SSTap-Rule: routing-table rule sets for the discontinued SSTap game proxy

What SSTap-Rule actually supplies, and who it is for

SSTap itself stopped being developed and maintained on 2017-11-19, as the README states. The repository does not resurrect it. What it does is keep the part that still functions alive: the routing-table rules that tell SSTap which destinations to send through the proxy and which to leave on the direct path. The README's own framing is that the author stopped updating SSTap, but the method SSTap used to modify the system routing table still works.

So the audience is narrow and specific. You are on Windows, you already have SSTap 1.0.9.7 installed, and you want rules for a game or a region that the original package never shipped. The repository description puts it plainly: support more game rules and make SSTap a real network game accelerator. If you are not already an SSTap user, this project gives you nothing to run. There is no binary here, no service, no client. The value is entirely in the rule files under rules/ and the release archives that bundle them.

The project is written in Python according to its language metadata, and the top level contains a tools/ directory and a remove_reserved_ips.sh script alongside the rules. The README does not document what those scripts do, so treat them as repository internals rather than a supported interface.

How the rule files and the two GEOIPCN sources fit together

SSTap works by rewriting the Windows routing table so that traffic for chosen destinations leaves through the proxy adapter instead of the default gateway. A rule file is therefore a list of network destinations, not a program. Copying a file into the SSTap rules folder is the whole installation mechanism, which is why the project can keep producing usable output for a program that has been dead since 2017.

The repository offers two broad GeoIP sources, and the README is explicit about where each comes from. GEOIPCN.1 is the complete version of Hackl0us/GeoIP2-CN. GEOIPCN.2 is a simplified version of 0x2E/someip. The README states that in normal use the two do not differ much, and then gives the trade-off directly: choose GEOIPCN.1 if you want the lowest error rate, choose GEOIPCN.2 if you want the highest efficiency. Those are the project's words, and they are the closest thing to a selection guide in the documentation.

Beyond those two, the rules/ directory holds per-game rule files, and the release archives bundle them. The README notes that the rule packages update slowly and asks for patience, which is worth reading as a statement about cadence rather than a bug.

Installing a rule pack into SSTap 1.0.9.7

The README pins compatibility to SSTap 1.0.9.7, so confirm that first. There is no package manager step. The install is a file copy, and the README's instructions start from the release archive.

Download the rule archive from the releases page. The README links to it and describes the contents as a zip containing a rules folder. The README does not give a command for this step, so the work is done in the file manager.

Next, locate the SSTap installation folder. The README gives the shortcut procedure: right-click the SSTap shortcut in the Start menu, choose open file location, and you will land in a folder that contains another SSTap shortcut. Right-click that second shortcut and choose open file location again. For a desktop or other shortcut, one right-click and open file location is enough.

Inside the SSTap folder there is a rules folder. That is the destination. The README warns in bold that you should back up the existing rule files before extracting, in case files are overwritten. The README does not name a backup command, so copy the folder by whatever means your file manager provides.

Then drag the files you want from the archive's rules folder into the SSTap rules folder. The README says you may select all of them, or clear the existing rule files and drop the project's rules in directly. After that, the rules are in place and SSTap reads them the next time it builds its routing table.

Where the workflow breaks down

The most obvious limitation is the host program. SSTap has not been developed or maintained since 2017-11-19, and the README says so without hedging. Anything that depends on SSTap's own behaviour, its installer, its adapter handling, or its compatibility with current Windows builds is outside this project's control. Rule files can be perfect and the surrounding program can still fail to start.

The second limitation is the update cadence of the packaged rules. The README states that the rule package updates slowly, and the release list backs that up: the most recent archived rule release is tagged 2022.7.31, with earlier ones at 2021.5.14 and 2020.8.16. Individual files under rules/ can change without a new release, but if you only ever consume release archives, you are working from something dated. The repository's last push was on 2026-09-19, so the tree is being edited even though the release channel is not.

Third, there is no supported single-rule download path. The README says that if you want to download an individual rule, you should find your own method. That is an admission that the per-file workflow is manual and undocumented.

Finally, the GEOIPCN choice is a real fork with no automatic answer. If you pick the wrong one, you get either more false positives in routing or more unnecessary proxying, and the README offers no test procedure to tell which you are hitting.

Compared with a maintained proxy client

The natural alternative is a proxy client that is still developed and that manages its own routing rules, such as the rule-based clients that ship a routing engine and a subscription format. The difference is not performance. It is where the rules live and who maintains the program that consumes them.

With a maintained client, the rule format and the engine evolve together. A rule that the engine cannot parse is a bug someone will fix. With SSTap-Rule, the engine is frozen at 1.0.9.7 and the rules must fit whatever that version accepted in 2017. That constraint is exactly why the project still works, because route manipulation is a stable Windows behaviour, and it is also the ceiling on what the project can ever do. If SSTap's adapter handling stops working on a future Windows release, no rule file in this repository can compensate.

The trade-off in the other direction is scope. A general client covers browsers, development tools and arbitrary TCP traffic. SSTap-Rule exists to make one specific tool route game traffic correctly, and the repository description says as much. If your problem is game routing on an existing SSTap install, a general client may be more machinery than you need and may not accept these rule files at all. If your problem is anything else, this project is the wrong tool.

Licence, maintenance and what upgrading costs you

The repository is licensed under Apache-2.0, and the LICENSE file sits at the top level. For rule data, that is permissive: you can redistribute and modify the files, subject to the licence's notice and attribution conditions. Two caveats are worth stating without pretending to give legal advice. First, the rules are derived in part from Hackl0us/GeoIP2-CN and 0x2E/someip, and those upstream projects carry their own terms, which the README does not restate. Second, Apache-2.0 covers this repository's contents, not SSTap itself, which is a separate program distributed elsewhere.

Maintenance is unusual. The last push was on 2026-09-19, so the repository is being touched, but the release channel is not keeping pace, with the newest archived rule release from 2022-07-31. The practical upgrade cost is low in mechanical terms, since it is a file copy, and high in verification terms, because you have to decide yourself which files changed and whether the GEOIPCN source you chose is still the right one. The README's backup warning exists precisely because a careless copy overwrites what was there.

Editorial conclusion

Adopt SSTap-Rule only if you are already running SSTap 1.0.9.7 on Windows and need per-game routing rules that the upstream tool no longer provides; the repository's last push was on 2026-09-19, so the rule files are still being edited even though the host program is frozen. Do not adopt it if you want a supported proxy with an installer, a GUI for rule editing, or any client other than SSTap, since none of that is in this repository. Before copying anything, check the release tag for the archive you intend to use, back up the existing files in the SSTap rules folder as the README instructs, and confirm which GEOIPCN source you want, because GEOIPCN.1 comes from Hackl0us/GeoIP2-CN and GEOIPCN.2 from 0x2E/someip and the README describes them as differing in error rate versus efficiency.

Frequently asked questions

Official sources

1. FQrabbit/SSTap-Rule on GitHub
2. Issues
3. License: Apache-2.0
4. README
5. Releases