Steamworks Common Redistributables: What Is It & How to Use/Hide
You may have seen Steamworks Common Redistributables in the Steam Library but don’t know it. If so, this post is worth reading as it tells you what is Steamworks Common Redistributables and how to use/hide/update them. To see more details, explore the content with MiniTool.
A lot of games and applications require you to download and install components (redistributables) like DirectX, Microsoft Visual C++, .NET Framework, and so on. Without these components, you can’t run the games and applications on your computer successfully.
You need to install these components each time you get a new game. This ends up with more than one same redistributables on your computer. Besides, it adds extra work for both developers and users. With the existence of Steamworks Common Redistributables, the situation changes.
What is it and how does it work? To see the details, keep reading the post.
What Is Steamworks Common Redistributables
Steamworks is a free development suite for game developers including all important and needed files and tools for developing games on Steam. It can optimize the settings in the game to run on various Windows computers.
The Steamworks Common Redistributables are available on both 32-bit and 64-bit PCs. It includes the programs below.
- DirectX 9
- Microsoft Visual C++ (2010, 2013, 2015)
- .NET Framework
- XNA
- OpenAL
- PhysX
When you download a game from Steam for the first time, Steamworks Common Redistributables will automatically download and install the specific file or tool version. Games you get after that won’t download and install that file again because it will use the already-install version on the PC.
Therefore, you don’t have to download the same redistributables repeatedly. Given that fact, Steamworks Common Redistributables are considered one-time install programs. At the same time, you can save disk space, CPU usage, Internet data, and time thanks to the Steamworks Common Redistributables.
The scripts for the redistributables are created and maintained by Valve, which updates them regularly. They are sent as OTA updates when new patches are available. How to update Steamworks Common Redistributables? As you see, they are updated automatically by Steam most time. So, you don’t have to worry about that.
You must not delete the Steamworks Common Redistributables folder. Otherwise, you will lose essential files causing game crashes during the startup. If you delete the folder mistakenly, download it on Steam again.
What is Steamworks Common Redistributables? Simply put, it is a file/tool suite that includes the needed components of many games and applications. With it, you don’t have to download the components again and again.
How to Hide Steamworks Common Redistributables
To avoid deleting Steamworks Common Redistributables accidentally, you can hide it.
The Common Redistributables folder was hidden before. However, it gets visible in the recent update. Fortunately, you can hide it manually with the steps below.
Step 1: Open the Steam Library.
Step 2: Right-click on the Steamworks Common Redistributables folder and click Manage.
Step 3: Tap the Hide this game option. After that, the folder will be hidden in the library. To unhide it, click the Hidden tab.
How to Use Steamworks Common Redistributables
To test your installation with the chosen Common Redistributables, use a clean OS image on a machine or VM – this is an ideal method. Alternatively, you can force Steam to reinstall Common Redistributables by removing the Registry keys below.
- 32-bit Windows: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREValveSteamAppsCommonRedist
- 64-bit Windows: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREWow6432NodeValveSteamAppsCommonRedist
Step 1: Go to the panel Steamworks App Admin > Installation.
Step 2: Tap on Redistributables and then find the required redistributables of your game.
Step 3: Publish your changes.
Bottom Line
After reading the post, you will know nearly everything about Steamworks Common Redistributables. To find and remove duplicate files on your hard drive, you can use a duplicate file finder. Well, MiniTool Partition Wizard is such a program helping you find what’s taking up your hard drive space and delete duplicate files, junk files, and other files.