In order to recognize a save file, the game has to find an entry for this slot in global.rpgsave. Your problem is probably that you don't have this entry.I downloaded a full save but when I drop it into the save folder its not recognizing it, even after deleting all the other ones. What do I do? I beat this game awhile back and don't want to have to go through it all again
Let's assume you have a file17.rpgsave. It can be anything of course, 17 is just an example. Before moving it to the game save directory, you have to create an entry in global.rpgsave for it.
Start a new game and save as soon as possible, using slot 17. This will create a new file17.rpgsave and an entry for slot 17 in global.rpgsave. Now you just have to quit the game, overwrite this new file17.rpgsave with your downloaded one, and that's it. Restart the game and enjoy.