Steam and game platforms: downloads direct, store through the proxy

Steam downloads come from a CDN and are usually several times faster going direct, yet the store pages, community and friends list often need the proxy. The two need separate rules.

Splitting by domain

rules:
  - DOMAIN-SUFFIX,steamcontent.com,DIRECT
  - DOMAIN-SUFFIX,steamserver.net,DIRECT
  - DOMAIN-SUFFIX,steamcommunity.com,Proxy
  - DOMAIN-SUFFIX,steampowered.com,Proxy
  - DOMAIN-SUFFIX,steamstatic.com,Proxy

Downloads concentrate on steamcontent.com and steamserver.net; the store and login sit on steampowered.com; the community is on steamcommunity.com. These lines must come before GEOIP and MATCH, or a geography rule will grab them first.

Other launchers work the same way

Same idea: download domains direct, account and store domains through the proxy. Rather than copying someone else's rule table, start a download and watch the Connections page sorted by traffic — whatever is moving the bulk of the bytes is the download CDN, and that is what you send direct. This works for any platform and does not go stale the moment a provider switches CDN.

In-game traffic

Multiplayer is mostly UDP to addresses that change every match, so domain rules cannot catch it. PROCESS-NAME,YourGame.exe,YourGroup is the practical answer, provided the chosen node actually forwards UDP — otherwise you stall while joining a lobby. Check the Connections page for established UDP entries to confirm.