Steam - more responsive client, faster launching games & free up some space!

Omaeka · 23 Jan 2013 at 20:24

Have you noticed that whenever you launch a game from your Library, it comes up with pointless 'Step 1 of 3: Installing DirectX' and other nonsense every single damn time? The fix is simple:

**Make sure you launch a game at least once before deleting these!**

Go through every game in your C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common directory and delete folders like 'Redist', 'GFWL' 'DirectX', not only will it remove these annoying launch hoops that you have to jump through everytime you play the games, but it'll save gigabytes of space on your PC.

UPDATE:

** Street Fighter x Tekken Updated today with the new DLC characters (Major Update) and the installers are still gone!!! **

I realise that quite a few of the members are going to know this already, but I didn't and I'm glad I found out by myself that these aren't at all needed, not only did it free up 3.5GB of space, but every game I have instantly launches from the Library now, it's brilliant!

Has Steam ever become unresponsive for you? Even if for a split second? Does it seem to take longer than it should to open up your Library? Get L.A.S.E.R. (Less Annoying Steam Experience Revised) formerly known as P.E.N.I.S. (Proper Elegant New Interface System).

Direct Download Link

INSTALLATION:
1. Place the LASER folder into Steam\skins
2. Run "LASER Settings.bat" and Import the files
3. Open Steam -> Settings -> Interface and set the skin to "Less Annoying Steam Experience Revised"
4. Click Apply and Restart Steam
5. Enjoy your new Steam interface!

Pictures of L.A.S.E.R.:

You'll notice the interface is fairly sleeker and much easier to navigate

youdsy · 23 Jan 2013 at 20:35

why would you delete physx and direct x files?

caz32 · 23 Jan 2013 at 20:37

youdsy said:
why would you delete physx and direct x files?

Cause they are installed when you launch the game for the first time

Of all the years I've been using steam didn't know about this, cheers

H3RBSKI · 23 Jan 2013 at 20:38

Will have to give this a try tonight. However I wish it was still called penis!

Omaeka · 23 Jan 2013 at 20:39

youdsy said:
why would you delete physx and direct x files?

They aren't files, DirectX, .Net framework, PhysX etc are all installed into Windows and/or Program Files standalone, the ones you see in the game directories are nothing but installers, not only are they taking up space but they can make launching games through Steam take a lot longer.

H3RBSKI said:
Will have to give this a try tonight. However I wish it was still called penis!

Haha

its a brilliant skin, much faster and more responsive and no more crawling through sub menus to find important features of Steam, they are all icons at the bottom now.

caz32 said:
Cause they are installed when you launch the game for the first time

Of all the years I've been using steam didn't know about this, cheers

You're quite welcome, treacle.

arc@css · 23 Jan 2013 at 20:49

Thanks, I'll certainly bear this in mind.

StriderX · 23 Jan 2013 at 21:05

Some comparison shots would be nice, even though I could do it myself.

Omaeka · 23 Jan 2013 at 23:46

Comparison shots of what? L.A.S.E.R looks the same, except is faster and much more convenient.

arc@css said:
Thanks, I'll certainly bear this in mind.

Steam should just automatically remove the installers tbh, a lot of people out there, especially on SSDs will be sitting there wondering where all the space is going. :/

Tombo · 24 Jan 2013 at 02:25

StriderX said:
Some comparison shots would be nice, even though I could do it myself.

TBH I didn't find it any faster at all and it made my fonts look weird and the friends list boxes looked aliased.

H3RBSKI · 24 Jan 2013 at 02:36

well i didnt work on my steam, its all messed up the new tool bar sits on top of the old one at the top left.

Westie · 24 Jan 2013 at 02:39

If it ain't broke don't fix it! Steam works flawless for me so not messing with this carp!

Mr.Fantastic · 24 Jan 2013 at 02:49

H3RBSKI said:
well i didnt work on my steam, its all messed up the new tool bar sits on top of the old one at the top left.

Same thing happened to me.

Murray · 24 Jan 2013 at 04:00

Yeah. I used it and didn't like it. Went back to default.

yashiro · 24 Jan 2013 at 05:04

I'm using metroforsteam at the moment. It's pretty good. Laser wasn't too bad once I got it working but it needs an update.

Proto · 24 Jan 2013 at 05:48

Very helpful, Omaeka.

Fred · 24 Jan 2013 at 06:04

Nice, I have 88 games installed so I might save a fair bit of space

Skin I'll just leave as default though.

Omaeka · 24 Jan 2013 at 09:10

Proto said:
Very helpful, Omaeka.

Fred said:
Nice, I have 88 games installed so I might save a fair bit of space

Skin I'll just leave as default though.

Yeah, the main point behind the thread was saving people space, the L.A.S.E.R skin is just for those of us who get really bad performance out of vanilla Steam. My client would regularly lock up when logging in and switching between tabs, this fixed it, but that's the bad side of PC gaming, one fix rarely works for everyone. :/

As for the skin conflicting and breaking, did you people fresh install the skin or did you already have it? Laser was broken recently by the latest update, but a simple redownload, reinstall and re batch fixed it for me.

kthula666 · 24 Jan 2013 at 09:14

Over 300 games should amount to a heap of saving. Although if I move my steam to another drive installations will be missing files. 880gb installed on a 2TB so not really struggling for space atm.

MeMeMeMe · 24 Jan 2013 at 09:47

I'm very dubious about this.
If they are necessary, won't steam redownload them every time if performs a game update?
If they are not necessary and not used, then they cannot affect how long it takes to load a steam game or make the steam client more responsive.

"remove these annoying launch hoops that you have to jump through everytime you play the games, but it'll save gigabytes of space on your PC." - what hoops are those?

Usually the main thing you need to speed up a game loading is remove the startup videos, and those aren't in the folders listed above but in different folders for each game.

Note: the folders mentioned on my PC amount to 25GB, which seems like a lot till you realise my common folder is 1.04 TB, so it's a lot of effort for around 2% saving.

It seems like this 'fix' is either useless or asking for trouble, if those files are actually used.

nin9abadga · 24 Jan 2013 at 09:54

MeMeMeMe said:
I'm very dubious about this.
If they are necessary, won't steam redownload them every time if performs a game update?
If they are not necessary and not used, then they cannot affect how long it takes to load a steam game or make the steam client more responsive.

"remove these annoying launch hoops that you have to jump through everytime you play the games, but it'll save gigabytes of space on your PC." - what hoops are those?

Usually the main thing you need to speed up a game loading is remove the startup videos, and those aren't in the folders listed above but in different folders for each game.

Note: the folders mentioned on my PC amount to 25GB, which seems like a lot till you realise my common folder is 1.04 TB, so it's a lot of effort for around 2% saving.

It seems like this 'fix' is either useless or asking for trouble, if those files are actually used.

have you noticed though that when those files install (certainly after the first time) you can quit out of them/cancel them and the game still launches? I have many a time and wondered why (Arkam Asylum did every time I launched it) maybe this is the answer?

i'll try it tonight and see what happens.