Steam Backup Manager

Steam Backup Manager is a modern Python GUI application designed to easily backup and restore critical Steam configurations, including userdata, appcache, config, and depotcache.

🔐 What This Program Actually Does (Important)

Steam Backup Manager preserves locally stored Steam data that directly affects your account experience but is not reliably recoverable after system resets, Steam reinstalls, or disk failures.

Specifically, this tool backs up and restores:

• Playtime data stored in userdata (critical for non-cloud-synced titles)
• Achievements and achievement progress for games that save them locally
• Game-generated local data created by certain launchers, mods, or third-party tools
• Steam client configuration and cache files required to correctly rebuild your library state

This is not a game files backup and not a cloud save replacement.

Its purpose is to preserve Steam’s local state, ensuring that:

• Playtime counters are not reset
• Achievements do not disappear
• Locally-generated game data survives reinstalls
• Steam behaves exactly as before after restoration

📥 Download & Run (For Users)

If you don't want to compile the code yourself, you can simply download the standalone executable:

1. Navigate to the Releases section of this repository.
2. Download the latest .exe file.
3. Run the application (Run as Administrator if you encounter permission issues with the Program Files folder).

🚀 How to Use

The interface is designed to be simple and intuitive:

1. Steam ID: Enter your numeric Steam ID.
   • Hint: This corresponds to the folder name found inside C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\userdata\ (or you can find it searching online)
2. Steam Folder: Enter the installation folder name (Default: Steam).
   • Note: The program automatically looks inside C:\Program Files (x86)\.
3. Backup Location: Choose where to save your .zip files (Default: Downloads/SteamBackup).
4. Actions:
   • Click CREATE BACKUP to generate a timestamped .zip archive.
   • Click RESTORE BACKUP, select a previously created zip file, and wait for the restoration process.

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🛠️ Development & Compilation (For Developers)

Follow these instructions if you want to modify the source code or build the executable yourself.

Prerequisites

• Python 3.14 (or newer)
• OS: Windows (The code uses hardcoded paths like C:\Program Files (x86)\).

Install Dependencies

To run the source code, you need to install the required libraries. Open your terminal and run:

pip install customtkinter Pillow

• customtkinter: For the modern GUI and dark mode.
• Pillow (PIL): For handling image assets (logos/icons).

Running Source Code

Ensure the Assets folder (containing logo.png and logo.ico) is in the same directory as the script.

python main.py

Building the Executable (.EXE)

To create a single distributable file, use PyInstaller.

1. Install PyInstaller:

   pip install pyinstaller

2. Build Command: Run the following command in the project root to bundle the assets and code into a single EXE:

   pyinstaller --noconfirm --onefile --windowed --icon "Assets/logo.ico" --add-data "Assets;Assets" main.py

• --onefile: Bundles everything into a single .exe.
• --windowed: Prevents the console window from appearing.
• --add-data "Assets;Assets": Embeds the Assets folder into the executable (Required for the logo to load correctly).

The compiled file will be available in the dist folder.

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📂 Project Structure

• main.py: Handles the Graphical User Interface (GUI), threading, and user inputs.
• backup_manager.py: Handles the backend logic (file verification, zip creation, path validation).
• Assets/: Contains logo.png and logo.ico.

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👤 Author & Credits

Created and developed by Salvatore Iavarone

Steam Backup Manager is an independent, open-source project designed, implemented, and maintained by Salvatore Iavarone.
All architectural decisions, backend logic, and GUI design are authored with a focus on reliability, clarity, and long-term maintainability.

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⚖️ Legitimacy & Usage Notice

Steam Backup Manager is intended exclusively for legitimate, personal backup purposes.

This software:

• Does not modify Steam binaries
• Does not bypass DRM or security mechanisms
• Does not manipulate online services, servers, or account data
• Does not enable cheating, fraud, or policy circumvention

All operations are performed locally on files already present on the user’s system and rely solely on standard file copy and archive procedures.

This project is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or connected to any illegitimate, unauthorized, or malicious usage.
Users are solely responsible for ensuring compliance with Steam’s Terms of Service and applicable laws in their jurisdiction.

The author explicitly disclaims any intent to facilitate misuse.

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⚠️ Disclaimer

This software is open source under the MIT LICENSE. It is not affiliated with Valve Corporation. The author assumes no responsibility for any issues arising from the use of this software. Always perform a manual backup before restoring files.