BackMeUp

Automatically backup your Ubisoft savegames

What is it?

It's a Windows application that:

• runs in the background;
• periodically scans Ubisoft Connect's savegames direcotry for any changes;
• copies newest saves to a backup directory;
• stores every backed up save in a path with:
  • a readable game name;
  • a timestamp of when the backup was made;
• has a tray icon that shows application state;
• can autostart on Windows startup, so you don't need to remember.

It is something I've written after losing my 24 hour save. I don't expect it would happen again, but running this removes the anxiety.

Requirements

This tool uses .NET Framework 4.6.

• If you're using Windows 10, you should be good to go.
• Otherwise download the newest version of .NET Framework Runtime here.

Installation

For now BackMeUp is published as a simple .zip file. Extract it wherever you fancy (ex. C:\BackMeUp). Feel free to add a desktop shortcut, or configure automatic startup (below).

Start Up

If you would like the tool to automatically start after boot up, run the startup-add.bat. This will add shortcut to BackMeUp.exe in %USERPROFILE%\Start Menu\Programs\StartUp.

Don't forget to run startup-remove.bat before deleting/moving the tool folder to clean up.

Configuration

BackMeUp has two configuration files:

• config.json
• games.json

config.json

Main configuration file.

• BackupDirectory - place to copy save files to. If configured directory does not exist, it will be created. Take notice of double backslash (\\) when specifying a path. Default is "C:\Ubisoft_savegame_Backups".
• BackupPeriod - how often backups should be created. The format is HH:mm:ss as in hours:minutes:seconds. Default is 10 minutes.

Example:

{
    "BackupDirectory" : "E:\\My_Ubisoft_Backups",
    "BackupPeriod" : "01:00:00" 
}

This configuration will create backups in E:\My_Ubisoft_Backups and run every hour.

games.json

A list that maps Ubisoft game id to a given game. The format is:

"game_id": "game_name",

Example:

{
    "Games": {
        "437": "Assassin's Creed IV Black Flag",
        "3539": "Assassin's Creed Origins",
        "46": "Far Cry 3",
        "205": "Far Cry 3 Blood Dragon",
        "1803": "Far Cry 5",
        "1843": "Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege",
        "3353": "Watch Dogs Legion"
    }
}

The name is then used to create a backup folder for a specific game. If you want to add a game, just add another line. Notice that the last game doesn't have a comma after it.

Restoring save files

Ubisoft save file structure

Ubisoft saves by default are stored in %PROGRAMFILES(X86)%\Ubisoft\Ubisoft Game Launcher\savegames. Folder structure is:

savegames
        - user_id
               - game_1_id
               - game_2_id
               ...

For example:

savegames
        - 87762840-157e-48d1-b3e9-0d70750ef62e
               - 46
               - 3353
               ...

Restoring your backups

The backups are stored in this structure:

BackupDirectory\game\date\savegames\user_id\game_id

For example:

BackupDirectory\Far Cry 3\2015-01-30\savegames\87762840-157e-48d1-b3e9-0d70750ef62e\46

To restore a backup:

1. Close the game
2. Close Ubisoft Connect
3. Copy the savegames folder from the backup you want to restore to %PROGRAMFILES(X86)%\Ubisoft\Ubisoft Game Launcher, overwritting savegames. Overwrite any files when asked.
4. Profit!?!!

FAQ

The game is listed as something like 123456_Unidentified

This means that BackMeUp does not recongnize the given game id and cannot use a sensible name.

If you know what game was backed up, you can enter its id in games.json file. If folder is named 123456_Unidentified, 123456 will be your game id.

Better yet, you can raise an issue/pull request, so we could include the id in a future releases.

How to submit issues

If something unexpected happens with BackMeUp please create an issue ticket.

Attach any logs to the issue ticket that were generated when the issue happened.

Please provide steps to reproduce the issue, if possible.

Disclaimer

This tool had very limited testing done to it. It is not endorsed by Ubisoft. I cannot guarantee your backed up save files will work. I cannot guarantee that backing up save files will not ruin your existing saves. In fact, Ubisoft states that this tool will not be able to backup some of their games. While I haven't encountered any issues, I cannot guarantee you won't.

Use it at your own risk.

Acknowledgments

This tool is largely inspired by Walker Moore's (fauxtronic) acrbackup.bat script.

startup-add.bat is basically this response by Dennis in a superuser thread.

CRC16 from Sanity Free

Most of the game ids are taken from Haoose's UPLAY_GAME_ID