introduced in v1.2.4 has been removed since games can now be launched directly from the main window.
• Added the option to detect games using a window title instead of a process name.
  • This adds another option for detecting games that all run from the same executable. Such as emulated games, browser games, or cloud service games.
  • In addition to the process ending, GBM will also end monitoring when the window title no longer matches the game configuration.
  • This feature is not supported in Linux, see the "Known Issues" section for details.
• Added option to show a notification when a backup operation has been completed.
  • This option is available in the "Backup and Restore" section of the Settings window, it defaults to disabled.
  • A single notification will be shown when a backup operation is completed, even if the operation included multiple games.
• Added "Detection Speed" setting.
  • Allows users monitoring for hundreds or even thousands of games at once to greatly lower CPU usage at the cost of detection speed.
  • The average user with a normal sized game list should never need to adjust this setting, even the "Fast" setting will use very little CPU power every few seconds.
  • This option is available in the "General" section of the Settings window, it defaults to "Fast".
• The "Icon" field now supports the use of Environment and Custom Path variables.
• The "Search" filter on the Main Window and Game Manager now supports filtering by tag.
  • Tags must be an exact match.
• AbsolutePath is now a calculated field and no longer stored.
  • This will break official lists for prior versions of GBM (v1.1.5 - v1.2.4). The last official list(s) compatible with these versions will be archived so they can still be accessed.
• Application settings are now handled more efficiently.
• Added missing code to properly update or delete existing launch data when certain configuration changes are made.
• Fixed issues with changing the Game ID when that configuration had existing backup files.

Windows:

• The icons from game executables are now cached after a session.
  • The "Main Window" and "Game Manager" will display the cached icon when viewing the game details, unless a custom icon has been set.
  • Cached icons are stored using the PNG format in the GBM temporary folder (can be customized in Settings).

Known Issues (Linux):

• Detecting games by window title does not work.
  • Mono hasn't implemented the "MainWindowTitle" property in System.Diagnostics.Process, so this feature is not supported in Linux at this time.

The entire version history of GBM releases is available at http://mikemaximus.github.io/gbm-web/versionhistory.html

Game Backup Monitor v1.2.4

New in 1.2.4

If you'd like more detailed information on the new game launching feature, check out the new FAQ and the online manual.

All Platforms:

• Added the ability to launch games.
  • Games are launched using information GBM has automatically detected or can be fully customized via the Game Manager.
    • Most games will need to be detected at least once in v1.2.4 or higher before they can be automatically launched using this feature.
  • Launch any configured game using the "Quick Launcher".
    • The Quick Launcher is available in the File menu, system tray menu and by using "Ctrl + L" on the main window.
  • Launch any configured game directly from the Game Manager.
  • Launch the last five games played from the system tray menu
    • The "Session Tracking" feature needs to be enabled and have enough recorded data to display any recently played games in the system tray menu.
• Added the ability to customize game launch options.
  • Added "Launch Settings..." button to Game Manager.
    • Allows the configuration of another launcher (such as Steam) to start the game instead of directly using an executable.
      • You can manage available launchers using the Launcher Manager. Some popular launchers will be preconfigured.
    • Allows the use of an alternate executable or script.
    • Allows setting alternate launch parameters (or disabling them).
• The process path is now always saved once a game has been detected.
  • Priors versions of GBM only saved the process path when it was required for backup or detection purposes.
  • A warning will now be displayed in the log when the process path cannot be determined.
• Session time (and total time played) will now update(once per minute) on the main window, instead of only being displayed after the game ends.
• Session time will now be displayed and update(once per minute) on the GBM tray icon tooltip.
• Disabled features will now have their options removed from all menus. This currently only applies to session tracking and game launching.
• Fixed issues that prevented configuration save paths from being updated correctly when a custom variable is modified or deleted.
• Deleting a custom variable will now properly remove the environment variable in the current session and update any affected game configurations.
• Editing a configuration while using a Custom filter on the Game Manager will no longer lose the changes if any tags are modified before saving.
• Modifying tags on a single configuration while using a Custom filter on the Game Manager will no longer unselect the current configuration.
• Any form that asks to save unchanged data on closing, will no longer just close and lose the changes if the form fails validation when choosing to save.
• Double right-clicking the tray icon no longer triggers "Restore Window".

Windows:

• GBM will no longer crash if the UAC prompt is cancelled while restarting as Administrator.

Known Issues (Linux):

• The "Quick Launcher" may not accept using the "Enter" key on the game list combo box to trigger closing the form and launching the game. You need to hit "Tab" then "Enter".

The entire version history of GBM releases is available at http://mikemaximus.github.io/gbm-web/versionhistory.html

Game Backup Monitor v1.2.3

New in 1.2.3

All Platforms:

• Improvements to the "Choose Game" window
  • It should now always be displayed in front of other windows after closing a game.
  • It now appears in the taskbar, just in case it does get hidden behind other windows.
  • The GBM icon is now displayed on this window.
• Improvements to the "Import Game Configurations" window
  • Added "Show Only Selected" option.
    • This option will filter the current list to show only currently selected configurations.
    • This option can be combined with the text filter.
  • Added "Detect Saved Games" button.
    • This button allows you to detect configurations with saved games. This has always been automatically done when the form is opened, but the button is useful if you need to start over.
    • Using this button will not unselect any configurations you manually selected.
  • Configurations in an import list that use only a special folder(or custom variable) as the save path, will no longer be incorrectly selected when detecting saved games.
    • These types of configurations cannot currently be detected, this only fixes them being selected by mistake.
  • You can now maximize or minimize this window.
  • Increased the default size of the window.
  • The GBM icon is now displayed on this window and it now appears in the taskbar.

Windows:

• Simplified the code used to hide the main window.
  • Prevents the weird flicker effect that could occur when clicking the close button.
• Updated SQLite to 3.33.0

The entire version history of GBM releases is available at http://mikemaximus.github.io/gbm-web/versionhistory.html