Program Description

Steam Sweeper is a program to clean up the Steam folders for files no longer needed. These files are used one time during the install of games, such as DirectX, PhysX installs. To start scanning for things to delete, first make sure your Steam game libraries are properly configured. Double clicking or pressing enter on an item, will locate the directory or file in an explorer window. If you verify the game cache, these files will have to be redownloaded. However, if the game is only patched or in another way needs to update, the files shouldn't have to be redownloaded, but there is still a slim risk they might. To avoid this becoming a problem for games you often use or is often patched, you can uncheck the items in the list before you delete. The items you choose to exclude are saved between sessions in a file named "IgnoredItems.lst". Currently, only EXE and MSI files are looked at for a file filter match. This program has been designed to be portable. All settings are stored to an INI file in the program directory. To uninstall, just remove the program directory, nothing is left behind outside of that.

Filters

To determine which files are redistributables, and can thus be deleted, filters are used to match the names of known files. Filters are configured in the "Filters.flt" file. You can view the active filters from the Scan menu, or by pressing [Alt + Enter].

SteamApps Account Directory

In a 2013 Steam patch, Valve made the account folder that exists under the "SteamApps" obsolete. All games that used to be here was moved into the "common" folder. It should be safe to delete this account folder. However, some old files such as downloaded maps, screenshots etc may still reside here.

Redistributables Issues

- Tomb Raider: Underworld - The DirectX files for this game is placed under a folder named "dx", which seem too common a name to scan for. - Penumbra Overture - The whole game is placed inside a folder named "redist" which is causing issues with a simple scan routine. A hardcoded avoidance has been added until a proper filter is in place.