How to remove
Uninstall Star Citizen and delete RSI Launcher
from Windows

Hi, yesterday I installed Star Citizen since it was free over the weekend. I did not like the game in particular, so I'd like to get rid of it. The problem is I don't know how to uninstall Star Citizen and RSI Launcher that comes with it. Any advice?

Star Citizen is a multiplayer first-person shooter and combat simulation game that was first announced in 2012, and up to this day, remain in the "in-development" status, which means that there is no official release date provided to this day. However, this does not mean that players can't play the game, even without it being finished.

Instead of releasing the game, the developers allow gamers to play the game in the Alpha (otherwise known as early access)[ref en-3] stage - everyone who is willing to spend $45USD is allowed in. Besides, the Star Citizen also offers "modules" that could be purchased via an application known as RSI Launcher - it comes along with the game.

Without a doubt, the project's crowdfunding approach was not received well overall and questioned whether charging users for an unfinished game for years is ethical. Nonetheless, the game is very active, and over 2.6 million accounts were created over the years.[ref en-1]

Whether it is this reason why you want to uninstall Star Citizen or not, you came to the right place. Games are not so straight-forward anymore when it comes to their installation and uninstallation in some cases. Once downloaded, users are required to install any additional application to manage and launch the game.

In some cases, players think that deleting RSI Launcher would uninstall Star Citizen, but it is not the case. There are plenty of residue files that could be scattered around in a Windows operating system, so it creates plenty of confusion among users. Do you uninstall RSI Launcher or Star Citizen first? How do you get rid of the residue files and where to find them?

If you do not remove Star Citizen correctly, it might cause you issues with the registry or cause error messages. If you have already experienced frequent lag, crashes, BSODs,[ref en-2], or other errors, we recommend scanning your device with [d1], as there could be underlying issues on the PC that could be causing these problems.

Step 1. Save the custom game files

If you are planning to come back to the game later, it is advisable you first save all the relevant files, such as keybind settings, user configuration, profiles, etc. If you want to completely delete RSI Launcher along with the game and its settings, you can skip this step.

• Press Win + E to open File Explorer
• Go to the following location:
  

  C:\\Program Files\\Roberts Space Industries\\StarCitizen\\LIVE\\USER\\Controls\\Mappings

• Copy the relevant files to another location of your choice
• Now go to the following location:
  

  C:\\Program Files\\Roberts Space Industries\\StarCitizen\\LIVE\\

• Save the custom user.cfg file.

Step 2. Uninstall Game Launcher

You can uninstall the Launcher via Control Panel:

• Type in Control Panel in Windows search and press Enter
• Go to Programs > Uninstall a program

  

• Find RSI Launcher on the list, right-click it and press Uninstall

  

• Follow on-screen instructions.

Step 3. Delete RSILauncher and Start Citizen files (User account)

Some players believe that uninstalling RSILauncher would also delete the game. However, this is not true, as you need to also eliminate files scattered around your PC. Here's how to do it:

• Type in %AppData% in Windows search and press Enter
• Right-click on rsilauncher folder and pick Delete

  

• Type in %LocalAppData% in Windows search and press Enter
• Delete StarCitizen folder
• Type in %ProgramFiles% in Windows search and press Enter
• Delete Roberts Space Industries folder.
• Right-click on Recycle Bin and press Empty Recycle Bin.

  

Tip: If you can't see the folders mentioned above, you need to enable hidden files. To do that, open File Explorer, go to View tab and tick the Hidden Files box.

Step 4. Delete RSILauncher and Start Citizen files (Admin account)

If you are using Administrator's account as your default account, you will not find RSILauncher and StarCitizen files. Instead, you need to find these files under the admin account. To do that, go to the following location:

C:\\Users\\administrator\\AppData

Note that "administrator" can be named as something else, if you changed it before.

Final thoughts

While Star Citizen might be a great game, there are plenty of reasons to remove it. Unfortunately, it is not easy to do, as the game does not have a simply uninstaller, just like most other games or programs do. Hopefully, you were able to uninstall Star Citizen and delete RSILauncher on Windows 10 after following this guide.