Game files not deleted after uninstalling

[danpendr]

Hi,
I was moving Rust from one SSD to another. It was taking too long so I just clicked on uninstall in the middle of the process. It uninstalled the game from my first drive but not from the one I was moving the game to. I know have less space on my second SSD even though Steam says it is uninstalled. However, when looking through my Steam download folders, it still says that I have 3 games in my second SSD (2 that are actually properly installed+ rust???). How do I get rid of Rust completely?

Thanks for your advice in advance,
dan

[r.linder]

You can just open the steamapps folder on the drive you deleted it from and manually remove the rest of the files and then restart Steam

[danpendr]

Originally posted by Escorve:

You can just open the steamapps folder on the drive you deleted it from and manually remove the rest of the files and then restart Steam

I tried doing this but it is still taking up space on my SSD. Is there a way to move the actual steam application to another drive (I don't mean changing the default folder - I mean the steam app)?

[r.linder]

Originally posted by danpendr:

Originally posted by Escorve:

You can just open the steamapps folder on the drive you deleted it from and manually remove the rest of the files and then restart Steam

I tried doing this but it is still taking up space on my SSD. Is there a way to move the actual steam application to another drive (I don't mean changing the default folder - I mean the steam app)?

You can move the folder from the apps folder on one drive to another drive's apps folder and then change Steam's directory for that game. All you really need to do is make sure that Steam knows where the files are and not where it thinks it is.

[_I_]

thats on purpose

it keeps game saves and settings and remove the game files
if you reinstall the game again, it will keep the old saves and settings you had

if you delete them manually those will be lost

check the size of the leftover game folder, most are under 10mb, not a big deal for a 1-4+tb hdd

if you want to move a game from one library to another, just use the move option
steam -> library -> selet game -> properties -> local files -> move

[Bad 💀 Motha]

You want core apps installed to C drive. It's easier to manage and still works in the event that you, at any time need to disconnect other drives.

If any left over files/folder from an uninstalled game reside within any steam apps folder, no biggie just manually delete. Then empty the recycle bin when all done.

Remeber, as you install/uninstall anything, your space on drive C will decrease due to added restore points over time. Go delete all of those and then make a new one.

[08yonkers14]

I was looking for a manual deletion - but beside the folderstructure - no files are visible

[_I_]

if all saves and settings are not in the games folders the files will be deleted but the folder tree may remain
the tree takes nearly no space, you can delete it if you like

[Bad 💀 Motha]

Folders by themselves don't really take up space to where you'd need to worry. You could have 1 million empty folders and it wouldn't be anything noticeable to impact your drives free space.

However when you uninstall/delete a game, often times there are files for the game left over within the Documents or AppData structures but those are usually just the settings config files and user saved game slot files.

[GOD RAYS ON ULTRA™]

You have to empty the recycle bin after you delete stuff in order to reclaim space on the drive. It doesn't free up space just by deleting.

[Bad 💀 Motha]

Originally posted by Hardʬare Hero:

You have to empty the recycle bin after you delete stuff in order to reclaim space on the drive. It doesn't free up space just by deleting.

Games don't go to recycle bin like manually deleted files.

[Militaryhistory1]

My issue isn't that I tried moving the files but that I uninstalled them. I should have 50gbs free from that uninstall, but it still says I only have 14gbs of room left after the uninstall, I restarted my PC twice, cleared the Download Cache, and checked my Steam folder for it to say I don't have the game installed even when I Checked the commons for the drive it didn't have a folder for the game yet I know it exists because I don't have 50 extra gbs of space.

What do I do?

[Bad 💀 Motha]

Many Games in Steam (and this is not Valve's fault) simply remove the App Manifest that tells the Steam Client that the game is installed or not.

So yes it's up to you as the user to make sure the actual Game Files are all removed after you uninstall something. The same goes for anything really.

Let's take any random app you've installed for example; often a similar scenario occurs where you have edited, or extra files in various folders on your system that are left over after the initial app is uninstalled.

I have a Desktop Shortcut for Steam Client.
I can simply right click that and click Open File Location to take me to the folder where Steam Client is installed. Inside this folder I put other shortcuts to my extra Steam Library Folders on other drives, so I can more easily get to my various SteamApps folders very quickly. I also put a shortcut in there for %LocalAppData%\Steam as this is the folder that houses the Temp Internet Files for Steam Client's Chromium Browser. Allowing me to more easily delete all of that as well when needed.

Download Cache in Steam is Downloads that have been queued or started; but have yet to finish. That generally has nothing to do with an Installed Game.

And install game would be here:
\Steam\Steamapps\Common\GameName

Also after you remove a game fully so to speak, you still may have extra game files from the game's config storage and user saved game progress located in places such as this...

YourUserName\Documents (Game Maker Name or actual Game Name)
YourUserName\Saved Games (Game Maker Name or actual Game Name)
%AppData% (they could be under Local or Roaming, depending on how the Game Dev decided to do this, if they use this folder structure)

[Undertaker]

I tried uninstalling Portal 2 and the process was suspiciously quick. I checked the folder and it was still 11 gigs, so nothing was deleted? This has never happened with any other game. If I manually remove the folder, will my saves be lost forever, or can steam cloud restore them?

[Bad 💀 Motha]

Saved games don't reside within game folders. Those get saved to places like %localappdata% or Documents structures. Within a sub-folder there.

If you use Steam Cloud Save Backup for supported games then you're fine anyways.

Just delete the game-name folder from

//Steam/Steamapps/Common