I've noticed some games from Big Fish leave stuff in the C:\ProgramData folder after being uninstalled. With most games it isn't much, if at all, maybe some configuration settings or saves.

But I just finished playing Charlaine Harris: Dying for Daylight and after uninstalling the game I found it left a huge 1.02 GB of data in a folder it created called "Dying for Daylight"
-- specifically an enormous file called resources.dat
C:\ProgramData\Dying for Daylight\resources.dat

A whopping 1.02 GB

... left behind after it was uninstalled.

Imagine if every casual game did that.

The game had an unusual installation -- it appeared to install like any other Big Fish game using the client, but when it was run for the first time it appeared to be installing more stuff, giving the message "unpacking resources." I'm guessing these "resources" were what it put in the C:\ProgramData folder and maybe that's why the uninstaller didn't get rid of the folder -- they weren't included in Big Fish's installation. But that is sloppy and inconsiderate to leave behind such a huge folder. When people uninstall games, it's usually because they need the space back.

That's so coincidental that you should mention this, because I just installed this game in the last three hours and saw the "unpacking resources" routine. Thanks for the heads up about the file left behind. I installed another older game today that also told me it was unpacking resources but now I can't remember what game it was. I installed many, many games.

It's fairly normal to see "unpacking resources" during an installation. It's not normal to see it after the installation has already been completed, and you're starting the game for the first time. The uninstaller can miss those "resources" if they weren't part of the original installation, and 1.02 GB is a LOT to leave behind.

The unpacking resources that I saw in a different game occurred after the game was installed. It might have been the same publisher as Dying for Daylight, but I am not sure.

My PC has begun to start running more slowly in the last few months, and I'm wondering now if there are some bits and pieces like that scattered in my C drive, too. I play a lot of these casual games, too.

I've been thinking of taking my PC to a computer wizard to be stripped of all non-essential stuff and rebooted (then I'd reload my favorite software programs) because I have no computer skills and no way to differentiate between "legitimate" and garbage files.

Thanks for the clarification.
According to Mobygames the developer was Nikitova Games and the publisher was I-Play.

The game itself was the first half of a story that was never finished.
It got good user reviews at Big Fish -- between 4.5 and 5 stars -- so I don't know why they didn't make the 2nd half of the game.

Mostly they only leave behind saves and configuration information. The folders can be in different places on the hard drive though.


You might consider a new hard drive. They tend to get slower with age, even with a fresh installation of Windows.

As for the folders in C:\ProgramData , those related to games are named after the game or after the publisher or developer. So there's no doubt about where they came from. If a game I uninstall leaves behind a folder that's more than 1 GB in size, you bet I'm going to delete it manually.

I also noticed today that there was a big stack (more than 30) of Big Fish exe files in my Download folder. I guess with each game, it downloads its downloader again? Silly me, I was assuming that when I uninstalled each game at the end of playing it, those extraneous files were also deleted. Anyway, I dumped all those this morning, just in case
.

My HD is pretty big and fairly new, but I will keep in mind possible replacement.

With every game I go to my C:\windows\Users\Pamela\App Data .... local...local low and Roaming and delete all the files that are left behind.

Just as a point of interest, I installed another game today by Nikitova Games (published by I-Play); the game was Artist Colony. After the game was installed, it unpacked game data.

Did you check the size?
Did it put a huge folder in C:\ProgramData\ the way the Charlaine Harris game did?
If it did, be sure to check if it got left behind after you finish the game and uninstall it.

Just checked, and it left 646 MB in Program Data. I will be sure to get rid of it when I uninstall the game, and thanks for the heads up.

Jenny100 - wow thanks for mentioning this! I remember playing this game so went over to my C:\ProgramData directory and sure enough look what I found! Also a whole mess of other folders from old games I deleted. Time for some Spring cleaning!

Other poster mentioned going to User\AppLocal and clear out folders there too which is good advice.