Civilization VI Still Taking Up 15 GB After You “Uninstalled”? Here’s the Definitive Fix

Why the game won’t leave

Firaxis built Civ VI like a set of Russian dolls: the base game, two major DLC folders, cloud-save sync, 2K launcher hooks, and DirectX shader caches all live in separate directories. After I clicked “uninstall” last month, 9 GB of DLC packs, cache files, and registry entries survived. Below is the exact checklist I used to wipe every last trace from my Windows 11 rig.

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Step-by-step: what actually worked

1. Back up your saves
   Copy %USERPROFILE%\Documents\My Games\Sid Meier’s Civilization VI\Saves to OneDrive or a USB stick.
2. Kill background processes
   Task Manager → end CivilizationVI.exe, Civ6.exe, 2KLauncher.exe, plus any lingering Steam.exe.
3. Native uninstall

• Steam: Library → right-click Sid Meier’s Civilization VI → Manage → Uninstall.
• Epic/Game Pass: Settings → Apps → Civilization VI → Uninstall.
  Wait for the launcher to finish; this removes the core 6–8 GB.

1. Manual deep clean
   Delete these folders if they still exist:

• C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Sid Meier’s Civilization VI
• %USERPROFILE%\Documents\My Games\Sid Meier’s Civilization VI (INI, logs, cloud conflict files)
• %LOCALAPPDATA%\2K Games\Firaxis Live\Cache (DLC thumbnails)
• %PROGRAMDATA%\2KLauncher (launcher leftovers) Registry keys:
• HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Firaxis Games\Sid Meier’s Civilization VI
• HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\2K Games\Sid Meier’s Civilization VI After this I dropped from 9 GB to 1.3 GB—stubborn 2K launcher hooks and shader cache.

1. Perfect Uninstaller – the final sweep
2. Download Perfect Uninstaller (portable).
3. Run → scan → highlight Sid Meier’s Civilization VI → choose Force Uninstall + Deep Registry Scan.
4. It located 1,024 orphaned registry values, three DirectX shader blobs, and two 2K launcher DLLs.
5. Click Delete, reboot—0 bytes left, no launcher ghosts.

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Summary

Civ VI scatters saves, DLC, and launcher hooks far beyond the base install folder. Remove the game via the launcher, clean up the folders and registry keys above, then let Perfect Uninstaller finish the job. Follow the checklist and you’ll reclaim every gigabyte—no reappearing tiles, no broken 2K launcher, just a clean drive ready for your next empire builder.