Set a program to use specific network connection?

Discussion in 'Network questions and troubleshooting' started by Truder, Apr 21, 2021.

  1. Truder

    Truder Ancient Guru

    Messages:
    2,392
    Likes Received:
    1,426
    GPU:
    RX 6700XT Nitro+
    Software and network gurus, could I have some advice please?

    My home internet connection is sadly anaemic, at best reaching 4mbps - so if I have to download anything large, I will typically do overnight however there comes a time when downloading overnight isn't sufficient and that typically comes in the form of downloading modern games... A 50GB+ game can literally take 2 whole days to complete (which is impractical during the daytime). To get around this, I will tether to my phone and use my phones internet connection to download as this can reach upto 50mbps.

    Why not use my phone all the time instead or invest in mobile broadband instead? I did attempt to go that route but sadly, latency becomes too high during games and the mobile network signal is not the strongest and can drop out so reliability is the issue there.

    Now when I tether to my phone/use it as a wifi hotspot, in order to download through this, I disable my LAN connection because if I don't, Windows will use the home broadband over the LAN but this has me thinking, would it be possible to specifically choose which network adaptor a program uses? If so, this would be great as then I could tell in this example, Steam to use the mobile phone network while everything else would use the home broadband such as web browsing.

    How would I go about solving this? Is there a simple and easy method? Networking and command line isn't something I'm particularly good with.

    Thanks gurus
     
  2. anticupidon

    anticupidon Ancient Guru

    Messages:
    7,876
    Likes Received:
    4,121
    GPU:
    Polaris/Vega/Navi
    Truder likes this.
  3. anticupidon

    anticupidon Ancient Guru

    Messages:
    7,876
    Likes Received:
    4,121
    GPU:
    Polaris/Vega/Navi
    Not solving the speed of your ISP, rather the control you have over your bandwidth and quality of service, an open source router can.
    The cheapest TPLink router flashed with DDWRT or Open WRT can make a huge difference in everything related to networking.
    And before you say: I am not good at networking, you don't have to be.
    There are tons of simple tutorials, provided with steo by step instructions.
    And seeing problems as opportunities to learn or get better at something can be a game changer.
    I bickered for a long time for what ISP did or didn't regarding my Internet connection.
    I pushed myself, learned, experimented. Enrolled in school, got verification and now I make the rules in my home network.
    Sorry for tooting my own horn here. I wanted to give you a different perspective, that's all.
    Please, keep us informed if you solved your problem with what was provided.
     
    Last edited: Apr 21, 2021
  4. Truder

    Truder Ancient Guru

    Messages:
    2,392
    Likes Received:
    1,426
    GPU:
    RX 6700XT Nitro+
    Thank you for the quick response @anticupidon

    Looks like Option 2 is the best one for me but so far as I was afraid of, I can't figure out how this works...

    Reading the website I've done this bit
    Code:
    "C:\Program Files (x86)\ForceBindIP\ForceBindIP.exe" 192.0.2.100 "c:\full\path\to\app.exe"
    Electing to use the portable version which suggests I should put the forcebind files in the same folder the target program launches from, I dropped the forcebind files in my steam folder, opened a cmd prompt and navigated to the steam folder and put in:-
    Code:
    "C:\Gaming\Steam\Forcebindip.exe" 192.168.9.180 "C:\Gaming\Steam\steam.exe"
    And... steam is using the home network still so I've obviously done it wrong... :confused:
     

  5. anticupidon

    anticupidon Ancient Guru

    Messages:
    7,876
    Likes Received:
    4,121
    GPU:
    Polaris/Vega/Navi
    Have you ran the command as admin?
     
  6. Truder

    Truder Ancient Guru

    Messages:
    2,392
    Likes Received:
    1,426
    GPU:
    RX 6700XT Nitro+
    Yup, ran the cmd as admin when first attempting this.
     
  7. anticupidon

    anticupidon Ancient Guru

    Messages:
    7,876
    Likes Received:
    4,121
    GPU:
    Polaris/Vega/Navi
     
  8. anticupidon

    anticupidon Ancient Guru

    Messages:
    7,876
    Likes Received:
    4,121
    GPU:
    Polaris/Vega/Navi
  9. Truder

    Truder Ancient Guru

    Messages:
    2,392
    Likes Received:
    1,426
    GPU:
    RX 6700XT Nitro+
    It's launching so I think I'm doing the command line correctly but steam is still using the home internet connection - maybe there's another process steam is using?

    I'll sleep on it for now, quite late but will very much welcome any more help and suggestions.

    Thanks again @anticupidon
     
    Last edited: Apr 22, 2021
  10. anticupidon

    anticupidon Ancient Guru

    Messages:
    7,876
    Likes Received:
    4,121
    GPU:
    Polaris/Vega/Navi
    Don't mention it, I am by no means an expert in networking. CS degree, usual grade tech and enthusiast.
     

  11. mbk1969

    mbk1969 Ancient Guru

    Messages:
    15,541
    Likes Received:
    13,557
    GPU:
    GF RTX 4070
    There is "Steam Client Service" - "C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Steam\SteamService.exe"
    Also you can apply that network trick to any exe-files found in Steam folder (there are bunch of).
     

Share This Page