I wanted to edit in a summary of everyone's findings at the top here. The original post is still below.

This summary was last updated in March 13, 2024.

Starting in version 2.0.60.2, and still present in version 2.0.73, the bandwidth limiter function has the following problem:

1. It will not download continuously at the specified bandwidth limit. Instead it will pulse on and off. It will download at the maximum capacity of the internet connection for a while, then do nothing for a while, then repeat. Over time it will average out to the limit that was set, but it does so by maxing out the connection's full capacity for minutes at a time. This is not ideal, since it hogs all the bandwidth from other tasks you're trying to do, such as online gaming. This is different from how Galaxy used to do the bandwidth limit - Before version 2.0.60.2 it would download continuously at the specified bandwidth limit without ever exceeding it.

2. The in-app bandwidth meter lies about the amount of bandwidth it's actually using. It will claim to download at the limit that you set, but using Windows Resource Monitor shows that it is actually exceeding that limit quite a bit. I've attached two screenshots to demonstrate this. For these screenshots I set the bandwidth limit to 0.5 MB/s. The first screenshot shows Windows Resource Monitor reporting that Galaxy is downloading at 1.6 MB/s (which is the maximum capacity of my internet connection), even while Galaxy claims to only be downloading at 0.5 MB/s. The second screenshot shows Galaxy downloading 0 MB/s, even while Galaxy still claims to be downloading at 0.5 MB/s. These screenshots prove point 1 above - that Galaxy is just swapping between max speed and zero speed.

3. The problem first appeared in version 2.0.60.2. When examining the changelog for that version, I see the following update: "Significant changes to the underlying network stack. Depending on the circumstances it may lead to reduced CPU usage or faster downloads."
I would therefore suggest that the changes to the network stack are what resulted in this problem with the bandwidth limiter.

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ORIGINAL POST:

When attempting to install any game using the "Install" button, or attempting to download any offline backup installer, Galaxy ignores the bandwith limit I've entered in the "Installing, updating" section of settings.

Instead it uses the full bandwith of my entire internet connection, which makes it impossible for me to do anything else online while Galaxy eats up all my bandwidth.

I've already tried disabling then re-enabling the bandwidth limit. I've also tried uninstalling then re-installing GOG Galaxy from scratch.

Is this a bug? Is there any known workaround?

After experimenting with this a little more, I think I've figured out what's going on. When the bandwidth limiter is enabled, the download is pulsing on and off. It ignores the bandwidth limit during the "on" phase.

Or to state it more simply, it will download at the maximum capacity of the internet connection for a couple of minutes, then do nothing at all for a couple of minutes, and then repeat. Over time it averages out to the download limit I set, but ti does so by completely saturating the connection for minutes at a time. This is not ideal.

It should also be noted that Galaxy "lies" about its actual bandwidth usage. The in-app download speed meter will claim to be downloading at the limit that I set, but monitoring actual bandwidth usage through Windows Resource Monitor, or another bandwidth monitor tool of your choice, reveals the pulsing behavior that exceeds the bandwidth limit, as described above.

This isn't how it used to work. In the previous version of Galaxy, if I set a bandwidth limit, it would download continuously at the specified speed without ever exceeding that speed.

Unfortunately this new method is making it extremely difficult for me to download any games through Galaxy. If I'm doing anything else like online gaming or video conferencing, my game/call gets disconnected when Galaxy decides to monopolize all the bandwidth for itself.

I really hope this is a bug and that Galaxy will go back to the previous method of a smooth bandwidth limiter instead of the spiking I'm seeing here.

Open a support ticket, if you haven't already. The bug tracker is gone because they were ignoring reports filed there, and as you can see from the constant application crashes thread, they ignore most forum threads too.

Thanks for the suggestion. I opened a ticket.

If I get a reply, I'll post back here in case anyone else has the same problem.

To follow up: After a bit of back and forth with support, I was able to explain the issue to them. Since 2.0.60.2, the bandwidth limiter appears to function by swapping back and forth between full speed and zero speed, and entirely saturates the connection for minutes at a time during the full speed phase.

They agreed to get in touch with the development team, but don't have a timeframe on if or when the bandwidth limiter issue will be addressed.

Thanks to Prealiator from support for agreeing to pass this on to the dev team.

In mean time, the only workaround I've found is to uninstall 2.0.60.2, then re-install using the old installer for 2.0.58.4, found here: https://content-system.gog.com/open_link/download?path=/open/galaxy/client/2.0.58.4/setup_galaxy_2.0.58.4.exe

to answer your other question - yes its a known [ongoing issue] caused by lack of testing or understanding of code

they have fixed it 3 times now and each time they then bring out some random copy\ paste bullshit on the next build which fucks it up again

Can confirm this is still an issue, to the point where Galaxy confuses itself by saturating the connection to the point where it no longer recognises an internet connection, crashing the Galaxy Communication task. It'll show you as offline with no ability to reconnect, the only solution being to quit Galaxy, manually kill the communication task, and restart it.

It's probably what's happening for a good number of people reporting this issue.

Still an ongoing issue after the 2.0.64.31 update on May 18th.

Thank you for this post. I thought I was going crazy because things were broken with the limiter on, but fine with it off and now I know that stupid thing is broken. I don't even know how I got that update that broke it, because I always turn down the updates when they come up (if it ain't broke, don't fix it!). I guess I'll just leave it off for now since it isn't actually taking up all of my bandwidth (thankfully). Frustrating issue, though. :(

Still an ongoing issue after the 2.0.66.20 update on June 6.

EDIT: Also still an issue after the 2.0.67.2 hotfix on the same date.

Still an ongoing issue after the 2.0.68.112 update on July 27.

Still in 2024

Same problem still with 2.0.73.27 - Beta. The problem with reverting to 2.0.58.4 as suggested in March last year is that Galaxy will auto update itself to the current version at some point.

This problem makes online gaming pretty much impossible while downloading content in Galaxy.

Still an issue, Can't even download the latest Cyberpunk 2077 update without my internet going down every 00.01GB being downloaded. This is absolutely stupid.