Because Steam doesn't control where games save their files.

Games' save files are typically defaulted to save to your appdata folder.

Right, Steam let's you control where you install games too. Each game controls where configs, user data, saves and sometimes even mods go. Steam can't override those things.

Other option move Document folder to other drev, but many dont like such other ways or idea's.

But you don't explan why it's a problem other then it do it. ( small disk size at boot disk maybe )

ps.
buy bigger and better boot disk with 2TB ( solve almost all possible usage, afaik, unlees you DL so many file. )

however what steam teaches. having fun playing games?

Why This Happens:
AppData Folder:
Steam and many games store some files in the AppData folder located in your C drive. This includes configuration files, user settings, and save data. Even if your games are installed on your D drive, certain files related to user settings and game saves might still be stored in the AppData folder (e.g., C:\Users[YourName]\AppData).

Steam Cloud Saves:
If the game supports Steam Cloud, it may store save files and settings in the cloud and also create local backups in the AppData folder on your C drive. This is to ensure that your progress is safe and synced across multiple devices.

Game-Specific Save Locations:
Some games may choose to save data in other directories, like the C drive, regardless of where the game is installed. This behavior is game-specific and not necessarily related to Steam settings.

How to Fix It:
Check Steam Library Folders:
Double-check that all of your Steam library folders are set to your D drive. You can do this by following these steps:

Open Steam.
Go to Settings > Downloads > Steam Library Folders.
Ensure your D drive is set as the primary location, and remove any extra library folders on the C drive.
Move Game Save Files Manually:
If a game is saving files to your C drive, you can often move those files manually to the D drive, but you may need to adjust settings in the game itself to point to the new location. Some games allow you to choose a different save location within the settings.

Check for Steam Cloud:
If Steam Cloud is enabled, the game may be syncing saves to both the cloud and your local machine. You can try disabling Steam Cloud for specific games if you want to prevent it from storing data on your C drive. To do this:

Right-click the game in your Steam library.
Select Properties > Updates.
Uncheck Enable Steam Cloud synchronization.
Modify the AppData Location (Advanced):
If you want to completely avoid C drive for save data, you can try changing the AppData folder location, but this is more complex and might require registry edits. You should only attempt this if you're comfortable with advanced PC settings.

Check Game-Specific Settings:
Some games allow you to specify where save files and other data are stored. Look in the game’s settings or configuration files to see if you can redirect it to the D drive.

Clear C Drive Data:
If Steam or a game has deposited unnecessary files in your C drive, you can try clearing them manually. This is usually safe, but be cautious not to delete any important system files.

Conclusion:
Steam generally respects your settings for where to install games, but it still uses the C drive for certain files like configurations and save data due to system design and game-specific behavior. By adjusting settings for Steam Cloud and checking game-specific preferences, you can minimize data storage on your C drive.

If this was helpful, please consider supporting me!

Originally posted by Armorip:

Why This Happens:
AppData Folder:
Steam and many games store some files in the AppData folder located in your C drive. This includes configuration files, user settings, and save data. Even if your games are installed on your D drive, certain files related to user settings and game saves might still be stored in the AppData folder (e.g., C:\Users[YourName]\AppData).

Steam Cloud Saves:
If the game supports Steam Cloud, it may store save files and settings in the cloud and also create local backups in the AppData folder on your C drive. This is to ensure that your progress is safe and synced across multiple devices.

Game-Specific Save Locations:
Some games may choose to save data in other directories, like the C drive, regardless of where the game is installed. This behavior is game-specific and not necessarily related to Steam settings.

How to Fix It:
Check Steam Library Folders:
Double-check that all of your Steam library folders are set to your D drive. You can do this by following these steps:

Open Steam.
Go to Settings > Downloads > Steam Library Folders.
Ensure your D drive is set as the primary location, and remove any extra library folders on the C drive.
Move Game Save Files Manually:
If a game is saving files to your C drive, you can often move those files manually to the D drive, but you may need to adjust settings in the game itself to point to the new location. Some games allow you to choose a different save location within the settings.

Check for Steam Cloud:
If Steam Cloud is enabled, the game may be syncing saves to both the cloud and your local machine. You can try disabling Steam Cloud for specific games if you want to prevent it from storing data on your C drive. To do this:

Right-click the game in your Steam library.
Select Properties > Updates.
Uncheck Enable Steam Cloud synchronization.
Modify the AppData Location (Advanced):
If you want to completely avoid C drive for save data, you can try changing the AppData folder location, but this is more complex and might require registry edits. You should only attempt this if you're comfortable with advanced PC settings.

Check Game-Specific Settings:
Some games allow you to specify where save files and other data are stored. Look in the game’s settings or configuration files to see if you can redirect it to the D drive.

Clear C Drive Data:
If Steam or a game has deposited unnecessary files in your C drive, you can try clearing them manually. This is usually safe, but be cautious not to delete any important system files.

Conclusion:
Steam generally respects your settings for where to install games, but it still uses the C drive for certain files like configurations and save data due to system design and game-specific behavior. By adjusting settings for Steam Cloud and checking game-specific preferences, you can minimize data storage on your C drive.

If this was helpful, please consider supporting me!:luv:

Your "How to fix it" doesn't. You even got the location wrong for where to enable/disable Steam Cloud. You should delete the response so it doesn't confuse someone that doesn't know any better.

Originally posted by DuelShockX:

Hello, since I've installed steam on my pc I made sure to have it all install onto my D drive and any games that get installed save there as well. Yet recently I noticed in the Appdata folder of my C drive there are a lot of game folders with their save files in there. Why does steam ignore my setting for which hard drive to save and how can I fix that?

Pretty much any piece of software you install on your system is going to store its configuration data somewhere in the Appdata folder. Doesn't matter where the program is actually installed, it's going to store that data in your user folder.

This happens because Steam only lets you choose where the game installs, but many games still save config, save files, or user data in C:\Users<YourName>\AppData by default.

It’s not Steam ignoring your setting—it’s how the game itself is coded.

Some games can’t be redirected; others let you change the save location in settings or with mods.

I think C defaults of the normal drive that games always installed on. It has been like this since windows xp.

Originally posted by RPG Gamer Man:

I think C defaults of the normal drive that games always installed on. It has been like this since windows xp.

The C drive is the default location for the user folders on the computer, which is where most software, including games, are going to store information for that particular user. If you moved the user folders to a different drive, then the software will store it on that drive instead.

You can actually move your %appdata% to another drive by using symbolic links (mklinks) which does not require registry edits or anything of the kind. It is best to google this, but the steps are straight forward. I know that many people like to keep their C drive dedicated to only the OS / system tools, and put everything else on another drive for this purpose.

Originally posted by Palad1n:

You can actually move your %appdata% to another drive by using symbolic links (mklinks) which does not require registry edits or anything of the kind. It is best to google this, but the steps are straight forward. I know that many people like to keep their C drive dedicated to only the OS / system tools, and put everything else on another drive for this purpose.

Note that system variables like %appdata% are pretty dangerous to use symbolic links to trick windows. YOu can do that for sub-directories, but doing so for the system variable itself is a very bad idea. Source: we tried this with MyDocuments back in the windows 7 days and its extremely fragile. We would often see things break it that made little sense, like reinstalling Office.

System variables like %appdata% or %mydocuments% should be changed via the properties of the folder. You can go to the properties and go to "Location". This lets you move the location of the system variable folder to a new location. This is much more reliable and is much more resilient to underlying changes, like if the drive you move it to doesn't exist for some reason it won't cause Windows to have a seizure, and it will recover more automatically

Okay, I understand that steam does not choose where games keep their files. Why do game developers *choose* to use %appdata% rather than just putting everything in the game folder like they used to? I cannot figure out a reason for it. Sometimes they put files of such size that it takes up all of my C: drive space and breaks windows.

Originally posted by Armorip:

Why This Happens:
If this was helpful, please consider supporting me!:luv:

This was clearly written by AI, doesn't even try to actually answer "Why this happens" (and instead just describes What happens), and is also wrong at several points. You don't have to bother with "supporting" this person, since they didn't write any of it.

Originally posted by hard clumping:

Okay, I understand that steam does not choose where games keep their files. Why do game developers *choose* to use %appdata% rather than just putting everything in the game folder like they used to? I cannot figure out a reason for it. Sometimes they put files of such size that it takes up all of my C: drive space and breaks windows.

Microsoft has changed where games are 'supposed' to put game data files over the years. Initially it was supposed to be in My Documents

However 'technically speaking' MyDocuments is only supposed to be for files that the player explicitly saves into that location. This means that anything automatically done, like settings files, save games, etc, aren't supposed to be put there.

Also MyDocuments is such a terrible thing now because

1) if you have ransomware protection on, it really really screws things up as the ransomware protection will block the system from writing to MyDocuments
2) if you have any data syncing software like OneDrive, Carbonite, etc it makes your saves do REALLY DUMB things as it takes over this location in ways that are inconsistent or if it blips out. One issue I am seeing way more now is that people either lose their saves, the game crashes, etc because the game can't write or inconsistently wriest to MyDocuments due to conflicts with these software packages.

Putting stuff in Program Files is even worse now as this is a protected file location, so users aren't supposed to touch this area unless you want UAC prompts ever 15 seconds

"technically" speaking appdata is the 'correct' location for 'application specific data that is not user initiated'. So basically because file explorer doesnt pop up everytime you want to save your games, then its supposed to go into appdata.

Originally posted by hard clumping:

Okay, I understand that steam does not choose where games keep their files. Why do game developers *choose* to use %appdata% rather than just putting everything in the game folder like they used to? I cannot figure out a reason for it. Sometimes they put files of such size that it takes up all of my C: drive space and breaks windows.

Originally posted by Armorip:

Why This Happens:
If this was helpful, please consider supporting me!

This was clearly written by AI, doesn't even try to actually answer "Why this happens" (and instead just describes What happens), and is also wrong at several points. You don't have to bother with "supporting" this person, since they didn't write any of it.

They do it because this way save files or game configs aren't deleted alongside the game, whenever you choose to uninstall the game (cause Steam would just nuke the entire game's folder). This also ensures that for shared PCs, a different user account could have separate savefiles/configs.
Sure nowadays this isn't big of a deal when everyone has his own computer and cloud saving exist but this wasn't always the case (and still isn't for some games/households).