I've been reading through the thread on the Casuals Board about Big Fish files not being deleted on un-installation and wondering about how the advice to "delete" applies to me.

I have made sure that all the Big Fish games I will still want to be able to play (after my Win7 machine is taken off line) have been downloaded to a large external drive connected to my Win7 machine and that all of them have been "activated" on my Win7 machine at the time of download.

And currently, when I've played any of them, I don't "un-install" them, I go to :- "C Drive/Users/Mad/AppData/Roaming", look for a folder bearing the developer's name and just delete that. [And afterwards I also delete the Launch Icon from Desktop.]

(1) But after reading that Casuals thread I looked in my Win7/C Drive/ProgramData and found there ARE game files in there. For about half a dozen games.

(2) And I also looked in my Win7 Download Folder - which saves everything I download.
[Although the Big Fish games should automatically go to my external drive - and as far as I'm aware they DO.]
But there are several Big Fish game files in that download folder also.

So is it safe to delete the Big Fish game files from both these locations ??

As far as I've seen by going through the folders, what goes in C:\ProgramData is usually only profile or saves information -- the kind of things that usually go in the AppData folder and can be recreated when you replay the game.
That doesn't seem to have been true for those Nevosoft/I-Play games -- Artist Colony and Charlaine Harris: Dying for Daylight. So you'd have to check what type of files that individual games put there.

Another weird one was Deadtime Stories, one of the games in Jane Jensen's credits.
That game puts only 14.6 MB in the game folder, but also creates a 562 MB folder in Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data on XP (the folder might go into C:\ProgramData on Vista/7/8/10 -- you'd have to check). So be aware that game puts most of its files in a location other than the game folder.

Unlike the Nevosoft/I-Play games, uninstalling Deadtime Stories did uninstall this folder.
But if you're trying to back up the game, you'd want to back up the folder too because it contains a good deal more than profile and save information. You'd have to put it back in the location where the game expects it to be (or just leave that folder on your hard drive).

I've also recently noticed that if you move a game folder and try to play the game from a location other than where it was originally installed and activated, that it may lose activation. I never used to have that happen. It didn't seem to happen on XP, but I haven't been using XP for those games lately. If you've only ever installed to the external drive you should be fine.

Big Fish seems to have changed their installer for some games. Starting a game from the desktop shortcut used to always open the Game Manager before starting the game. Now I see that some recently installed games don't do this.

Thank you for responding ,Jenny100, but I don't actually understand how to use the information you provide. So maybe I'd better just leave all the files where they are

If you're installing all the games on your external drive, you don't really have to do anything.

Most Big Fish game-related files left in the AppData folder are saves, game profile info, and game settings, and are very small. Most Big Fish game-related files left in C:\ProgramData are also saves, game profile info, game settings, and are also very small. You won't get much disk space back by deleting the files and folders, but if you do delete them, the games will probably automatically generate new ones next time you play.

Games like the ones mentioned, which put large amounts of game data in the C:\ProgramData folder, are the exceptions. If you don't care about those particular games, then you don't need to worry about it.

Sorry, but I've been working on transplanting chili pepper plants! So, was your question, "Is it safe" to remove the files and you meant would removing them affect the fact that your games are installed and played from an exterior drive? If so, then Jenny's information says that the games do things differently as does Big Fish. Personally, since the files aren't harming anything, I agree with Jenny - don't do anything.

I download the games to my external drive (which is connected to my Win7 machine) and store them on that external drive in a folder labelled Big Fish Games.
[And at the time of downloading, they are activated on my Win7 machine.]

When I want to play one, I open the Big Fish Games storage folder on the external drive and drag the Game Icon of the game I wish to play across to the desktop of my Win7 machine.

Then I can play it.

Once played, I delete the files as I've described in my original post.

If you think that's all OK then I do, too !!

Thank you, Jenny100

Do you mean, you delete the Game Icon once it's played? Have you ever tried just playing from the game icon on the exterior drive? When you drag it over to your Windows 7 computer, it's still just linking back to the exterior drive. You can always right click the icon and select properties and it will tell you the launch path.

Given your situation, I wouldn't bother deleting anything.
Even the desktop shortcut -- I'd drag that over to the game folder until I wanted to use the game again.

Also,
Make sure your external drive always has the same drive letter.

Recently I've had some games lose activation in 32-bit Vista after moving game folders and starting the game directly from the game exe in the game folder. They may have changed how activation works so it includes the path to the game folder.

If your game's path goes from, for example,

G:\Big Fish Games\game_folder\game.exe
to
H:\Big Fish Games\game_folder\game.exe

that will be a different path.
If you never disconnect the external drive, you shouldn't have a problem.

The way I use my external dive for Big Fish games is the way MaG kindly showed me - years ago - and it hasn't ever caused me any problems so I feel OK to carry on in that fashion.

I don't have any intention of ever changing the letter of that particular external drive, either.

My question was about deleting BF game files from my Win 7 machine - over and above those found in "Roaming" .... which I always delete.

And I thank you, as always, for your help and advice