[0.5.0] - 2026-02-14

SaveTracker v0.5.0 Features

This release marks a major milestone for SaveTracker, introducing significant architectural improvements, new features, and performance optimizations.

🌟 Core Enhancements

Profile System

• Multiple Save Profiles: Create and switch between different save states for the same game. Perfect for sharing a PC or experimenting with different playthroughs.
• Easy Switching: Swap profiles instantly from the game details view.

Performance Boost (.STA Files)

• Smart Transfer Architect (.STA): A new file handling system that packages small files together.
• 50% Faster Uploads: dramatically reduces cloud operation time by minimizing API calls.
• Reduced Clutter: Keeps your cloud storage organized and clean.

Headless Mode

• Silent Operation: Run SaveTracker without the UI window.
• Low Resource Usage: Optimized for background execution (ideal for handhelds/HTPCs).
• Dedicated Executable: SaveTracker.Headless.exe is built specifically for this purpose.

IPC Integration

• Inter-Process Communication: Full JSON-RPC API over Named Pipes.
• External Control: Allow other apps (like Playnite or custom scripts) to query game status, trigger syncs, and more.

🛠️ Tools & Utility

Achievement Tracking

• DRM-Free Support: Track achievement files for supported non-Steam games.

Migration Tool

• Seamless Upgrade: A built-in utility to migrate your existing tracked games to the new save system automatically.

Importer Logic 2.0

• Smart Import: enhanced logic for importing games from:
  • Steam
  • Playnite
  • Epic Games Store
  • GOG Galaxy

⚙️ Under the Hood

• Refined UI/UX: Smoother animations, better error handling, and a cleaner aesthetic.
• Pre-Caching System: Local caching of game metadata to reduce API calls and speed up browsing.
• Enhanced Debug Console: More detailed logs and real-time status updates for troubleshooting.
• Native AOT: The entire application is compiled ahead-of-time for instant startup and smaller footprint.
• Size Optimizations: The App is now less than 35MB.

H-0.1.0

This is but a test

[0.4.5] - 2025-12-08

🎉 SaveTracker v0.4.5 Release Notes

🐛 Bug Fixes & Improvements

• General improvements and bug fixes

UI Improvements

• Markdown Announcement Window: Release notes now display with rich formatting
  • Proper headers, bold text, and lists
  • Better readability and visual hierarchy
  • Easier to scan for important information

---

Thank you for using SaveTracker! Your feedback helps us make it better. 🎮

[0.4.4.1] - 2025-12-08

🎉 SaveTracker v0.4.4.1 Release Notes

🆕 Major Features

Analytics & Announcements System

• Opt-Out Analytics: Analytics are now enabled by default to help improve SaveTracker
  • Completely anonymous - NO personal information collected
  • Track only: device ID (hashed), game names, file counts, play duration
  • Easy to disable in Settings → Analytics
• Version-Based Announcements: New announcement window shows important updates
  • Appears once per version
  • Shows again when you update to a new version
  • Never miss important changes

Windows Notification System

• Native Windows Notifications: Toast notifications for tracking and upload events
• In-App Notifications: Visual feedback when app is in focus
• System Tray Integration: Notifications work even when minimized

Enhanced Search

• Search Finally Working: Improved game search functionality
• Better Filtering: Find your games faster

Settings Window Redesign

• Tabbed Interface: Clean organization with General, Analytics, and Updates tabs
• Modern Design: Matches SaveTracker's aesthetic
• Better UX: Easier to find and configure settings

---

✨ Improvements

Performance & Optimization

• Optimized Game Loading: Auto-cleanup and parallel validation
• Faster Startup: Removed deprecated code and improved efficiency
• Better Memory Usage: Cleaned up TrackedLogic.cs

Cloud & Sync

• Cloud Library: Enhanced cloud save management
• Smart Sync: Improved synchronization logic
• Upload Bug Fixes: Critical fixes for upload reliability

Game Management

• Playnite Import: Import your games from Playnite
• Per-Game Settings: Delete button added for easier management
• PlayTime Tracking: Record and display play duration
• Cross-Platform Icons: Better icon extraction using Ico.Reader

---

🐛 Bug Fixes

• Fixed critical upload bugs
• Improved UI state management
• Fixed refresh issues
• Better download logic
• Enhanced save backup validation
• Various stability improvements
• Announcements Board "Never Show Again" Critical Bug Fix

---

📝 Privacy & Analytics Notice

This release introduces opt-out analytics to help us improve SaveTracker. We collect:

• ✅ Anonymous device ID (SHA256 hash)
• ✅ Game names (no paths)
• ✅ File counts (no file names)
• ✅ Play duration

We DO NOT collect:

• ❌ Personal information
• ❌ File paths or names
• ❌ Cloud provider details

You can disable analytics anytime in Settings → Analytics.

---

Thank you for using SaveTracker! Your feedback helps us make it better. 🎮

[0.4.3] - 2025-12-07

v0.4.3 - Improved Tracking & Duplicate Management

This release focuses on stability, fixing critical tracking issues, and improving the game import experience.

✨ New Features

• Smart Duplicate Handling:
  • Adding a game (manually or via Playnite) now intelligently detects existing entries by Name or Executable Path.
  • Automatically updates game paths and icons while preserving your local settings (Cloud Provider, Smart Sync preferences).
• Smart Sync Settings: Added per-game configuration for Smart Sync (Enable/Disable).

🐛 Bug Fixes & Improvements

• Process Tracking:
  • Fixed a race condition where some launcher-based games (giving a false positive “stop” signal) were not being tracked.
  • Optimized detection intervals for better reliability.
• Playnite Import BETA:
  • Partial integration of Playnite library import, reliant on JsonLibraryImportExport.
• Cloud Save System:
  • Fixed a critical bug where updated files were sometimes skipped during upload due to checksum timing issues.
  • Fixed the "Cloud Save Found" prompt not appearing for new games with existing cloud data.
  • Re-enabled Blacklist functionality for excluding specific files/folders.
• UI/UX:
  • Immediate UI refresh when game details are updated.
  • Improved icon extraction to be more robust.

[0.4.2] - 2025-12-05

🔥 Critical Bug Fixes

• Fixed checksum dictionary key collision - Files with identical names in different folders (e.g., AutoSave-4/sav.dat, AutoSave-17/sav.dat) were overwriting each other in the tracking dictionary, preventing proper upload detection
• Fixed cloud upload path structure - Cloud uploads now preserve directory hierarchy instead of flattening all files to root, preventing save file overwrites in cloud storage
• Fixed startup with admin privileges - Rewrote startup manager to use Windows Task Scheduler with RunLevel=HighestAvailable, enabling proper ETW tracking on system boot
• Fixed First Launch Cloud Save Check - Fixed Issues Caused The Prompt For Save Check To Not Appear at First Launch

✨ New Features

• PlayTime tracking - Automatic recording of play time for all tracked games, persists across sessions
• Backward compatibility - Download and checksum systems now support both legacy flat-file structure and new hierarchical cloud storage format

🎨 Improvements

• Cross-platform icon extraction - Migrated from System.Drawing.Common to Ico.Reader for better compatibility and icon quality
• Enhanced UI state management - Improved error handling, null checking, and sync status display
• Better tracking reliability - Added secondary verification check for save backups
• Comprehensive debug logging - Added detailed logging for upload pipeline, checksum comparisons, and cloud operations

🔧 Technical Details

• Cloud uploads now use format: Ex: box:GameName/AutoSave-4/sav.dat (was: box:GameName/sav.dat)
• Checksum lookup tries new path-based format first, falls back to legacy filename format
• Task Scheduler replaces registry Run key for Windows startup

⚠️ Migration Notes

• Existing flat-structure cloud saves remain compatible and will download correctly
• New uploads automatically use hierarchical structure
• If "Start with Windows" was enabled, re-enable it in Settings to create new scheduled task

0.4.1 Beta Release

SaveTracker Desktop v0.4.1 Release Notes

SaveTracker Desktop v0.4.1! This release focuses on enhancing usability, providing better visual feedback, and solidifying the core tracking capabilities.

🌟 Highlights

👁️ GameWatcher: Seamless External Tracking

Did you know? You don't have to launch games through SaveTracker for them to be tracked!

• Automatic Detection: The new GameWatcher runs in the background and automatically detects when you launch a configured game from Steam, Epic, or directly from the executable.
• Zero Friction: Just play your games as usual. SaveTracker handles the backup and sync process silently when you close the game.

⚙️ Per-Game Configuration

Take full control over how each game is handled:

• Custom Cloud Providers: Use Google Drive for one game and OneDrive for another. You can now override global cloud settings on a per-game basis.
• Toggle Tracking/Uploads: specific games can have tracking or auto-uploading disabled without affecting your entire library.

🚀 Integrated Game Launcher

• Launch & Track: You can now launch your games directly from the SaveTracker dashboard.
• Smart Checks: The launcher automatically verifies cloud sync status before starting the game, ensuring you're always playing the latest version of your save.

✨ UI & UX Improvements

• Visual Feedback: We've added clear status indicators and color-coded badges so you always know what's happening (Syncing, Idle, Tracking).
• Refined Interface: A cleaner, more intuitive design makes managing your library easier than ever.
• Ease of Use: Simplified workflows for adding games and managing cloud files.

🛠️ Under the Hood

• Robust Tracking: Improved file system monitoring ensures no save file change goes unnoticed.
• Performance: Optimized startup and background processing for a lighter footprint.

---

Important

Early Development Notice: SaveTracker Desktop is currently in its early stages of development (Beta). While I'm working hard to provide a stable and feature-rich experience, you may encounter bugs or incomplete features. Your feedback is crucial in helping us mature the application for a full release!

Upgrade today to experience the most reliable way to manage your PC game saves!

Beta Release

v0.3.0 - Admin Privileges, Auto-Updates & Stability 🚀
This release brings significant improvements to application stability, user experience, and lays the groundwork for seamless future updates.

✨ Key Features
🛡️ Administrator Privilege Handling

SaveTracker now intelligently checks if it has the necessary permissions to monitor game processes.
If Admin rights are required, a friendly prompt allows you to restart the application as Administrator with a single click.
Fix: Resolved a startup hang/crash issue related to the permission check. The check is now non-blocking and safe.
🔄 Auto-Updater Foundation

Integrated a robust update checking system.
The app can now detect new versions on GitHub, ensuring you're always on the latest release.
🐛 Easier Issue Reporting

Added a "Report Issue" button in the settings menu, making it easier to provide feedback or report bugs directly on GitHub.
☁️ Cloud Storage Improvements

Enhanced Rclone integration for smoother cloud save synchronization.
🛠️ Technical Changes
Refactored startup logic to prevent UI blocking.
Improved handling of minimized/hidden windows during dialog prompts.
Updated project structure for better maintainability.
📦 Installation
Download the SaveTracker.exe below. No installation required - just run it!