Game Backup Monitor v1.2.2

New in 1.2.2

All Platforms:

• Added new settings to customize the UI
  • Added "Exit when closing main window"
    • Allows the user to exit the app completely when closing the main window, instead of hiding it.
    • This option defaults to enabled in Linux and disabled in Windows.
  • Added "Exit without confirmation"
    • Allows the user to exit the app without the confirmation pop-up.
    • This defaults to disabled in both Linux and Windows.
• Attempted to unify how the UI functions in Windows / Linux and reduce the amount of platform specific work-arounds.
  • You can now minimize the main window to the taskbar in Windows.
  • You can no longer double-click the tray icon or use the "Show / Hide" option to toggle the visibility of the main window.
    • The "Show / Hide" option has been replaced by "Restore Window".
    • Double-clicking the tray icon or using "Restore Window" will always restore the app to a normal, visible state and give it focus.
  • Unfortunately, the main window cannot be hidden in Linux. In cases where it's supposed to be hidden, it will be minimized instead.
    • Hiding the main window in Linux requires too many work-arounds and my goal was to reduce the amount of platform specific code.
• Improved platform detection.
  • The "About Game Backup Monitor" window will now display which platform the app is running on (Mono or .NET) and the version.
• Reduced the amount of platform specific code when the app initalizes, this may improve performance.
• The "Start-Up Wizard" will now always appear in the center of screen, instead of sometimes appearing in a random location.
• The system tray menu is now disabled during the "Start-Up Wizard".
• Updated window titles on the custom folder browsers to give more concise instructions.
• Fixed the forced import of multiple backup files when using the Game Manager.
  • It will now create manifest entries for each file when appropriate, instead of just the newest file.

Linux:

• Fixed the incorrect save path being stored in the metadata when making backups from games running in Proton / Wine.
• Moved the wine path detection output into a debug mode instead of cluttering up the log.
• The Include/Exclude builder on the Game Manager will now properly open to the Proton / Wine saved game path when possible.

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

Game Backup Monitor v1.2.1

New in 1.2.1

All Platforms:

• Fixed a possible crash when renaming a game with existing backup files while a cloud client is monitoring the backup folder. (#197)
• Fixed a rare issue that could cause the wrong game to be pre-selected when opening the Game Manager. (#198)
• Fixed an issue causing the ampersand character to be hidden in certain controls.
  • Ex. Mount & Blade II: Bannerlords will now be displayed correctly.
• Various changes for debugging and building releases.

Windows:

• Installers are now built with NSIS 3.05

Linux:

• The system tray icon is now enabled for desktop environments that support it (Cinnamon, LXDE). (#200)
  • You'll need an up-to-date version of Mono for the tray icon to work, tested with Mono 6.8.0.
• Fixed an issue that caused opening external apps to fail when using the latest versions of Mono. (#199)

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

Game Backup Monitor v1.2.0

New in 1.2.0

All Platforms:

• Added the ability to easily backup or restore the entire game list.
  • Use the "Run Full Backup" or "Run Full Restore" options in the File menu or Tray menu to easily backup or restore your entire game list.
  • Any confirmations or checks requiring user input are automatically handled when using these tools. See the "Full Backup and Restore" section of the manual for details.
• Added the ability to "link" game configurations.
  • This allows any linked configuration(s) to automatically run a backup or restore each time their parent is triggered. This can continue in a chain.
  • This feature allows for the proper configuration of rare games that stored their saved games in multiple unique locations. It may also have other creative uses.
  • Please read "Link -> Configuration" in the "Game Manager" section of the manual for details on exactly how this feature works.
• Metadata is now added to all backup files.
  • This is a small XML file that contains important information about the archive and the configuration used to make the backup.
  • This allows GBM and possibly any other software to easily identify and use GBM backup files.
  • This file is not extracted when restoring a backup, it will not be cluttering up your saved game folders.
• All backup operations are now performed in a temporary folder before the resulting file is moved to the backup folder.
  • This change was required to fix periodic issues with cloud software (Dropbox) locking backup files while they were being created.
  • The temporary folder can be manually set in "Settings -> Backup and Restore", it defaults to %LOCALAPPDATA%\gbm (~/.local/share/gbm).
• Improved the ability to import backup files using metadata.
  • There is a now a global tool to import backup files or entire folders available in the "Tools" menu.
  • Only backup files with GBM metadata can be imported using this new tool.
  • You may still force the import of any 7z archive using the "Import Backup Files" tool in the Game Manager.
• GBM now properly checks for available disk space when doing batch operations.
• GBM no longer attempts to search for a game when the process name is a regular expression, it isn't supported.
• Fixed various long-standing problems with the "Cancel" button.
  • Using "Cancel" during a backup or restore now properly cancels out of batch operations.
  • Using the "Cancel" button no longer prevents future operations from executing properly.
• The Help menu is no longer disabled unnecessarily when the application is busy.
• Various other small improvements have been made to the GUI and messages to improve usability.

Changes from 1.2.0 Pre-Release 1

All Platforms:

• Fixed various issues when linking to or from "Monitor Only" configurations.

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

Game Backup Monitor v1.1.9 Hotfix 2

Visit http://mikemaximus.github.io/gbm-web/index.html for news and updates regarding new releases.

New in 1.1.9HF2

All Platforms:

• Multiple variables in the same path are now supported. (#190)
  • This feature is meant to allow the mix of relative path variables with a single absolute path variable when the situation requires it.
  • Multiple Custom Path Variables in the same path are now supported.
  • Mixing Environment Variables with relative Custom Path Variables is now supported.
• Allow saving a game configuration with an empty Process field. (#189)
  • This feature is meant to make life easier for users who want to use GBM for manual backups.
  • New users will receive a one-time warning when saving a configuration with no Process, current users may or may not receive this new warning.
  • Configurations with an empty Process field will be automatically excluded from monitoring, regardless of the "Monitor this Game" setting.

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

Game Backup Monitor v1.1.9 Hotfix 1

Visit http://mikemaximus.github.io/gbm-web/index.html for news and updates regarding new releases.

New in 1.1.9HF1

All Platforms:

• Custom Path Variables and certain Environment Variables are now supported in the "Game Path" field. (#187)
• Fixed multiple crash issues caused by a custom icon being an invalid image format. (#188)
• GBM now uses UTC date/time for the build identifier.

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

Game Backup Monitor v1.1.9

Visit http://mikemaximus.github.io/gbm-web/index.html for news and updates regarding new releases.

New in 1.1.9

All Platforms:

• Fixed a bug on the Game Manager that caused the "Save Entire Folder" checkbox to be unchecked anytime the "Save Path" field was changed.
• The "Add Game Wizard" now allows you to set an unlimited number of backups.
• The "Backup Limit" label has been updated to indicate that 0 means unlimited.
• The "Open Backup File" button on the Game Manager is now called "Open Backup". It now gives a choice between opening the backup file or the folder containing the file.
• Set rules are now used for backup folder and file names, regardless of the operating system GBM is running on.
  • GBM now always filters out NTFS reserved characters and allows a maximum file name length of 255.
  • This will prevent various problems when using a backup drive with a non-standard file system in Linux or Windows.
  • These rules will be applied to new backup files or folders, existing backups not be modified.
• Made improvements to the Start-Up Wizard.
  • The default backup location now includes a "Game Backup Monitor" sub-folder.
  • The wizard will now automatically create the backup location if it doesn't exist.
  • You can no longer attempt to Import Backup Files during the Start-Up Wizard.

Linux:

• Fixed a bug that caused the "Available Disk Space" check to fail if the backup folder contained one or more spaces.

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

Game Backup Monitor v1.1.8

Visit http://mikemaximus.github.io/gbm-web/index.html for news and updates regarding new releases.

New in 1.1.8

All Platforms:

• Added the ability to backup and restore saved games that are stored in the Windows registry:
  • This feature is also supported in Linux for Windows games running in Wine/Proton.
  • Please see the online manual for more details on how to use this feature.
• On startup, GBM now waits up to one minute for the current backup location to become available before displaying an error message.
  • The error message can now be canceled to continue waiting.
  • This is useful for delayed network shares on startup or if you forgot to plug in an external backup drive.
• The "Choose Game" window now displays tags in addition to the game name when multiple configurations are detected.
• The "Backup Confirmation" window should now always get top focus after a gaming session ends.
  • This fix has also been applied to other important messages to make sure they don't get hidden behind other windows.
• The Game Manager and Custom Variable Manager now use a different folder browser where applicable.
  • The new browser provides better usability for power users, other areas of the app will still use the classic folder browser.
  • The new browser allows Linux users to "Show Hidden Folders", which can't be done using the classic Folder Browser.
• When a UNC path is used for the backup folder, the disk space check prior to backups will be automatically disabled because it cannot be done.
• The disk space check prior to backups can now be disabled in the "Backup and Restore" settings.
• Added "Operating System" field to game configurations:
  • "Windows" and "Linux" are the only valid choices at this time and only Linux users are allowed to change this field.
• Changed how GBM initilizes on startup to fix some long standing issues.
• Fixed some inconsistencies with form icons and when forms are shown in the task bar.
• GBM no longer provides a warning about "Syncing Game IDs" when importing configurations in the Game Manager.
  • The warning was very confusing and is no longer relevant to most users.
  • The "Sync Game IDs" Tool will continue to be available for now, but the messaging has been changed warning not to use it without reading the manual first.

Windows:

• Updated SQLite to 3.27.2
• Updated 7-Zip to 19.00

Linux:

• You can now set GBM to automatically start on log-in via the "Startup" settings.
  • This requires that GBM be installed via a package manager or the makefile, so any required files are in a known location. The option will be disabled otherwise.
• The "Start Minimized" option is now available in "Startup" settings.
• GBM now stores all Wine configuration data seperately from the core game configuration:
  • The core configuration is no longer altered in any way when a game is detected running in Wine or Proton.
  • The Wine configuration data is now automatically updated each time a game is detected, such as when running the game from a new prefix.
  • This data can be viewed and manually modified on the Game Manager.
• Fixed the handling of Wine/Proton games when multiple configurations are detected.
• Fixed a crash when using "Backup Only" and "New Backups Pending" filters on the Game Manager.
• The Mono and GBM process will now exit cleanly if a critical error occurs during startup.
• GBM will no longer show the exit dialog when a critical error occurs.

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

Game Backup Monitor v1.1.7

Visit http://mikemaximus.github.io/gbm-web/index.html for news and updates regarding new releases.

New in 1.1.7

All Platforms:

• Fixed an issue that caused the include/exclude builder to crash GBM when a save path contained illegal characters.
• Fixed an issue that prevented GBM from recording the correct time spent playing a game, when that game was played over consecutive sessions.

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

Game Backup Monitor v1.1.6

New in 1.1.6

All Platforms:

• Added support for games that save to the Windows %PROGRAMDATA% location.
• The Game Manager now automatically selects the last detected game when opened.
• Backup files can no longer be imported into a "Monitor Only" configuration.
• Optimized the memory and cpu usage of Regular Expressions when monitoring for games.
• Added a "Recurse sub-folders" option
  • This option is set per game configuration, it is available on Include/Exclude window of the Game Manager and Add Game Wizard.
  • It is enabled by default on all current and new configurations.
  • Disabling this option prevents 7-Zip and GBM from scanning every sub-folder and file of a save path. This useful when backing up specific files inside an extremely large folder.
• Fixed a possible issue with backups when the configuration uses folder path includes.

Linux:

• Fixed a memory leak issue with Mono and Regular Expressions.
• Fixed some issues when detecting the prefix of Wine/Proton games.
  • The default prefix (~/.wine) will be assumed when a detected game does not have the WINEPREFIX variable set.
  • A prefix can now be fully detected when it contains spaces.
• Windows configurations that use a relative save path are now properly converted when detected in Wine/Proton.

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

Important Issues:

• In some cases, GBM is not properly recording the time spent playing a game. This has been an issue since v1.1.5, but only came to my attention recently. Please note that this issue does not affect the tracking of individual sessions.

Game Backup Monitor v1.1.5

New in 1.1.5

All Platforms:

• Fixed a crash that could occur when renaming a game configuration.
• Rewrote portions of game detection:
  • The handling of duplicate game configurations has been flawed since regular expression support was added in v1.1. This has been fixed.
  • GBM is now more efficient when detecting games by parameter and/or process path.
• Changed how save path variables are handled:
  • GBM no longer uses it's own format and naming scheme for path variables.
  • GBM now uses Windows environment variables in game configurations.
    • For example, *appdatalocal* is now %LOCALAPPDATA% in a Windows configuration.
    • GBM also uses some custom environment variables, such as %USERDOCUMENTS% and %COMMONDOCUMENTS%. These are needed for compatability and to handle some limitations with how GBM interacts with 7-Zip.
  • GBM now uses the XDG specification for game configurations in Linux. (Thanks basxto!)
    • For example, *appdatalocal* is now ${XDG_DATA_HOME:-~/.local/share} in a Linux configuration.
  • Custom Path Variables have changed. For example, *Steam User Data* will now be %Steam User Data%.
    • They will appear this way in Windows and Linux.
    • GBM will no longer allows the creation of variables using reserved names, such as APPDATA.
  • Your configurations will be automatically updated to these new formats when upgrading to v1.1.5.
  • These changes will break game list compatability with other versions of GBM. Archived lists are available at http://mikemaximus.github.io/gbm-web/archive.html for those that wish to stay on an older version.
• Added a new setting, "Show resolved save paths in Game Manager".
  • This new setting is enabled by default.
  • When enabled, GBM will display resolved save paths in the Game Manager. This is how GBM displayed paths prior to v1.1.5.
  • When disabled, GBM will display save paths with their variables when applicable.
• Added a tooltip to applicable "Path" fields on the Game Manager.
  • This tooltip either displays either a resolved or unresolved path.
  • The behaviour is toggled by the "Show resolved save paths" setting.
• Added "Import Backup Files" feature to the Game Manager.
  • This feature allows you to import one or more backup files for a specific game configuration.
  • This is useful if you lost your GBM database(s), but not the backup files. It also can be used to easily move compatible saved game backups between Windows and Linux.
  • GBM cannot verify that the backups being imported are compatible with the current configuration. This is up to the user!
  • This feature will be expanded and refined in future releases.

Linux:

• Fixed an issue that prevented Wine / Proton games from being detected in some cases.
• GBM can now use any Windows configuration to detect and backup games running in Wine / Proton.
  • An absolute Windows save path, such "%APPDATA%\Game\Saved Games" will be automatically converted to the proper path within the detected Wine prefix.
  • The converted path will be saved to the configuration once game has been detected at least once.
  • You cannot restore a backup using an absolute Windows path. The game needs to be detected at least once so the correct save path can be determined.
  • This feature should be considered "Beta" and may not work in all scenarios. Please report any issues you may encounter!

Website:

• Search features have been added to the Official Game Lists (Thanks basxto!)
  • Includes advanced features such as searching by tag and excludes.
  • Tags are now clickable for automatic searching of similar games.
  • Searches are linkable.
  • You can now link directly to a single configuration using the new link icon.
  • Configurations intelligently collapse or uncollapse based on search results.

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