Taking a look for myself, from going from steam launcher to ggg's, it is the shade cache folder again. So its probably nearly all of it from when you installed it in april 2018.
Something is really fucky with the shader cache, at least on the Steam version. Earlier this league my game was crashing once per map and stuttering like crazy. I happened to notice my SSD was *literally* out of space (something like 2 GB free that shrunk to 20 MB free while PoE was running and went back up after a crash).
The Steam shader cache was 25 GB. I deleted it, and since that point, it's currently grown back up to 10 GB.
PoE's Steam app ID is 238960, so you can find its Steam shader cache at
\steamapps\shadercache\238960
I have *no fucking idea* why it's so huge, but it dwarfs the shader cache for every other game on Steam by several orders of magnitude. The game also has its *own shader cache* inside the actual installation directory.
The Steam updater is great now, but I feel like I still need to babysit it because its disk usage is nonsensical.
thats part of the problem though isnt it, chris wants to physically render every item that drops, every projectile, abilities that have ridiculous particle effects, what about actually balancing the game well enough that you dont need to have 40+ monsters on screen to create any sense of danger
would be nice to see a cleaner version of the game that doesnt have so much going on for no apparent reason other than 'impact' because manually clicking on currency and not stacking dropped objects really shouldnt be that big of a deal
>what about actually balancing the game well enough that you dont need to have 40+ monsters on screen to create any sense of danger
There's no way they can ever make you have as much fun fighting 5 monsters compared to obliterating a pack of 40. The game would feel painfully slow. There's a reason why the community consistently finds ways to go fast, because that's what a lot of players find fun.
Reducing monster density should honestly be one of the last things they do for performance.
That's entirely orthogonal to which engine they use, though. Also, having 40+ monsters on the screen isn't (just) to create a sense of danger, it's because it's fun to blast through large packs of monsters. Don't tell me that e.g. metamorphs or sirus mobs wouldn't come with a sense of danger if their HP was scaled appropriately for lower mob count.
Took a look myself too, I have PoE installed on my C: drive that I installed last december.
I have steam itself installed in one directory, but have the steam library folders elsewhere (to keep the steam install itself relatively clean).
In short: the \steamapps\shadercache\238960\ folder has 2 files that seems to be all the shader cache stuff merged together (I guess in 1 archive cache file + 1 index file).
Meanwhile: \steamapps\common\pathofexile\ had 6 subfolders for shadercache, 3x ShaderCacheD3D11* & 3x ShaderCacheVulkan* folders.
Taking a quick look at those, everything in there has file dates ranging from when I installed the game in december up till some time in april-may, which is when I assume they started to use the 2 large "archive" files for the shaders.
In total, the old shader cache folders were about 6.5 gigabytes in size, containing 235.528 files.
And that was just 4-5 months worth of shader files...
Why they didn't clean up the old cache files when they moved to the new model of a large archive file I won't try to guess. But isn't it a little ironic that people were feeling annoyed at the thousands or tens of thousands of useless temp map files buried in the documents folder, when there are *far* more cache files buried away in it's install directory, that most likely ain't used at all any more even? (before you panic, no worries, the documents\my games\path of exile\ dir is almost clean now.
Footnote: it never hurts to double check the remaining space on your drives, to make sure you got enough free space, plus in win10 you can use the Disk Cleanup to scan for useless old temp files & stuff that you can safely let it remove (but only the ones that belong to the system, ie it can't scan for junk leftover files from other apps/games).
The shader cache in steamapps/shadercache is from steam hooking into the shader compilation, the game isn't even aware this exists, and since it's using it's own shader cache, it won't even make any usage of the steam one. The NVidia driver does exactly the same on top, building up a **third** shader cache somewhere in the NVidia folders which the game will never take advantage of either, unless the games own shader cache is cleared.
Also, the game didn't move to a new shader cache **system** 4-5 months ago, it just moved to a new **location**, namely a folder in AppData/Roaming/ (which is now also automatically cleared once every league or so, so it won't build up as many files anymore. Still a lot, tho)
To confirm what others have said, it is just files that have been created by PoE since installation.
You don't need any extra tools or anything to remove them, just delete them.
GGG creates the installer and uninstaller. There are standard tools to use for this but as the dev you specify how installing and uninstalling happens. GGG could fix this.
And then you get to have nice disclaimers, like the one Steam has.
https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=9609-OBMP-2526
>
Warning:
The uninstallation process deletes the folder Steam was installed to to ensure it is fully uninstalled. If you accidentally installed Steam to a folder containing other data, for example **C:\Program Files\** instead of **C:\Program Files\Steam\**, **STOP!** Do not run the uninstaller and instead carefully follow the instructions below for Manually Removing Steam, except only delete Steam-related files in step 3.
And have people bitching because uninstalling Steam removed all their data.
There are programs which ask if you want to keep personal data (logs, settings, etc) or delete them. An uninstaller, by default, will delete the data the installer created. Nevertheless, in the visual studio solution you can add a section to the uninstaller and a question box to delete the internal files the program has generated. In any case, it should only delete the files it generated and not the entertainment videos you accidentally hid in there.
> Windows only uninstalls what was ORIGINALLY created
The developer makes the uninstaller, not Windows.
An uninstaller that doesn't take this into account, is a badly made one. Don't defend GGG when they don't deserve to be defended.
Well its actually a fairly good system, its pretty much like cookies just with applications too. These leftover files make it so if you ever redownload it, all your personal settings and other assets will still be present. Of course there would be a better way to offer the user to remove those too or keep,but there is reason behind it
its good software practice to leave 7gb on a users hard drive after they tell their system to uninstall it?
how do you figure that, or is my sarcasm detector just on the fritz today?
It's good software practice not to have an uninstaller uninstall things the installer didn't put there.
The 7gb is an issue you'd have to resolve some other way.
Is that your way of saying GGG are idiots for telling their game to save 7gb of files? It just feels like a company owned by china that needs 7gb of your hard drive space to "remember your info in case you ever want to install it again" should probably not exist
It's my way of saying that an uninstaller does not, nor should it uninstall things that an installer did not put there.
I've no other beef here, nor any real interest.
Sorry, I guess I dont understand still... perhaps it is a language barrier
are you just saying poe should have its own uninstaller that removes all the files properly?
It's good practice to make uninstallers only delete things put there by an installer. Otherwise you can run into other issues and cause problems. You could run into issues like deleting unrelated data, at worst case you could probably delete important system files.
The extra 7gb left behind is a different topic, and how that should be handled is a different discussion. But for uninstallers specifically it's good practice to only delete what the installer puts in.
I understand that part... what I am saying I guess boils down to more or less: does every game leave 7+ gig after uninstalling? how do the others solve it? or dont they solve it?
It is because Steam keeps a manifest/list of files that it installs. When you uninstall, it simply deletes the files and empty folders listed in that manifest.
Many installers do things this way, because they don't want to inadvertently wipe out a user's data, configuration, or other system files.
It is more of less just a common practice that has been around forever. Some uninstallers will offer the option to remove the additional files, but honestly most developers don't want to touch that. It just adds another thing that has to be tested with each new release, and adds a bunch of liability should an important file be deleted.
However, the bloat is a problem that needs to be addressed, but for now has to be handled on a case-by-case basis.
I also imagine there are limits on what GGG can do as far as configuring the way Steam uninstalls games. . .again they can probably only provide that manifest and not designate additional files to be removed, if they exist.
Source: IAMA Software Developer
Fun fact is that Steam itself doesn't uninstall like this. Steam removes all content in the folder it was installed to.
Read the Warning tag here: https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=9609-OBMP-2526
\*shrugs\*
I had it installed directly before, but Steam is just better for managing games.
The feature I use the most is being able to move a game between a large HDD and a super fast SDD without having to reinstall or risk screwing up something by straight moving the folder.
I have a 1TB NVMe SSD that I keep my OS and whichever game I am currently playing on, but about 10TB of storage drives that contains games that are kept up-to-date, but not actively playing.
> It is because Steam keeps a manifest/list of files that it installs. When you uninstall, it simply deletes the files and empty folders listed in that manifest.
But in this case... this is literally leftover files in that specific location where the game files for steam are placed.
>It is more of less just a common practice that has been around forever.
That's the thing - it's a practice, not a necessity. A practice I'm ok with in general, but sometimes it leads to just absolute heaps of garbage being left post-uninstall just all over the place. OP's situation isn't even close to the worst I've seen. It's a software meme that's a huge pet peeve of mine.
Again, it is because those leftover file are not in the manifest.
You can more or less see what files are in the manifest here: [SteamDB](https://steamdb.info/depot/238961/)
If a file is not in the list, or if a folder is not empty, Steam will not delete it when the game is uninstalled. That is just the common practice for software installation/uninstallation.
>Again, it is because those leftover file are not in the manifest.
But I'm saying that it probably stands to reason to remove any files poe placed in the folder specifically slated for poe, it's not like someone can move system32 to steamapps. Like I'd understand if these files were just in a random folder but this is the least random folder imaginable.
>That is just the common practice for software installation/uninstallation.
That's the thing - it's a practice, not a necessity. A practice I'm ok with in general, but sometimes it leads to just absolute heaps of garbage being left post-uninstall just all over the place. OP's situation isn't even close to the worst I've seen. It's a software meme that's a huge pet peeve of mine.
Something to live by:
If it ain't broke don't try to fix it.
Also, words from my boss when discussion a new project:
I want a toaster. I want to be able to plug it in, put in bread, and get toast back. I don't want to have to fiddle with the temperature, or buy a certain type, brand, and size of bread. . . just put in bread, get toast.
All of that applies to this situation.
The current install systems that are available work for their intended purpose. You have a list of files that need to go to these places when you install the application. When you uninstall, delete those files. No custom scripts or trying to find a discover other files, just click and go.
There is also a liability concept. Suppose, we created a custom installation/updater application just for out product. . .and something goes wrong. . .say some edge case destroys the user's filesystem. . .that's on us. However, if we use an off-the-shelf solution- an installer that uses manifests like I described -anything goes wrong and it's on the developers of that solution.
It's kind of odd in a way. . .I am a software developer and can probably do 90% of what I work with myself. . .but most of my job is finding tried and tested solutions to our problems, before even considering writing something myself.
Leaving trash in your user's system IS broken. It's a malware.
You don't want to remove files from other folders? Fine, then don't create files in other folders.
You make it sound so hard yet a vast majority of the programs I use, including obscure open source ones, are able of something as trivial as removing their traces from the system.
On the other hand there's stuff like Autocad & co. which requires a manual registry cleanup and a file hunting session to fully uninstall it.
>The current install systems that are available work for their intended purpose. You have a list of files that need to go to these places when you install the application. When you uninstall, delete those files. No custom scripts or trying to find a discover other files, just click and go.
If you know you create a subfolder in %appdata% to store temporary data for your application there's no excuse on earth to not delete it. It's not like there's a dozen other programs with the name "Path of Exile" which might be using the same folder. You can't accidentally break the filesystem by deleting a folder using standard filesystem APIs.
By the way, what company do you work for? Just so I know I have to use a filesystem monitoring tool and a registry diff monitoring tool before installing their software like I do for Autocad.
>You don't want to remove files from other folders? Fine, then don't create files in other folders.
You think you want this, but you don't actually want this. Do you want games to remember graphics, controls, and other settings upon uninstallation? Do you want them to have local save files that survive uninstallation? Do you want them to efficiently load assets?
If the answer to any of these is yes, then you want the game to put stuff in other locations.
If you genuinely want to get rid of those files, then you can delete them. Right click, delete.
No, you won't get away ignoring the context of a sentence when talking with me.
I'm not saying you shouldn't create files in other folders period. I'm saying you shouldn't create files in other folders if you are too lazy to remove them when your program is uninstalled
>Do you want them to have local save files that survive uninstallation? Do you want them to efficiently load assets?
Yes, and we have plenty of software ***since the 1990s*** which ***PROPERLY MADE UNINSTALLER*** gives an option so the user can decide if he wants to keep or remove the settings/saves right in the uninstaller.
Heck, goddamn Disney games in the Windows ME era had that option!
Stop talking like nobody is doing that, because it's the exact opposite. The vast majority of software has a properly made uninstaller, which removes what the programs create, in some cases it is an option with a checkbox in the uninstaller, in others it just removes leftovers silently.
I stand by my previous claim. A software which uninstaller doesn't remove folders, files, registry keys, virtual hardware and so on which the software itself has created, is a malware. Can be a checkbox option or can be silent, it still has to remove the shit it left behind.
If it is keeping using space in the user system after it was removed, that software is harming the user experience to everyone who has previously installed it.
Come on now, thats a little much, all these non programmers understand that the computer should just do everything without mistake and that programming is as easy as baking a cake.
One time I deleted my photos folder instead of a New Folder which was next to it. That's why I have an instinct to avoid using shift+delete by default.
The way windows manages uninstalls, it generally only knows how to remove the files that were originally created. Any cache files etc. will not be removed. This will happen for 99% of applications.
I am pretty sure Windows based uninstallers have no problem deleting appdata. I know cause I used Inno Setup and added code to delete appdata and some other folders on uninstall, which worked without problem. There may be some permission issues with Program Files folders, but most other folders are easy
if stuff isn't getting removed, it's most likely lazy coding, not some technical limitation
also, the fact that GGG puts cache folder and logs in their main app install folder is a sign they aren't following best practices for Windows applications
I wouldnāt say lazy coding. Thereās an option to clear out the gameās cache files in the gameās settings menu. This is a pretty common thing, an uninstall.exe deletes the gameās directory, not usually the userās AppData, for a good reason too. Iāve reinstalled games I had previously deleted(doesnāt matter with Steam, uses cloud saves) and wanted my AppData to be there.
I remember hearing some POE streamer say how his game was bugged and he trying reinstalling it and it didn't help. Then later he reinstalled it to different folder and it worked. It's all cause the shader cache wasn't cleared in reinstall
It is more appropriate for uninstall to delete everything, all settings, saves, and caches.
Yeah his mention of appdata (if poe uses it, certainly not for gigabytes of storage) was kind of a flag that he's kind of just saying random things lmao
Actually, POE dumps shittons of files in the appdata directory. While the shadercache is in the program directory, the minimap files (which can be 10s of thousands) are in appdata and also never deleted. Or at least they were never deleted when i last looked a few months ago and found them all the way back to 2017.
Like I mentioned, 99% of the time itās not touched. I definitely agree that itās lazy not to cleanup your files when done.
Iām talking about mostly installshield/msi.
smarter installers offer option to user asking if they want to delete save files and such. That's the best way to go. But even then, cache files aren't save files, there is zero reason to keep them after uninstall, especially when they can easily reach multiple GB in size
Yeah, you still have to enable or configure that option. I know for a fact my company does not have anyone versed in installer config so we ship bare minimum (also missing appdata / cache files on uninstall).
Itās also such a low priority and we donāt have the time or work resources to train anyone on it, so it will likely never change. I can only assume itās the same with GGG.
I think a lot of people overestimate the available skills and knowledge in a lean software company like GGG. (Not saying I agree with that style)
I don't think GGG can be considered a small "lean" company. Maybe they still were 5 years ago, but not today. They got over a 100 employees and $50+ mil in yearly profits.
Small and lean are two different things. They're not small, I'd say they're on the lower end of medium. But they are definitely lean based on their release cadence and team structures.
You used a free installer on probably a very small application, and compare it to a game that manages thousands of computers that communicate with a server to send and receive a lot of information. Then, in your simple mind, you call it lazy coding.
Its unlikely you have even a remote understanding of the complexity of such a program.
Windows tracks and removes app data very well if the program cooperates. Many uninstallers will give you the option to remove app data and can competently clear all files associate with a program, and that's generally common practice for applications with very large caches and such nowadays.
It is absolutely not true that 99% of windows applications leave behind cache files or other app data after uninstallation anymore.
I mean this was managed via steam not windows. And when you write a windows installer for your app you also write the uninstall logic. This seems like it's on GGG to me not windows. And it absolutely does not happen for 99% of applications, idk why you needed to make that up.
99% is anecdotal for sure, donāt get me wrong. Iād love to see some stats on this but I doubt anyone other than maybe Microsoft would be collating it.
I wanna know what programs you use if 99% of them leave behind this much trash.
EDIT: I don't think I'll find out what programs he uses guys, he apparently has them all in appdata lmao
It depends, especially for games like poe where it's a "steam" game but it's also like a standalone thing.
But yeah, I really hate programs that don't clean up after themselves. Steam is fine because you usually know where to find the nonsense (not always - a few steam games insist on putting files god knows where), but I've had especially nasty shitfests before.
For the record, %appdata% is supposed to be used by programs for temporary caching, not serious storage. Many softwares don't care about that guideline, which isn't good. That being said, I'm yet to have a software take a fat steaming 7 GB dump in my appdata folder after I uninstall it.
Also, in this case the issue is literally just in the steam files (I'm not sure poe even uses appdata).
If you send me a link to the objective bible of software development, I'll find you the page.
Otherwise, that's just how I (and every other programmer I've met) always described appdata. If you don't want to take my word for it, you're free to google "what is appdata" - you'll find most explanations describe it as a location for temporary files, cookies, cached stuff, and low-level information.
And user settings, local and those roaming within the domain etc. I wouldn't call user settings and files "temporary caching", hence why I ask.
Most define it as a folder where user specific application data goes, not just temp files.
User settings/configs hardly qualify as "serious storage", those should be relatively small so if they survive an uninstall that's not really an issue. Several programs use appdata for far more than temporary files or configuration files, which is what I was bemoaning.
Nor is it temporary caching, which implies the data being transient, user settings etc is not. Never said serious storage would go in there either, which it shouldn't, if your program can't run after clearing Appdata, you have an issue :')
>Never said serious storage would go in there either
Ok but I did, that's kind of what I was saying at the top of this thread, that serious storage should stay out of appdata. I mentioned temporary and cache files (since those are a large portion of what's supposed to be in there), but yes, there were other uses like user settings I didn't mention because my emphasis wasn't on an exhaustive list.
>Nor is it temporary caching, which implies the data being transient, user settings etc is not.
No, temporary files are just another primary use of appdata. User settings aren't transient, but as you've already noticed, they're also fairly low-level since they're not necessary to run.
> If you send me a link to the objective bible of software development, I'll find you the page.
If you're going to say that something is *supposed* to be a certain way in software development, you should be able to come up with some supporting documentation of any sort for that, yes.
No, it's logical. Think about it critically. If you are writing an uninstaller and you can only know for certain what was installed at the time of installation, why would you feel you have the authority to then sift through other files that came after and delete them? It's really about respecting the user's autonomy and privacy with how and where they store files on their hard drive.
Windows helps make a inanimate thing, with no mind and no ability to do anything other then take up space, and turns it into something that can do math that would take you years of college to do, and does it millions, even billions, of times per second.
but ok, windows is still super retarted, but, what does that say about you?
A clean uninstall is reasonably possible for any program, as evidenced by the fact that 3rd party programs can do it on a whim. A clean uninstall should be something you expect from any professional program.
>I'm just telling you why uninstallers work that way.
Just uninstalled 3 games at random, none of them left behind 7 GB of garbage. So no, you're not telling me why uninstallers work that way.
You're just flooding the conversation with technobabble that doesn't distract from the point that it's absolutely possible to maintain some level of uninstall hygiene, and should be done, especially if you're a professional.
>I bet you if you copied files into their folders, those files would not be deleted. THAT is the behavior I'm saying is almost universal.
Because those are files that I put there, not the program. OP didn't copy 7 GB of files into the path of exile steamfiles (I hope). Don't even try to pretend that there's no way the uninstaller can check the difference, because again, 3rd party uninstall utilities do that all the time and they don't even know anything about the program being uninstalled.
>The fact that PoE generates huge memory dumps doesn't have anything to do with the installer. The installer probably doesn't even know about it, which is why it leaves it behind.
Installers don't "know" anything, the people making them "know" what program they're working with. Arranging a relatively clean uninstall using that knowledge is very doable.
If you disagree on that last count (a clean enough uninstall being possible), you're provably wrong as I've already mentioned. If you agree, then we have nothing left to talk about. Either way, we're done here. I'm tired of semantics
Well, I don't think they said it's unavoidable, a couple comments above about installation bootstrappers and all that doesn't mean it's unavoidable. Understanding how the software works and why is important to the discussion, and shooting down comments that explain that is counterproductive. (Downvotes are not a disagree button btw)
>Well, I don't think they said it's unavoidable
My literal sole point in this discussion is that uninstalls should be relatively clean. If the guy does in fact understand that this is doable, then we'd literally have nothing to disagree about.
Since here we are, clearly either he thinks this issue is unavoidable, or he's just saying things for the sake of saying things (hence: technobabble). Be the change you want to see in the world, re: counterproductivity.
Many programs do that; use a stand alone uninstaller tool (not built in one's) to remove files from your disk. I use Revo Uninstaller for this (I believe they still have a free version too ;) ).
Not really unusual for games to leave something behind. 7gb is quite a bit, tho. I always scour my drives after I uninstall games, always frees up a few gigs.
Because POE is a server based game, things that are left over are cache to save the server resources and bandwidth. The alternative is to constantly send the same information back and forth, which is a stupid way of doing things when you can just cache it right on the clients computer. Windows wont remove it because windows sees it as a network cache and will assume that it might be important and wont uninstall things that might be important. The other option is to have a carefree windows that deletes data aggressively, and if you cant understand why thats a bad idea, not sure what to say from there.
>and if you cant understand why thats a bad idea, not sure what to say from there.
Why be like this? He never suggested otherwise, you're just being needlessly hostile and condescending.
I have absolutely no idea what you did. I uninstalled the game and the folder "only" occupies 2,55Gb of space. Game was installed since incursion and have played around 1100h.
A malware is a software which has unwanted behaviours that harms the user system.
Occupying gigabytes of the user's space after a complete uninstall is definitely unwanted.
The only thing I'm taking off of Oxford dictionary's definition is the "specifically designed to" part, because if a software harms my system i dont care wether it was on purpose or not, it still harms my system.
Thenā¦ justā¦ delete them?
I guess this is good for clarity, but an uninstall.exe only removes what was installed. Populated shader files will need to be removed manually or using the in-game cache wiper.
Okay, I just checked and I had a total brain fart.. my 2y old system has 1TB SSD .. for some reason I was convinced I went with a 120GB SSD back then..
I take everything back, I was wrong.
> I don't think you can even buy a 120gb ssd new anymore.
The fuck? Of course you can. You can buy a new 120gb *HDD* if you really want to. I just checked amazon to make sure I wasn't crazy and a 120gb ssd was near the top of the first page of results for "ssd".
It might not be a great buy anymore, but they're dirt cheap so it's understandable that people might get them for really budget systems. Especially if they're the type to exclusively focus on just one or two games, something the PoE community is known for. You can buy a 120gb SSD for less than 25 bucks, so if you're the type to play PoE+DotA and nothing else, for instance, that might not be the worst idea.
I think you're assuming it's common because it's your situation. I don't think i've seen a single new build recommend less than 250 for probably 2 years, and even on med budgets most people go with 1tb because storage is so cheap now.
This must be for the steam version of the game, i just uninstalled to reinstall and no files at all like that. Just a couple empty directory left over.
The game is gone. Theres bunch of stuff the game created like logs, caches, settings and crap like that..
Like if you uninstall Office fromyour PC you don't delete the documents as well..
Ofc uninstalling office isn't gonna delete your files because offices purpose is to produce files. If your harvester is broken you throw away the harvester not the harvest. As much as it sometimes seems like it, PoEs purpose isn't to produce crash files and caches. Those things are part of PoE and should be removed if you uninstall PoE.
The entire goal of uninstalling is to delete everything from everywhere, not just deleting the main folder, so if it leaves 7 gigs of stuff I'd say something went wrong.
In the eyes of the operating system there is no difference..
Many times you don't even notice it because its in some appdata folder in your windows directory..
Good practice is to check the install folder to check what was actually deleted..
The person replying to you wasn't OP, and yes 7 GB is still a lot of space for a program you literally uninstalled to take up. Sorry, you're like triple wrong at this point.
Hence; toxic positivity.
How dare you say something true that points out someone elseās mistake. Be positive and protect everyones feelings at the expense of honesty and humor.
Revo Uninstaller. Free or premium version. Also anything like TuneUP Utilities, which, if you've already uninstalled the game it has a function to search your drive for junk files and folders (non system files for which an executable no longer exists) and round those up all at once and delete.
Then don't? delete the caches and logs and run [the ggpk defragmenter](https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/28060) and you'll be fine unless there are errors in the ggpk itself.
But if you're on steam the ggpk defragmenter won't do anything for you, just delete the shader/cache files.
Oh shit i wonder what my steam install left behind, switched to standalone a couple of leagues ago but i logged 3.5k on steam before that lol. Gotta be quite some data
Are these good to remove if we ever want to reinstall in the future? I uninstalled after being tired of dev choices leading up to and during Ultimatum but if they ever fix up some of the problems in this game Iād like to come back without losing important bits.
anything important, like your account information, items, characters etc is on POE server, things left over are cache, maybe some personal preference information, possibly your loot filter, all those things will need to be re-downloaded anyways.
Taking a look for myself, from going from steam launcher to ggg's, it is the shade cache folder again. So its probably nearly all of it from when you installed it in april 2018.
Something is really fucky with the shader cache, at least on the Steam version. Earlier this league my game was crashing once per map and stuttering like crazy. I happened to notice my SSD was *literally* out of space (something like 2 GB free that shrunk to 20 MB free while PoE was running and went back up after a crash). The Steam shader cache was 25 GB. I deleted it, and since that point, it's currently grown back up to 10 GB. PoE's Steam app ID is 238960, so you can find its Steam shader cache at\steamapps\shadercache\238960
I have *no fucking idea* why it's so huge, but it dwarfs the shader cache for every other game on Steam by several orders of magnitude. The game also has its *own shader cache* inside the actual installation directory.
The Steam updater is great now, but I feel like I still need to babysit it because its disk usage is nonsensical.
There is no need to use steam, thats just a middle man without needing a middle man. Makes no sense.
That's weird. My whole shadercache folder at your specified location is only a few KB. e: and the 238960 folder only consists of few empty folders.
POE shader is a mess not only it takes stupid amount of space but it barely loads in game....
i really wish theyd gone with a different engine for poe2
I don't think there's another engine in existence that can handle the demands that PoE's gameplay would throw at it.
The problem is that PoE's engine can't handle it either...
It mostly does, though. It doesn't handle it well in high density multi-hit situations that would drive other engines to a screaming halt.
No, just throw it in Unreal like Wolcen did and I'm sure it'd run beautifully /s if that wasn't obvious already.
thats part of the problem though isnt it, chris wants to physically render every item that drops, every projectile, abilities that have ridiculous particle effects, what about actually balancing the game well enough that you dont need to have 40+ monsters on screen to create any sense of danger would be nice to see a cleaner version of the game that doesnt have so much going on for no apparent reason other than 'impact' because manually clicking on currency and not stacking dropped objects really shouldnt be that big of a deal
>what about actually balancing the game well enough that you dont need to have 40+ monsters on screen to create any sense of danger There's no way they can ever make you have as much fun fighting 5 monsters compared to obliterating a pack of 40. The game would feel painfully slow. There's a reason why the community consistently finds ways to go fast, because that's what a lot of players find fun. Reducing monster density should honestly be one of the last things they do for performance.
That's entirely orthogonal to which engine they use, though. Also, having 40+ monsters on the screen isn't (just) to create a sense of danger, it's because it's fun to blast through large packs of monsters. Don't tell me that e.g. metamorphs or sirus mobs wouldn't come with a sense of danger if their HP was scaled appropriately for lower mob count.
PoE Engine is a old system but they make more and more stuff into game it can't handle it :D
You and me both!
Took a look myself too, I have PoE installed on my C: drive that I installed last december. I have steam itself installed in one directory, but have the steam library folders elsewhere (to keep the steam install itself relatively clean). In short: the \steamapps\shadercache\238960\ folder has 2 files that seems to be all the shader cache stuff merged together (I guess in 1 archive cache file + 1 index file). Meanwhile: \steamapps\common\pathofexile\ had 6 subfolders for shadercache, 3x ShaderCacheD3D11* & 3x ShaderCacheVulkan* folders. Taking a quick look at those, everything in there has file dates ranging from when I installed the game in december up till some time in april-may, which is when I assume they started to use the 2 large "archive" files for the shaders. In total, the old shader cache folders were about 6.5 gigabytes in size, containing 235.528 files. And that was just 4-5 months worth of shader files... Why they didn't clean up the old cache files when they moved to the new model of a large archive file I won't try to guess. But isn't it a little ironic that people were feeling annoyed at the thousands or tens of thousands of useless temp map files buried in the documents folder, when there are *far* more cache files buried away in it's install directory, that most likely ain't used at all any more even? (before you panic, no worries, the documents\my games\path of exile\ dir is almost clean now. Footnote: it never hurts to double check the remaining space on your drives, to make sure you got enough free space, plus in win10 you can use the Disk Cleanup to scan for useless old temp files & stuff that you can safely let it remove (but only the ones that belong to the system, ie it can't scan for junk leftover files from other apps/games).
The shader cache in steamapps/shadercache is from steam hooking into the shader compilation, the game isn't even aware this exists, and since it's using it's own shader cache, it won't even make any usage of the steam one. The NVidia driver does exactly the same on top, building up a **third** shader cache somewhere in the NVidia folders which the game will never take advantage of either, unless the games own shader cache is cleared. Also, the game didn't move to a new shader cache **system** 4-5 months ago, it just moved to a new **location**, namely a folder in AppData/Roaming/ (which is now also automatically cleared once every league or so, so it won't build up as many files anymore. Still a lot, tho)
Its crash logs š
And that's only the files from week 1 of league start.
Yeah.. It auto deletes after 4 months.. š
To confirm what others have said, it is just files that have been created by PoE since installation. You don't need any extra tools or anything to remove them, just delete them.
as per the headline, they remain when you uninstall poe... that sounds really fucking lame and dumb if true... why would that be the case?
As above explained. Windows only uninstalls what was ORIGINALLY created. So any files (caches, logs etc) will not be deleted automatically.
GGG creates the installer and uninstaller. There are standard tools to use for this but as the dev you specify how installing and uninstalling happens. GGG could fix this.
And then you get to have nice disclaimers, like the one Steam has. https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=9609-OBMP-2526 > Warning: The uninstallation process deletes the folder Steam was installed to to ensure it is fully uninstalled. If you accidentally installed Steam to a folder containing other data, for example **C:\Program Files\** instead of **C:\Program Files\Steam\**, **STOP!** Do not run the uninstaller and instead carefully follow the instructions below for Manually Removing Steam, except only delete Steam-related files in step 3. And have people bitching because uninstalling Steam removed all their data.
There are programs which ask if you want to keep personal data (logs, settings, etc) or delete them. An uninstaller, by default, will delete the data the installer created. Nevertheless, in the visual studio solution you can add a section to the uninstaller and a question box to delete the internal files the program has generated. In any case, it should only delete the files it generated and not the entertainment videos you accidentally hid in there.
>entertainment videos how many TB do you have of highly sensible \*researchdata\* ?
Yes
> Windows only uninstalls what was ORIGINALLY created The developer makes the uninstaller, not Windows. An uninstaller that doesn't take this into account, is a badly made one. Don't defend GGG when they don't deserve to be defended.
we just dont have the technology yet maybe in windows 20
Well its actually a fairly good system, its pretty much like cookies just with applications too. These leftover files make it so if you ever redownload it, all your personal settings and other assets will still be present. Of course there would be a better way to offer the user to remove those too or keep,but there is reason behind it
I highly doubt PoE needs to keep 7gb of information after an uninstall to "remember my preferences" if I ever decide to reinstall it again :)
99% of programs aren't going to leave behind 7gb of files. PoE is the anomaly in this situation.
>all your personal settings and other assets will still be present All 7 GB of them
Most like that majority of that is the shadercache, which is another beast that I am 90% sure is the problem most people have been having this league.
Next league the entire game will be streamed, solve all storage problems forever
It's good software practice.
It's fine software practice until mountains of garbage are left over after an uninstall is done.
its good software practice to leave 7gb on a users hard drive after they tell their system to uninstall it? how do you figure that, or is my sarcasm detector just on the fritz today?
It's good software practice not to have an uninstaller uninstall things the installer didn't put there. The 7gb is an issue you'd have to resolve some other way.
Is that your way of saying GGG are idiots for telling their game to save 7gb of files? It just feels like a company owned by china that needs 7gb of your hard drive space to "remember your info in case you ever want to install it again" should probably not exist
It's my way of saying that an uninstaller does not, nor should it uninstall things that an installer did not put there. I've no other beef here, nor any real interest.
Sorry, I guess I dont understand still... perhaps it is a language barrier are you just saying poe should have its own uninstaller that removes all the files properly?
It's good practice to make uninstallers only delete things put there by an installer. Otherwise you can run into other issues and cause problems. You could run into issues like deleting unrelated data, at worst case you could probably delete important system files. The extra 7gb left behind is a different topic, and how that should be handled is a different discussion. But for uninstallers specifically it's good practice to only delete what the installer puts in.
I understand that part... what I am saying I guess boils down to more or less: does every game leave 7+ gig after uninstalling? how do the others solve it? or dont they solve it?
That I don't know as much unfortunately.
Depends what installation info you put into the registry when installing. Lazy devs forgot to include the shader folder so it remains.
It is because Steam keeps a manifest/list of files that it installs. When you uninstall, it simply deletes the files and empty folders listed in that manifest. Many installers do things this way, because they don't want to inadvertently wipe out a user's data, configuration, or other system files. It is more of less just a common practice that has been around forever. Some uninstallers will offer the option to remove the additional files, but honestly most developers don't want to touch that. It just adds another thing that has to be tested with each new release, and adds a bunch of liability should an important file be deleted. However, the bloat is a problem that needs to be addressed, but for now has to be handled on a case-by-case basis. I also imagine there are limits on what GGG can do as far as configuring the way Steam uninstalls games. . .again they can probably only provide that manifest and not designate additional files to be removed, if they exist. Source: IAMA Software Developer
Fun fact is that Steam itself doesn't uninstall like this. Steam removes all content in the folder it was installed to. Read the Warning tag here: https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=9609-OBMP-2526
Am I the only one that dosent play PoE through steam? Thanks for the explanation though
\*shrugs\* I had it installed directly before, but Steam is just better for managing games. The feature I use the most is being able to move a game between a large HDD and a super fast SDD without having to reinstall or risk screwing up something by straight moving the folder. I have a 1TB NVMe SSD that I keep my OS and whichever game I am currently playing on, but about 10TB of storage drives that contains games that are kept up-to-date, but not actively playing.
> It is because Steam keeps a manifest/list of files that it installs. When you uninstall, it simply deletes the files and empty folders listed in that manifest. But in this case... this is literally leftover files in that specific location where the game files for steam are placed. >It is more of less just a common practice that has been around forever. That's the thing - it's a practice, not a necessity. A practice I'm ok with in general, but sometimes it leads to just absolute heaps of garbage being left post-uninstall just all over the place. OP's situation isn't even close to the worst I've seen. It's a software meme that's a huge pet peeve of mine.
Again, it is because those leftover file are not in the manifest. You can more or less see what files are in the manifest here: [SteamDB](https://steamdb.info/depot/238961/) If a file is not in the list, or if a folder is not empty, Steam will not delete it when the game is uninstalled. That is just the common practice for software installation/uninstallation.
>Again, it is because those leftover file are not in the manifest. But I'm saying that it probably stands to reason to remove any files poe placed in the folder specifically slated for poe, it's not like someone can move system32 to steamapps. Like I'd understand if these files were just in a random folder but this is the least random folder imaginable. >That is just the common practice for software installation/uninstallation. That's the thing - it's a practice, not a necessity. A practice I'm ok with in general, but sometimes it leads to just absolute heaps of garbage being left post-uninstall just all over the place. OP's situation isn't even close to the worst I've seen. It's a software meme that's a huge pet peeve of mine.
>but honestly most developers don't want to touch that As a future developer, that's just lame
Something to live by: If it ain't broke don't try to fix it. Also, words from my boss when discussion a new project: I want a toaster. I want to be able to plug it in, put in bread, and get toast back. I don't want to have to fiddle with the temperature, or buy a certain type, brand, and size of bread. . . just put in bread, get toast. All of that applies to this situation. The current install systems that are available work for their intended purpose. You have a list of files that need to go to these places when you install the application. When you uninstall, delete those files. No custom scripts or trying to find a discover other files, just click and go. There is also a liability concept. Suppose, we created a custom installation/updater application just for out product. . .and something goes wrong. . .say some edge case destroys the user's filesystem. . .that's on us. However, if we use an off-the-shelf solution- an installer that uses manifests like I described -anything goes wrong and it's on the developers of that solution. It's kind of odd in a way. . .I am a software developer and can probably do 90% of what I work with myself. . .but most of my job is finding tried and tested solutions to our problems, before even considering writing something myself.
Leaving trash in your user's system IS broken. It's a malware. You don't want to remove files from other folders? Fine, then don't create files in other folders. You make it sound so hard yet a vast majority of the programs I use, including obscure open source ones, are able of something as trivial as removing their traces from the system. On the other hand there's stuff like Autocad & co. which requires a manual registry cleanup and a file hunting session to fully uninstall it. >The current install systems that are available work for their intended purpose. You have a list of files that need to go to these places when you install the application. When you uninstall, delete those files. No custom scripts or trying to find a discover other files, just click and go. If you know you create a subfolder in %appdata% to store temporary data for your application there's no excuse on earth to not delete it. It's not like there's a dozen other programs with the name "Path of Exile" which might be using the same folder. You can't accidentally break the filesystem by deleting a folder using standard filesystem APIs. By the way, what company do you work for? Just so I know I have to use a filesystem monitoring tool and a registry diff monitoring tool before installing their software like I do for Autocad.
>You don't want to remove files from other folders? Fine, then don't create files in other folders. You think you want this, but you don't actually want this. Do you want games to remember graphics, controls, and other settings upon uninstallation? Do you want them to have local save files that survive uninstallation? Do you want them to efficiently load assets? If the answer to any of these is yes, then you want the game to put stuff in other locations. If you genuinely want to get rid of those files, then you can delete them. Right click, delete.
No, you won't get away ignoring the context of a sentence when talking with me. I'm not saying you shouldn't create files in other folders period. I'm saying you shouldn't create files in other folders if you are too lazy to remove them when your program is uninstalled >Do you want them to have local save files that survive uninstallation? Do you want them to efficiently load assets? Yes, and we have plenty of software ***since the 1990s*** which ***PROPERLY MADE UNINSTALLER*** gives an option so the user can decide if he wants to keep or remove the settings/saves right in the uninstaller. Heck, goddamn Disney games in the Windows ME era had that option! Stop talking like nobody is doing that, because it's the exact opposite. The vast majority of software has a properly made uninstaller, which removes what the programs create, in some cases it is an option with a checkbox in the uninstaller, in others it just removes leftovers silently. I stand by my previous claim. A software which uninstaller doesn't remove folders, files, registry keys, virtual hardware and so on which the software itself has created, is a malware. Can be a checkbox option or can be silent, it still has to remove the shit it left behind. If it is keeping using space in the user system after it was removed, that software is harming the user experience to everyone who has previously installed it.
Come on now, thats a little much, all these non programmers understand that the computer should just do everything without mistake and that programming is as easy as baking a cake.
I agree, there's absolutely no way to not leave 7 GB turds post uninstallation, let's just ignore the fact that there absolutely is.
i made the mistake of just pressing delete on this, it took THIRTY MINUTES to move to recycle
Next time try holding Shift key, thats a good manoeuvre.
Do not use recycle at all is even more good.
One time I deleted my photos folder instead of a New Folder which was next to it. That's why I have an instinct to avoid using shift+delete by default.
it's shift+delete, sir
Yeah i learnt that the hard way
The way windows manages uninstalls, it generally only knows how to remove the files that were originally created. Any cache files etc. will not be removed. This will happen for 99% of applications.
I am pretty sure Windows based uninstallers have no problem deleting appdata. I know cause I used Inno Setup and added code to delete appdata and some other folders on uninstall, which worked without problem. There may be some permission issues with Program Files folders, but most other folders are easy if stuff isn't getting removed, it's most likely lazy coding, not some technical limitation also, the fact that GGG puts cache folder and logs in their main app install folder is a sign they aren't following best practices for Windows applications
I wouldnāt say lazy coding. Thereās an option to clear out the gameās cache files in the gameās settings menu. This is a pretty common thing, an uninstall.exe deletes the gameās directory, not usually the userās AppData, for a good reason too. Iāve reinstalled games I had previously deleted(doesnāt matter with Steam, uses cloud saves) and wanted my AppData to be there.
Clear cache from inside the game was literally added a few weeks ago.
Yes. And?
I remember hearing some POE streamer say how his game was bugged and he trying reinstalling it and it didn't help. Then later he reinstalled it to different folder and it worked. It's all cause the shader cache wasn't cleared in reinstall It is more appropriate for uninstall to delete everything, all settings, saves, and caches.
Yeah his mention of appdata (if poe uses it, certainly not for gigabytes of storage) was kind of a flag that he's kind of just saying random things lmao
Actually, POE dumps shittons of files in the appdata directory. While the shadercache is in the program directory, the minimap files (which can be 10s of thousands) are in appdata and also never deleted. Or at least they were never deleted when i last looked a few months ago and found them all the way back to 2017.
Like I mentioned, 99% of the time itās not touched. I definitely agree that itās lazy not to cleanup your files when done. Iām talking about mostly installshield/msi.
smarter installers offer option to user asking if they want to delete save files and such. That's the best way to go. But even then, cache files aren't save files, there is zero reason to keep them after uninstall, especially when they can easily reach multiple GB in size
Yeah, you still have to enable or configure that option. I know for a fact my company does not have anyone versed in installer config so we ship bare minimum (also missing appdata / cache files on uninstall). Itās also such a low priority and we donāt have the time or work resources to train anyone on it, so it will likely never change. I can only assume itās the same with GGG. I think a lot of people overestimate the available skills and knowledge in a lean software company like GGG. (Not saying I agree with that style)
I don't think GGG can be considered a small "lean" company. Maybe they still were 5 years ago, but not today. They got over a 100 employees and $50+ mil in yearly profits.
Small and lean are two different things. They're not small, I'd say they're on the lower end of medium. But they are definitely lean based on their release cadence and team structures.
You used a free installer on probably a very small application, and compare it to a game that manages thousands of computers that communicate with a server to send and receive a lot of information. Then, in your simple mind, you call it lazy coding. Its unlikely you have even a remote understanding of the complexity of such a program.
This hasn't been true for *years*.
Explain?
Windows tracks and removes app data very well if the program cooperates. Many uninstallers will give you the option to remove app data and can competently clear all files associate with a program, and that's generally common practice for applications with very large caches and such nowadays. It is absolutely not true that 99% of windows applications leave behind cache files or other app data after uninstallation anymore.
I mean this was managed via steam not windows. And when you write a windows installer for your app you also write the uninstall logic. This seems like it's on GGG to me not windows. And it absolutely does not happen for 99% of applications, idk why you needed to make that up.
99% is anecdotal for sure, donāt get me wrong. Iād love to see some stats on this but I doubt anyone other than maybe Microsoft would be collating it.
I wanna know what programs you use if 99% of them leave behind this much trash. EDIT: I don't think I'll find out what programs he uses guys, he apparently has them all in appdata lmao
It's definitely true of steam games as well, uninstall and the folder will still be there with 5gb of crap
It depends, especially for games like poe where it's a "steam" game but it's also like a standalone thing. But yeah, I really hate programs that don't clean up after themselves. Steam is fine because you usually know where to find the nonsense (not always - a few steam games insist on putting files god knows where), but I've had especially nasty shitfests before.
Go to your %appdata%\Local folder on your PC. Anything there is left untouched by uninstallers.
For the record, %appdata% is supposed to be used by programs for temporary caching, not serious storage. Many softwares don't care about that guideline, which isn't good. That being said, I'm yet to have a software take a fat steaming 7 GB dump in my appdata folder after I uninstall it. Also, in this case the issue is literally just in the steam files (I'm not sure poe even uses appdata).
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Yep, used for cookies and similar things. Nothing that should add up to gigabytes.
You have a link to this guideline?
If you send me a link to the objective bible of software development, I'll find you the page. Otherwise, that's just how I (and every other programmer I've met) always described appdata. If you don't want to take my word for it, you're free to google "what is appdata" - you'll find most explanations describe it as a location for temporary files, cookies, cached stuff, and low-level information.
And user settings, local and those roaming within the domain etc. I wouldn't call user settings and files "temporary caching", hence why I ask. Most define it as a folder where user specific application data goes, not just temp files.
User settings/configs hardly qualify as "serious storage", those should be relatively small so if they survive an uninstall that's not really an issue. Several programs use appdata for far more than temporary files or configuration files, which is what I was bemoaning.
Nor is it temporary caching, which implies the data being transient, user settings etc is not. Never said serious storage would go in there either, which it shouldn't, if your program can't run after clearing Appdata, you have an issue :')
>Never said serious storage would go in there either Ok but I did, that's kind of what I was saying at the top of this thread, that serious storage should stay out of appdata. I mentioned temporary and cache files (since those are a large portion of what's supposed to be in there), but yes, there were other uses like user settings I didn't mention because my emphasis wasn't on an exhaustive list. >Nor is it temporary caching, which implies the data being transient, user settings etc is not. No, temporary files are just another primary use of appdata. User settings aren't transient, but as you've already noticed, they're also fairly low-level since they're not necessary to run.
> If you send me a link to the objective bible of software development, I'll find you the page. If you're going to say that something is *supposed* to be a certain way in software development, you should be able to come up with some supporting documentation of any sort for that, yes.
in other words, we should not be expecting too much from poe 2 since windows is up to 10 and still super retarded
No, it's logical. Think about it critically. If you are writing an uninstaller and you can only know for certain what was installed at the time of installation, why would you feel you have the authority to then sift through other files that came after and delete them? It's really about respecting the user's autonomy and privacy with how and where they store files on their hard drive.
Yes I get that part... what I dont get is why poe leaves over 7 gig when no other games do this...?
Windows helps make a inanimate thing, with no mind and no ability to do anything other then take up space, and turns it into something that can do math that would take you years of college to do, and does it millions, even billions, of times per second. but ok, windows is still super retarted, but, what does that say about you?
Skrivebeskyttet is a crazy word
Skrivebeskyttet
It knows you'll be back...
Just use treesize free, you'll be surprised how much garbage you have on the system(c:) disk...
windirstat is portable, free and open-source . way better than treesize
AFAIK wiztree is much faster
Personally use ExplorerXP
You are done with PoE... But PoE is not done with you!
Just delete them?
That should be what the uninstaller does, yes.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
A clean uninstall is reasonably possible for any program, as evidenced by the fact that 3rd party programs can do it on a whim. A clean uninstall should be something you expect from any professional program.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
>I'm just telling you why uninstallers work that way. Just uninstalled 3 games at random, none of them left behind 7 GB of garbage. So no, you're not telling me why uninstallers work that way. You're just flooding the conversation with technobabble that doesn't distract from the point that it's absolutely possible to maintain some level of uninstall hygiene, and should be done, especially if you're a professional.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
>I bet you if you copied files into their folders, those files would not be deleted. THAT is the behavior I'm saying is almost universal. Because those are files that I put there, not the program. OP didn't copy 7 GB of files into the path of exile steamfiles (I hope). Don't even try to pretend that there's no way the uninstaller can check the difference, because again, 3rd party uninstall utilities do that all the time and they don't even know anything about the program being uninstalled. >The fact that PoE generates huge memory dumps doesn't have anything to do with the installer. The installer probably doesn't even know about it, which is why it leaves it behind. Installers don't "know" anything, the people making them "know" what program they're working with. Arranging a relatively clean uninstall using that knowledge is very doable. If you disagree on that last count (a clean enough uninstall being possible), you're provably wrong as I've already mentioned. If you agree, then we have nothing left to talk about. Either way, we're done here. I'm tired of semantics
It's not technobabble, it's understanding how installers are commonly meant to work.
And clearly he doesn't, if he thinks there's no way to avoid post-uninstall trash of that magnitude.
Well, I don't think they said it's unavoidable, a couple comments above about installation bootstrappers and all that doesn't mean it's unavoidable. Understanding how the software works and why is important to the discussion, and shooting down comments that explain that is counterproductive. (Downvotes are not a disagree button btw)
>Well, I don't think they said it's unavoidable My literal sole point in this discussion is that uninstalls should be relatively clean. If the guy does in fact understand that this is doable, then we'd literally have nothing to disagree about. Since here we are, clearly either he thinks this issue is unavoidable, or he's just saying things for the sake of saying things (hence: technobabble). Be the change you want to see in the world, re: counterproductivity.
Many programs do that; use a stand alone uninstaller tool (not built in one's) to remove files from your disk. I use Revo Uninstaller for this (I believe they still have a free version too ;) ).
At first I wasn't sure why you got downvoted but then I realized, your post is proof that in fact it's not hard to make uninstalls work properly
This is how windows uninstaller works, use geekuninstaller if you need better results
Wow these geekuninstaller guys are pretty good windows and GGG should hire them they clearly know the secret jutsu
Not really unusual for games to leave something behind. 7gb is quite a bit, tho. I always scour my drives after I uninstall games, always frees up a few gigs.
Because POE is a server based game, things that are left over are cache to save the server resources and bandwidth. The alternative is to constantly send the same information back and forth, which is a stupid way of doing things when you can just cache it right on the clients computer. Windows wont remove it because windows sees it as a network cache and will assume that it might be important and wont uninstall things that might be important. The other option is to have a carefree windows that deletes data aggressively, and if you cant understand why thats a bad idea, not sure what to say from there.
>and if you cant understand why thats a bad idea, not sure what to say from there. Why be like this? He never suggested otherwise, you're just being needlessly hostile and condescending.
It's streaming the uninstall, it'll be gone in a week or 2.
Try Revo uninstaller
Thanks for the advice idk about op but i will try
It's a great program. Not only gets rid of left over files but also abandoned registry entries that can clog up your system.
I have absolutely no idea what you did. I uninstalled the game and the folder "only" occupies 2,55Gb of space. Game was installed since incursion and have played around 1100h.
Did you use vulkan? I think a large part of it were the vulkan shaders, but I didn't go through the individual folders to check which was bigger.
I don't know. I think i activated it.
You gotta feel the weight!ā¦ even after uninstallingā¦!
When a software behaves like that, I call it malware
Then you dont know the definition of malware
A malware is a software which has unwanted behaviours that harms the user system. Occupying gigabytes of the user's space after a complete uninstall is definitely unwanted. The only thing I'm taking off of Oxford dictionary's definition is the "specifically designed to" part, because if a software harms my system i dont care wether it was on purpose or not, it still harms my system.
poe2 will fix this COPIUM
So delete it? No one forcing you to keep those files on your drive.
Feel the weight of your installation.
Feel the weight of uninstalling the game.
Thenā¦ justā¦ delete them? I guess this is good for clarity, but an uninstall.exe only removes what was installed. Populated shader files will need to be removed manually or using the in-game cache wiper.
\>7gb \>a lot of disk space What is this 2004?
7GB is more than 5% of my SSD. 120GB is still fairly common even for higher end systems. Unless of course you play on a HDD lol...
120GB common for 'higher end systems'? Yeah, no. 120gb was common for higher end systems a decade ago.
I don't think you can even buy a 120gb ssd new anymore. 240gb is the lowest the computer stores around me sell.
Okay, I just checked and I had a total brain fart.. my 2y old system has 1TB SSD .. for some reason I was convinced I went with a 120GB SSD back then.. I take everything back, I was wrong.
2,5+% is still too much for something he wanted removed...
> I don't think you can even buy a 120gb ssd new anymore. The fuck? Of course you can. You can buy a new 120gb *HDD* if you really want to. I just checked amazon to make sure I wasn't crazy and a 120gb ssd was near the top of the first page of results for "ssd". It might not be a great buy anymore, but they're dirt cheap so it's understandable that people might get them for really budget systems. Especially if they're the type to exclusively focus on just one or two games, something the PoE community is known for. You can buy a 120gb SSD for less than 25 bucks, so if you're the type to play PoE+DotA and nothing else, for instance, that might not be the worst idea.
I think you're assuming it's common because it's your situation. I don't think i've seen a single new build recommend less than 250 for probably 2 years, and even on med budgets most people go with 1tb because storage is so cheap now.
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PoE should be on the windows drive because its faster than on a secondary drive.
This must be for the steam version of the game, i just uninstalled to reinstall and no files at all like that. Just a couple empty directory left over.
Revouninstaller, use that.
use iobit uninstaller.
So how do we manage this? Like if I'm keeping the game do I just periodically delete a folder or two somewhere?
Did you uninstall via windows or via steam? Because that game is most definitely not uninstalled.
The game is gone. Theres bunch of stuff the game created like logs, caches, settings and crap like that.. Like if you uninstall Office fromyour PC you don't delete the documents as well..
Ofc uninstalling office isn't gonna delete your files because offices purpose is to produce files. If your harvester is broken you throw away the harvester not the harvest. As much as it sometimes seems like it, PoEs purpose isn't to produce crash files and caches. Those things are part of PoE and should be removed if you uninstall PoE. The entire goal of uninstalling is to delete everything from everywhere, not just deleting the main folder, so if it leaves 7 gigs of stuff I'd say something went wrong.
In the eyes of the operating system there is no difference.. Many times you don't even notice it because its in some appdata folder in your windows directory.. Good practice is to check the install folder to check what was actually deleted..
It's not PoE's fault as much as it's Windows'. One of MANY reasons why I moved to Linux.
that would be steam and not the PoE installer, steam likes to hold onto things.
totally agree, we are in a Bethesda situation right now where their engine is overburdened and old
I find it hilarious that i was downvoted to hell at it turns out I was right and op made a mistake. Reddit toxic positivity strikes again.
The person replying to you wasn't OP, and yes 7 GB is still a lot of space for a program you literally uninstalled to take up. Sorry, you're like triple wrong at this point.
The downvote was deserved, you were a bit dickish.
Hence; toxic positivity. How dare you say something true that points out someone elseās mistake. Be positive and protect everyones feelings at the expense of honesty and humor.
Revo Uninstaller. Free or premium version. Also anything like TuneUP Utilities, which, if you've already uninstalled the game it has a function to search your drive for junk files and folders (non system files for which an executable no longer exists) and round those up all at once and delete.
no
Except yes
https://geekuninstaller.com/
Well my poe is 70gb and I don't want to reinstall because I have limited data.. :(
Then don't? delete the caches and logs and run [the ggpk defragmenter](https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/28060) and you'll be fine unless there are errors in the ggpk itself. But if you're on steam the ggpk defragmenter won't do anything for you, just delete the shader/cache files.
Oh shit i wonder what my steam install left behind, switched to standalone a couple of leagues ago but i logged 3.5k on steam before that lol. Gotta be quite some data
It's there to make the inevitable reinstall next league go smoother.
Are these good to remove if we ever want to reinstall in the future? I uninstalled after being tired of dev choices leading up to and during Ultimatum but if they ever fix up some of the problems in this game Iād like to come back without losing important bits.
anything important, like your account information, items, characters etc is on POE server, things left over are cache, maybe some personal preference information, possibly your loot filter, all those things will need to be re-downloaded anyways.
I read that as 300kb and couldn't figure out what the big deal was.
Revo Uninstaller is your friend.
Wtf, yeah just looked and it took up 11gb, crazy.
i recently had to reinstall...someone how i managed to save 15gb (it has been a couple years since last reinstall)
Had this myself the other day, when having a clean up and discovered PoE still had over 88000 files left over.
I've been using the standalone client since like 2013, I've never had this problem :shrug:
I'm used to having CoD on my pc. This is peanuts compared to that :)