13.27 Save Management Migration Guide

Written By AstroBob

Last updated 6 days ago

This guide is for users upgrading to LaunchBox 13.27 beta-2 from an older version of save management.

The main change in 13.27 beta-2 is that LaunchBox now organizes related saves into save groups with shared version history. Because of that, LaunchBox must migrate older save records the first time you open the Game Saves page after upgrading.

To learn more about save management, see the full guide on the feature-set below:
Managing Save Games and States

What Will Happen

When you open Edit Game > Metadata > Game Saves after upgrading, LaunchBox will prompt you to run a one-time migration.

During that migration, LaunchBox updates your existing save records so that:

  • active saves and old backups can be linked together

  • save files and save states are separated more cleanly

  • save states can be grouped by slot

  • older backups can be folded into a single backup history for the save they belong to

This is a one-time process.

What the Migration Changes

Before 13.27 beta-2, save management was usually understood like this:

  • one active save in the emulator

  • one or more separate LaunchBox backups or separate saved files, such as a childhood save you wanted to keep

After migration, LaunchBox changes that into:

  • one save group

  • one active version

  • one shared backup history

In other words, LaunchBox is no longer treating the active save and the backups as two separate buckets. It now treats them as versions of the same save.

What This Means for Existing Backups

If you already had backups in older versions of LaunchBox, those backups will now be merged into the same save history as the active save they match.

That means:

  • your active save and older backups may now appear together under one save entry

  • restoring an older backup promotes it to become the active version

  • the save that was active before the restore is then pushed into that same history as a backup

This is the biggest behavior change for existing users.

Example: Before and After

Before

You might have had:

  • Active save: LaunchBox\Emulators\RetroArch\saves\Nintendo Entertainment System\Super Mario Bros 3.srm

  • Backup 1: LaunchBox\Saves\Nintendo Entertainment System\Super Mario Bros 3.srm

  • Backup 2: LaunchBox\Saves\Nintendo Entertainment System\Super Mario Bros 3-01.srm

  • Backup 3: LaunchBox\Saves\Nintendo Entertainment System\Super Mario Bros 3-02.srm

In the old workflow, that felt like one live save plus a separate backup list.

After

After migration, LaunchBox links those together into one save history:

  • Save group: Super Mario Bros 3

  • Active version: ...\RetroArch\saves\...\Super Mario Bros 3.srm

  • Backup history:

    • ...\LaunchBox\Saves\...\Super Mario Bros 3.srm

    • ...\LaunchBox\Saves\...\Super Mario Bros 3-01.srm

    • ...\LaunchBox\Saves\...\Super Mario Bros 3-02.srm

Example: When a Separate Old Save Gets Grouped In

Here is a more specific example that can happen with games that only support one save file at a time, such as Pokemon.

Old setup

Let’s say you had:

  • your current active Pokemon save that you are playing right now

  • a childhood Pokemon save that you imported and kept as a separate save in LaunchBox

In the older system, those may have felt like two separate saves:

  • one active save

  • one separate backup save

Even if, in your mind, they represented two different playthroughs.

What can happen after migration

In the new grouped-history system, LaunchBox may group that childhood save into the backup history of your current active save.

That means LaunchBox may interpret it like this:

  • current active Pokemon save = the active version

  • childhood Pokemon save = an older backup version of that same save

Technically, that may not be what you intended.

From LaunchBox's point of view, both files can look like versions of the same one-save-file game. But from your point of view, they may really be two separate save streams that you want to keep independent.

How to split them back out

If that happens, you can separate them again.

Go to:

  • Edit Game > Metadata > Game Saves

Then:

  1. Open the save group that now contains both saves.

  2. Choose Backup History.

  3. Find the childhood save in the version list.

  4. Open that save version's options menu.

  5. Choose Make New Save.

  6. Give it a new name.

Once you do that, LaunchBox creates a new save group for that version, so it becomes its own independent save stream again.

What this looks like in practice

Before splitting:

  • Pokemon Red

  • Active: Current playthrough

  • Backup History: Childhood save

After using Backup History > Make New Save:

  • Pokemon Red - Current Playthrough

  • Active: Current playthrough

and separately:

  • Pokemon Red - Childhood Save

  • its own save history

This is the best way to correct cases where migration grouped saves together that you actually want to keep separate.

What the Migration Does Behind the Scenes

At a high level, LaunchBox:

  • scans your existing save records across the library

  • looks for active saves and LaunchBox-managed backups that belong together

  • matches them using things like group IDs, filenames, original filenames, hashes, and save metadata

  • keeps the current live save as the active version when possible

  • removes stale backup records that point to LaunchBox-managed files that no longer exist

What the Migration Does Not Do

The migration does not:

  • move your live emulator saves into a different emulator folder

  • change your emulator's save directory configuration

  • rewrite your save files into a new emulator-specific format

It is mainly updating LaunchBox's save metadata so the new save history model works correctly.

Important Warnings

  • LaunchBox will be unavailable while the migration runs, so let it finish before continuing.

  • If you had many old manually imported backups with very similar names, review the results afterward to make sure the grouping looks right.

Recommended Upgrade Check

After migration finishes:

  1. Open Edit Game > Metadata > Game Saves for a few games that already had saves.

  2. Confirm that the active save looks correct.

  3. Check that older backups now appear in the same history for that save.

  4. Test one restore on a game you do not mind experimenting with so you can see the new flow.

In Short

The migration is required because LaunchBox now uses a better save-history model than older versions did.

If you are upgrading from an older release, the main thing to expect is this:

  • your old active saves and old LaunchBox backups will now be merged into one continuous save history

Once that migration is complete, restores and backup management should feel much more natural than the old split between active saves and backups.