Installer: [Win IDE] Allow being able to set the ProgramData path during the installer, so that C: drive usage can be avoided

[gm-bug-reporter[bot]]

Description

Using Windows 10.

I have a small boot drive C, and a large drive D that I use to install programs. When Gamemaker is installed in D:\Programs\GameMaker, it also creates a C:\Programdata\Gamemaker, where the bulk of the install goes. Would be nice to have the full install go just to the D drive.

When uninstalling Gamemaker from D: drive, it doesn't delete the files in C:\Programdata\Gamemaker (which is over 3GB in size due to multiple older runtimes). See attached PDF for a list those files on C drive.

Steps To Reproduce

Windows 10: Run the standard Windows gamemaker install to drive D:\Programs\Gamemaker (GameMaker-Installer-2023.8.2.108.exe) Then when GameMaker is first launched, it downloads the runtime to C:\Programdata\Gamemaker

For uninstall, run the standard Windows uninstall of a program

1910a519-5d5c-45b7-a23c-95db5217ea62

[YYDan]

This is not a bug and it's because the system-wide settings and runtimes always go into ProgramData when they are created whilst running GameMaker later on - these files are not actually part of the install/uninstall process.

This is all covered already on our setup guide: https://help.gamemaker.io/hc/en-us/articles/360022953052)

However, I will add a quick mention into the Installation section nearer the top of the guide about being aware that on Windows setting the install location in the installer to be a different drive does not apply to the tools folders also.

[YYDan]

Added a new paragraph explaining this:

[sunwapta]

Thank you for the speedy clarification! My only remaining concern is the C:\ProgramData\GameMakerStudio2\Cache\runtimes directory, where a new runtime is installed on every GameMaker update (@500 MB per update). This directory will keep growing on every update, as the update procedure doesn't delete the older runtimes. On a side note - GameMaker is really beautifully designed.