Can certain roots confuse ludusavi?

[Tortabinia]

When I first added these two custom games I didn't know the excact location of their save files so I gave ludusavi the root you get when you browse local game files on steam and it seemed to work. But one the sizes are a bit large compared to games with cloud support, 2 these locations aren't exactly at the data and 3 I see other people add their custom games differently. While it does seem it worked as when I had to edit a save file when an update to game I have meant I add to move around some folders (and the reason I began wondering if I had done this right) ludusavi reacted to that. But I thought I'd double check just to be safe.

[mtkennerly]

Hi! I need a little more specific detail in order to give you better advice. Could you please share a screenshot of the roots and custom games in question? And could you elaborate on what you mean by "other people add their custom games differently" - how so?

[pdrfranca]

Hi Tortabinia!

Generally, pointing Ludusavi to the game’s root Steam directory can sometimes work, but it’s not the best practice. Save files are usually stored in specific folders that may be outside the game’s root directory — for example, in user folders like Documents, AppData, or other game-specific locations.

Pointing to the root directory can cause Ludusavi to include larger and unnecessary files, which explains the bigger backup sizes you noticed. Also, when the game updates and moves or renames folders, Ludusavi may struggle to track those changes, which leads to the unexpected behavior you described.

To ensure your backups work smoothly and efficiently, I recommend:

1. Finding the exact location where the game stores its save files — you can often find this info on forums, official game documentation, or by checking common system folders.
2. Configuring Ludusavi to monitor only those specific save file folders, avoiding unrelated files.
3. Consulting Ludusavi’s official docs or community for examples of custom game configurations.

This way, your backups will be smaller, faster, and less prone to issues caused by updates or file moves.

If you want, I’d be happy to help identify the correct save locations for your specific game.

Hope this helps! :)

[Tortabinia]

Thanks for answering my question I do think I know where it is but I'll ask just to be sure is it in the compatdata part in where the games steam ID is and is there a specific point I should go to for the root I will give Ludusavi? Here's an image of where I mean (it should work I tried to upload an image originally but my phones image file type isn't supported but taking the picture from github seems to work.).

[Tortabinia]

Like maybe to here?

[pdrfranca]

Hi @Tortabinia,

Thanks for sharing the screenshots! Based on them, it looks like you're browsing to the Proton prefix of a Steam game (steamapps/compatdata/1289810/pfx/...) on your Steam Deck, which is correct.

You're currently including the entire compatdata folder, which works but might capture a lot of unnecessary files and increase backup size. From your second screenshot, we can see that the actual save data for Siralim Ultimate is located at:

steamapps/compatdata/1289810/pfx/drive_c/users/steamuser/AppData/Local/SiralimUltimate/save

To make your backup cleaner and more efficient, I recommend manually adding this specific path as a custom entry in Ludusavi. This way, you avoid backing up unrelated data like logs, caches, or temporary files.

If you’re unsure how to add a custom path in Ludusavi, let me know and I’d be happy to guide you step-by-step!

Also, if you have other games installed, feel free to send their Steam IDs or names — we can help you locate their save paths too.

Hope this helps!

[Tortabinia]

Thanks I'll edit my path its basically there I just need to make it a little longer.

[Tortabinia]

Alright then all done thanks for the help!



This looking good?