ludusavi VS gbm

The tool that people often recommend is Ludusavi. I don't know how they play with VN's very random location of saves, though, and even then I mostly use it on Linux where it's easy (if fairly space inefficient) to backup an entire wineprefix/steamcompat folder.

you can try to use this https://github.com/mtkennerly/ludusavi

Ludusavi https://github.com/mtkennerly/ludusavi — this looks like a very neat program but it’s designed for native PC games, not emulation, and I’m not sure how well it would work. Anyone use it for emulators?

ludusavi would be something to look into. It can backup saves, which is what you're after. Most of the time it gets the full save location correct, but make sure. As you don't want to waste time "backing up" to realize it only found the games settings.

i know this comes late, but for anyone who hasn't yet heard of it, there's ludusavi

I don't have any definite plans right now, but I would be interested in exploring it. I just opened a ticket to track the idea: https://github.com/mtkennerly/ludusavi/issues/211

Homepage and documentation

Game Backup Monitor + OneDrive

If you want an extreme solution you can check out Game Backup Monitor. It is a simple program that watches when you run a certain executable (the game) and then afterwards zips up a folder (the save game folder) and puts it in a backup location of your choice.

Game Backup Monitor - Need to use with a separate cloud sync service, like Google Drive.

I know the Heroic Launcher or Lutris are usually recommended for installing non-Ste games, but are there any tools for backing up non-Steam saves? Something like Game Backup Monitor (http://mikemaximus.github.io/gbm-web/)?

You could probably configure the Steam emulator you use with the game to save it to the game's root folder. Most/all of the SCENE emulators, and Goldberg (which you should use if possible, imo) all support this. Or use Game Backup Monitor

It is Game Backup Monitor. It's compatible with Windows and Linux, it is FOSS (Free and Open Source Software), and it has been highly reliable for me. It runs in the system tray (Windows only feature unfortunately for us Linux users) and detects when whatever games you set a profile for are running. When the game process ends, it asks you if you would like it to backup the game save files to your set directory. It is highly configurable, but not daunting to set up and get started with. Restoring a save is easily done as well, no copy & pasting required.

Here's a link to Game Backup Monitor, only downside on Linux is you can't minimize it to tray. There are other options out there as well.

Can I take a moment to reccommend our Lord and Saviour Game Backup Monitor? Needs a little manual configuration with the help of PCGamingWiki, but will backup all your save games to a sensible location in zip files.