Requires: AutoHotKey if you wan to use the editable version
Supports SKSE




Note: This is written as if you're using the AHK version. The only difference between the two is size and readability. If you're using the standalone version, then it is larger because it requires the AHK engine to be packaged with it. You also can't open it up to see what's inside without AHK. (Although, you can download AHK and use it to open it up easily.)

Before you jump into the below, here are the basics: This renames quicksaves as you make them (with a 2-7 second delay) and names them appropriately with the save number and your character's name. It does not edit your other saved games, so it won't corrupt anything. Installation is easy: put the two files (excluding readmes) into your save folder and run the AHK or EXE whenever you want it to be active (before or after the game is running; even after an hour of gameplay; it's completely irrelevant). Uninstallation is easier: delete them.



Why:
You only get one quicksave. You get 3 autosaves (by default), but they aren't controlled directly by you. You control your hard saves, and you can have as many as you want (mostly), but they're slow, and if you care about immersion, then they're horrible. There are a few utilities out there to autosave after a given amount of time. But still, you don't control them. There's at least one which does what this does, but I couldn't manage to get it working and it seemed a bit bulky since you have to make sure it's running before Skyrim and it apparently doesn't work if you start Skyrim directly, you have to use the loader. Not a big issue, but something. It also needs to have the character's name put in manually which means that it would have to be changed whenever you change characters. My friend and I both play on my laptop, so that's a bit frustrating for me. I'm not bashing on the other mod, as I have no idea how well it works. I simply couldn't get it to work, so I decided to make something simpler so it had fewer ways to go wrong.



What:
This utility attempts to fix these things. It runs in the background. You can safely make it start with windows and not worry about it again. It doesn't matter when the program starts. You could leave it running all the time in the tray or start it up after an hour of gameplay. It uses so few enough system resources that I would absolutely astounded if someone managed to have it bog anything down in the slightest. All it does is check to see if it has copied your current quicksave, and if it hasn't, it does so. It names them properly (but not exactly the same as Skyrim's internal saving method). It doesn't do anything to your current saves, not even your quicksave. It only copies it so they will continue to be usable even if you quicksave again and overwrite it. The result it that when you quicksave, you end up with two saves. One is the normal quicksave, the other is the same save, but with the normal naming convention which will stick around even when you quicksave again. You can then use only quicksaves and still have all the backed-up-security of a hard save.



How:
The script (that's all this is) runs in the background and checks the current quicksave's size. The size of the last file it made is saved in a file along with the number the last file was given. If the quicksave is a different size than it has on file, it then it copies the quicksave and renames it.

This is the actual file name for the save (with Treus being my character's name): "Save - 127 - Treus.ess"
Shows up in-game without the hyphens.

Note, the "127" here is a number the script keeps track of on its own (in the .txt file). It does NOT check your other saves to see what number it should use. So, for best results, once you start using this, use only quicksaves. If you manually save, then you might end up with two saves that both have the same number in your save folder. They'll both work fine (because, as I said, it's named a little different than the game names them). They'll just look a little odd in your save folder (not in game).



Notes:
If you decide to delete your saved games or you just want to lower (or raise?) the number that is showing up, open the text file and change the top number to whatever you want.


Also, it will get your character's name directly from the save, so there's no need to put it in anywhere. This means it will also work fine while moving from character to character without you ever having to tell the script what it is.


Limitations:
If your character has numbers (or anything else other than letters) in his/her name, then only the part of the name preceding those characters will appear in the file-name.

Long character names will only show the first part. Specifically, everything after the 15th letter is ignored. Won't cause problems, it just won't spell out the whole name. If this needs to be raised, let me know.

The file-names do not include the location. They'll still show up in-game, just not on the actual file's name.

When you quicksave, if you look at your save list, it will have the quicksave in the second slot with the copied save taking the top slot. Of course, this does nothing horrible, but I personally find it slightly irritating. However, the only way to fix that would be through a lot of work that really isn't worth it, especially because it would mean actually editing the quicksave file (which I can't/won't attempt to do).

The script only runs once every 5 seconds so it uses less resources. It also waits 2 seconds after you quicksave before doing anything (to make sure that both files exist in the case of SKSE users like myself). This means that there's a maximum of 7 seconds of intentional delay when you quicksave before the copy is made. Quicksaving in that time shouldn't cause any problems, and would only even potentially cause problems if you saved in the 2 seconds while it was waiting for both files to exist. Because of this, I would suggest not quicksaving more than once every 7 seconds just to be on the safe side. At worst, your game will minimize so AHK can tell you it's confused.



Problems:
If you have any problems with it, then leave a comment and I'll see if I can help. However, it's important to note that while I will do my absolute best to try and help, I'm very well might not be able to. I can't guarantee it'll work. I can only say that I'm 99.99% sure that it'll be safe to try. If you know any programming, then you can look at the program yourself as easily as opening it in notepad.

One thing that might end up not working properly is the character's name. As far as I can tell, it should work. And, indeed, it does for me and my friend's characters but these are all on the same laptop with the same setup. However, I don't know how different versions of the game saves files or how different setups might affect them. The worst thing that it should do is to place a funky looking character name in the file's name. The file itself will still work. If anyone does run into this, let me know.