UDP relay and gaming: enabling and verifying

Web browsing is almost all TCP, but game matches, voice chat and video calls lean heavily on UDP. If the proxy chain cannot relay UDP, those apps either fail outright or degrade to high-latency fallbacks.

Three requirements for UDP relay

1. Server-side support: the node's server has UDP relay enabled (Shadowsocks -u, V2Ray by default, etc.) — this is the provider's call; the client cannot force it;
2. Node config declares it: the node entry carries udp: true. Subscriptions usually label this correctly; do not forget it on hand-written nodes;
3. TUN mode or native SOCKS5: the system proxy (HTTP) cannot carry UDP — to get a game's UDP into Clash, either enable TUN mode (recommended) or point the app's own SOCKS5 setting at 127.0.0.1:7890.

Verifying

With TUN on, run the game and watch the Connections page — UDP-type connections whose Chains point at a node mean relay is working. In-game, NAT type improving (Strict → Moderate/Open) is the visible sign. If UDP connections all show DIRECT, look for a direct rule catching them or a missing udp flag on the node.