Save sync

Gameyfin backs up your saves after you play and restores the newest one before you start, on every PC that syncs to the same place. You can also restore older versions and move saves to a new location.

Using a Gameyfin server for saves needs server support that is not merged into Gameyfin yet. Until it is, run ghcr.io/wieluk/gameyfin:gameyfin-app as your server. A folder or WebDAV share works with any Gameyfin server.

How it works

1. Finding saves. Gameyfin uses Ludusavi, which comes with the app. Ludusavi has a community database of where thousands of games keep their saves: files in Documents or AppData, folders beside the game, and on Windows, registry keys.
2. Backing up. When a game closes, Ludusavi copies its save files into Gameyfin/Saves in your games folder. Gameyfin packs them and uploads them as a new version, but only if something changed.
3. Restoring. Before a game starts, Gameyfin checks for a newer version from another PC, downloads it and lets Ludusavi put each file back where it belongs.

A small window shows each step. You can skip a restore while it downloads. A session that started without the newer save is then not uploaded afterwards, so it cannot bury that save; you choose which one to keep under Saves. If a restore fails, the game waits for you instead of starting on an old save.

If the place your saves are kept cannot be reached, for example on a Steam Deck away from home, the game starts with the save on this PC. The upload after playing waits and is tried again every few minutes while Gameyfin runs, so the save reaches your other PCs once you are back online.

Recognising a game

Gameyfin matches each game to the Ludusavi database by its Steam AppID if your server knows it, then by title. It never guesses: if it is not certain, the game shows Not sure which game this is and you press Choose game to pick the right entry. A wrong match would restore one game's save over another's.

You only do this on one PC. Every save carries the entry it was made under, so your other PCs use the same one.

The database updates itself once a day, and a game that was not recognised is looked up again after each update. To get a new game in sooner, press Update game database in Settings, Saves.

Where saves are kept

Settings, Saves, Where saves are kept:

Location	Use it when
Gameyfin server	Your server supports save sync (see the note above). Retention is set on the server.
A folder	Something else syncs that folder: Syncthing, rclone, Nextcloud or Dropbox. In the Flatpak it must be inside your home folder. If two PCs upload before the folder has caught up, the next sync shows a conflict rather than picking one.
WebDAV	You have a Nextcloud, ownCloud or other WebDAV share and do not want to mount it. Use an app password: it is stored unencrypted.

For a folder or WebDAV, Versions to keep per game (default 10) sets how many old versions stay. Press Test connection after changing anything.

Other options:

• Sync my saves: the main switch.
• Restore before a game starts and Back up after a game closes: the two automatic steps.
• This device's name, in Settings, Account: shown beside every save this PC uploads.

The Saves page

Each game shows one line saying where it stands:

Status	Meaning	What to do
Backed up	This PC and the store match.	Nothing.
Played, not uploaded yet	You played since the last upload.	Nothing: it uploads by itself once it can. Back up does it now.
A newer save from another PC	Another PC uploaded since.	Restore, or just start the game.
Both have unsaved progress	Both PCs played since they last synced.	Resolve, see Conflicts.
Only saved on (system), which does not restore onto (system) by itself	The only stored save comes from a system whose save folders differ from this PC's.	Back up this PC's own save, or see Windows, Proton and Linux.
Not sure which game this is	No certain database match.	Choose game, or Set folders.
Nothing saved yet, or the saves are not where the game keeps them	Recognised, but no files found.	Play first, or Set folders.
Not backed up yet	Never synced on this PC.	Back up.
An error in red	The last backup or restore failed, for the reason shown.	Fix the cause, then Try again.

Show picks the list: Installed (the default), With saves adds games with stored saves that are not installed here, and All games lists your whole library. A save can only be restored once its game is installed. Search saves narrows the list by title.

A line above the list counts what needs you, such as a newer save to restore or a failed backup, and those games come first.

Expand a game to:

• see every stored version with its date, device, system and size
• restore any version that works on this PC
• lock a version so cleanup never removes it
• delete versions
• Open folder where the saves are on this PC
• Set folders or Choose game

The ⋯ menu at the top holds the actions for every game at once, each asking first:

• Back up all: backs up every installed game whose saves were found, one after another. An unchanged save is not uploaded again, and a game with a newer save elsewhere is left for you to decide.
• Open backups folder: opens Gameyfin/Saves.
• Delete all saves: removes every stored save for every game. Save files on this PC are not touched.

First start on a PC

The first time you start a game on a PC and saves for it already exist in the store, Gameyfin settles it by itself where it can:

• No save files on this PC: the newest stored save is restored and the game starts.
• The same save already here, for example through Steam Cloud: it is taken as synced.

Only when this PC has save files that differ from the stored ones does Gameyfin ask Which save?, since you may have played the game here before using Gameyfin. The dialog says when this PC's files last changed, so you can compare.

• Restore and play: pick a version (the newest one that works here is preselected).
• Keep mine and play: keeps and uploads what this PC has. The stored save stays in the version history.
• Not now: the game does not start, and the question comes back next time.

Conflicts

A conflict means two PCs both played since they last synced, so one save would overwrite the other. Gameyfin asks as soon as it finds one: before the game starts, so you never play on the wrong save, or after it closes. It shows both side by side:

• Keep this PC's save: uploads it. The other stays in the version history.
• Keep the cloud save: restores the other PC's save over this one.
• Keep both: uploads this PC's save and locks the other, so cleanup never removes it. You can restore either later.
• Not now (or Decide later): before a game starts, it does not start.

Windows, Proton and Linux

Saves carry the system they were made on:

Tag	Made by
Windows	a game on Windows
Windows, on Proton	a Windows game on Linux, through Proton or Wine
Linux	a native Linux build

Windows and Proton saves are interchangeable. A Windows game on Linux keeps its saves in Windows-style folders inside its prefix, and Gameyfin maps that prefix's user folder onto the real user folder on Windows. So you can play on a Windows desktop, carry on on a Steam Deck, and go back.

Your username and install folder do not matter either: both are stored as neutral placeholders and filled in with this PC's own paths on restore. The same goes for a Documents folder OneDrive has moved on Windows, and for folders a Wine prefix links into your Linux home.

Windows or Proton to a native Linux build does not map on its own, because the save folders are completely different. Each system then keeps its own line of saves: a native Linux PC syncs with other native Linux PCs and ignores the Windows saves, and the other way round. Saves that do not work on this PC are greyed out in its version list.

To carry saves between them anyway, open Set folders on each PC:

1. Under Different folders on other PCs, add the game's save folder on that PC and give it the same stored as name on every PC.
2. Turn on Use saves from other systems.

Registry settings are not carried.

Registry saves. A few games keep saves or settings in the Windows registry. On Windows, Ludusavi backs those up. Inside a Proton prefix only files are captured.

Steam

• Games from Steam itself are not synced automatically, since only games in your Gameyfin library are. If the same game is in your library, Find saves on this PC (below) can back up the progress you made in Steam.
• Steam AppIDs from your server make recognition more reliable.
• A Gameyfin game added to Steam as a shortcut still starts through Gameyfin, so its saves sync as usual. See Shortcuts.

Find saves on this PC

Saves, Find saves on this PC scans the whole machine for anything the Ludusavi database recognises: normal save locations, your Steam library (including Proton games' saves on Linux) and every Gameyfin prefix. It can take a few minutes.

Each find is matched to a game in your library where possible. Tick what you want and press Back up. A find with no match needs Match to a game first, since a stored save always belongs to a library game. Nothing is backed up until you tick it.

Use this when you start using Gameyfin on a PC that already has progress.

Set folders

For a game the database does not know, or where it looks in the wrong place, press Set folders on its row.

• Save folders: where this game keeps saves on this PC. Adding one lets an unknown game be backed up. For a known game, the folders are added to what the database already finds. The dialog shows where saves were already found, and offers folders named like the game in the usual save places: press Add on one. For a Windows game on Linux, Browse starts inside its prefix, and a folder picked there still lands in the right place on a Windows PC.
• Different folders on other PCs: only for a save kept in a different folder on another PC. Set the folder on each PC. Leave stored as blank and it is named after the game, so it matches on every PC.
• Use saves from other systems: restores saves made on Windows or Linux here too. Turn it on once the folders above are mapped on each PC.

Save folders travel with the save: another PC that restores it uses the same folders, so you only set them once.

Move saves

Settings, Saves, Move saves copies saves between the server, a folder and WebDAV, for example when switching location.

• Nothing is deleted from the source, so running it again is safe and only copies what is missing.
• By default only each game's newest save is copied. Tick Copy every version for the full history.
• Both locations use their own settings, so set up the new one before copying.

Ludusavi version

A copy of Ludusavi ships with the app. Settings, Saves can download a newer or an older version. Removing a downloaded one falls back to the built-in copy. Your backups are not affected either way.

Troubleshooting

Problem	Try
"Your server does not support save sync"	The server lacks save support. Use ghcr.io/wieluk/gameyfin:gameyfin-app, or a folder or WebDAV.
"Save sync is turned off on your server"	An administrator switched it off on the server.
A game is not recognised	Choose game, or Set folders. Your other PCs pick up the answer.
Backed up but nothing found	Play and save in the game first. Check Open folder, then Set folders.
Restored to the wrong place	Check Choose game picked the right entry. Fix paths with Set folders.
A save from Windows will not restore on a native Linux build	Map the folders under Set folders on both PCs, then turn on Use saves from other systems.
A save did not reach another PC	It uploads once the place your saves are kept can be reached again. Back up tries now.