Overview

The developers of Detroit: Become Human try to discourage users from reloading checkpoints. They do this in a number of ways:

• Chapter milestone checkpoints only become available once the next chapter has started.
• Milestone checkpoints only appear in the Main Menu Chapter flowchart
  

   
However the game also contains a large number of non-milestone checkpoints that you do not normally have access to. They are spread out so that if you quit at any arbitrary moment, you generally won't lose more than 5 minutes of play time.

This app provides access to those non-milestone checkpoints by backing up the games save game folder every 5 minutes. On startup, this app presents a list of backups that you can restore. So if you make a decision you regret, or lose a quicktime fight, you can quit out and load one of the archived saves on the next startup.

The app also supports the concept of sessions. Sessions group saves together so that you can play 2 very different characters in parallel or maybe you live in a house and several people share the same computer. Sessions can allow two seperate people to play their own games without stepping on each others toes.

The app was written in PYTHON and converted to an executable. The source code is included. If you are not comfortable running an executable, you can install Python (3.6 or later) and run the app as a python script directly You are also free to review the code and make changes as you see fit. 
      
Installation

  1) If you do not already have it, get 7-zip : www.7-zip.org
        
     ** Do not use WinRar to open/extract .7z files. It can corrupt them.
        
  2) Once 7-zip is installed, open the .7z file  Typically you need only double click the file:
        
       SessionAutoSaveManager_1_02.7z

  3) The 7-zip window should contain:
          
       /SessionAutoSaveManager.exe
       /src/SessionAutoSaveManager.py
       /src/icon.ico
       readme.txt
                  
  4) You can extract and run it anywhere. I recommend extracting it to the games folder (same location as DetroitBecomeHuman.exe). Many users will find the game folder in one of these 2 places:
        
       Computer -> C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Detroit Become Human           
         or
       Computer -> C:\Program Files\Steam\steamapps\common\Detroit Become Human
      
  5) Make a shortcut to the bootstrap on your desktop:
     - RIGHT CLICK the extracted "SessionAutoSaveManager.exe" and select COPY
     - RIGHT CLICK the Desktop background and select "Paste shortcut"
         
Usage
      
1) Preparation:

The first time the game starts up it prompts the user to agree to the EULA and then spends about 10 minutes compiling pipelines for your graphics hardware. It doesn't create a save directory until you start a new game. To ensure things go smoothly, you should start the game up the normal way and start a new game.

Once a game is in progress, "Exit to Desktop".

2) Basic Usage:

Start the game by double clicking on the Session Auto Save Manager shortcut you created during Installation.

The first time the app runs, it will immediately start the game as there will not be any autosaves to present.

Later, when you start the app after having played a while, you will see a list of recent autosaves. It will look something like:

  ====================================================================
  Detroit : Become Human Auto Save Manager
  Session : [default]
  ====================================================================
  [INFO] Auto Save every : [5] minute(s)
  [INFO] Maximum Saves: [50]
  [INFO] Current Saves: [12]

  0) Continue from most recent
  1) $2020-07-23 [10.22 PM]
  2) $2020-07-23 [10.17 PM]
  3) $2020-07-23 [10.12 PM]
  4) $2020-07-23 [10.07 PM]
  5) $2020-07-23 [10.02 PM]
  6) $2020-07-23 [09.57 PM]
  7) $2020-07-23 [09.52 PM]
  8) $2020-07-23 [03.49 PM]
  9) Next

  Select Option:

To skip save game restore, just hit ENTER or enter the value 0 and the session/game will start where you left off.

3) [Optional] Renaming loaded saves

You can choose to rename autosaves when you load them. For example, you could give it a distinctive name like "CHAPTER1_before_big_choice"

When SessionAutoSaveManager goes to clean up the autosave directory, it will only remove directories that start with '$'. So as long as you do not start your name with a "$", it will not get removed and it will not count towards your max save games.

Save games are listed sorted by creation date with the most recent listed first. This is also true for named save games. (Over time, they will move to the end of the list).       

PRO TIP1: Each save is about 25MB. So be mindfull of how many
permanent saves you create. It adds up quick.

PRO TIP2: If you prefer more direct access to save games enter
the following into the File Explorer location bar:

%USERPROFILE%\Saved Games\Quantic Dream\autosaves

This will list the sessions. ("default" if you are not
using sessions). Enter the session and you can rename the
directories all you want.


4) Setting up Sessions

To create a session, right click the shortcut you created on your desktop that links to SessionAutoSaveManager.exe. Select properties. Select the shortcut tab, go to the end of the Target input box and place a paramater after the executable:
    
-s [SESSIONNAME]

For example, the end of your Target might look like:
    
"...\SessionAutoSaveManager.exe" -s VIOLENT

This will tell the app to search for and store saves in the VIOLENT session (subdirectory of autosaves). The default session name is "default".
    
You may want to clone the shortcut and then rename it to reflect the session that it will kick off.
    
When creating a new session (first run after making the edit above), the game may act like it is starting up for the first time, unless it is the only session (you don't have a default). In that case, your session will use the current default game. See the readme for details on how to copy saves between sessions.

5) Other Settings

-m [MAXSAVES]  Will enforce the specified number of max saves.

For example, the end of your Target might look like:
     
"...\SessionAutoSaveManager.exe" -m 15

The above would change the max saves to 15. You can use the value 0 to indicate that you never want to delete saves.
          
-f [FREQMINUTES]  Will change how often autosaves are generated.

For example, the end of your Target might look like:
     
"...\SessionAutoSaveManager.exe" -f 4

The above would cause the autosaver to create saves every 4 minutes instead of every 5 minutes (which is the default).  

-e "PATH\TO\DetroiteBecomeHuman.exe" Override executable path

For example, the end of your Target might look like:
         
"...\SessionAutoSaveManager.exe" -e "C:\games\some\other\path\DetroitBecomeHuman.exe"

If you provide the path, the app will use the executable you provide. Note: As of 2022, if you point to an executable that is in the Steam directory using this method, you will likely receive the "Steam Unable to Initialize()" error message. This parameter is mostly for non-steam users. 
     
A FULL EXAMPLE:     

"...\SessionAutoSaveManager.exe" -s PROHUMAN -m 15 -f 4

This would create a new session that only maintains 15 backups spaced by 4 min intervals (1 hour of gameplay).
     
In the case above, you would probably want to rename the shortcut to reflect the session. "PROHUMAN". You could also make a different shortcut  with a different session name parameter if you want to run the game with a different session.
     
"...\SessionAutoSaveManager.exe" -s PROMACHINE -m 15 -f 4
                                                
Un-Install

1) Run the app one last time and make sure you have the save loaded that you want.

2) Remove the files that came with SessionAutoSaveManager_1_00.7z:

     SessionAutoSaveManager.exe
     src/icon.ico
     src/SessionAutoSaveManager.py
     readme.txt

3) Delete the autosaves directory:

     Paste the following into the location bar of File Explorer:

%USERPROFILE%\Saved Games\Quantic Dream

     You should see the subdirectory "autosaves". Right click and delete it. Note this will delete all sessions and backups.

%USERPROFILE%\Saved Games\Quantic Dream\autosaves

  4) You are done!