LAN party n00b...

[SavageBasher]

Instead of everyone bringing the ethernet cables, why not just plan ahead for where everyone will sit, grab a nice 500 or 1000 foot spool of cable, lots of plugs (can be gotten off of ebay for cheap) and a quality crimper. Just make sure that all the wires work, and it will look much nicer at the switches.

 

[JoT]

Instead of everyone bringing the ethernet cables, why not just plan ahead for where everyone will sit, grab a nice 500 or 1000 foot spool of cable, lots of plugs (can be gotten off of ebay for cheap) and a quality crimper. Just make sure that all the wires work, and it will look much nicer at the switches.

Because that costs more than most people want to spend on a quick LAN.

 

[SavageBasher]

True, but its always nice to have 200+ feet of it on hand, in case of an emergency.

 

[stan03]

yea i don't think im going to get that... we prolly won't do it very often and we already have some routers and eth cables

 

[pik4chu]

I have a duffle bag that I bring to each LAN, filled with the following: 2 keyboards, 2 mice, 2 mousepads. 5 100 foot patch cords (got them for 1buck eacha w hile back ) 5 25 foot patch cords, half dozen power cables and a few extra case fans (someone always needs one, heh) and 2 short crossover cables(if we need to link devices for some reason). I also throw in some burned CDs with the most recent windows and game patches, sorta speeds things up quite a bit. (all that is in addition to what I use myself.)

Second BIG nono is DONT BUY GAMES BEFORE COMING TO THE LAN, we had one guy buy a brand new game and bring it to the lan expecting everyone to play it, it took us all 2 hours to get it installed patched and networked, and the game ended up sucking anyways >_<. So make sure everyone knows what games will be played and everyone has it installed and as updated as possible. I'm usually the network person I bring out my 24 port switch hook everyone up, give everyone intyernet connection (since we usually play CS..stupid steam and its internett connection ). its good to stick with a couple games, if oyu get a lot of games then it tends to be sort of a pain setting up a bunch of different games to play.

Also, I usually give everyone the responsdibility to bring whatever refreshments they want (alcohol iusnt a problem since no one that comes can buy it not to mention things are more fun sober, like raves stupid stereotype BS, sorry I digress; anyways) people usually bring a couple liters of Dew or Drop, or a couple bottles of bawls and everyone is happy, also what we generally do is We meet and get everything setup and connected, then we go on a food run to a fast food place or whatever then come back and game for the rest of the time. Works out rather nice. and ive been able to get things setup between 10 minutes and 2 hours, so just make sure to plan ahead for all that. I usually am able to do it at my office (with poermission of course) we got a T1 there and plenty of room and have done a few at houses. I will say that an office is much better for gaming, not to mention we blew a circuit or two at my house the first few times we did this.

(I apoligize for spelling and stuff, i think I had a bit too much to drink before posting, happy 21st!

*edit* if anyone has access to a microcenter they always have cheap patch cords ranging from 7 to 100 feet for really cheap. last I was there they had 7 foot ones for 1$ and 25 for 2.50 and 100 for 7$ its good idea to pick up some extra, cause even if you tell them most people dont bring ether cables...

*edit2* tried to add some grammar and spelling fixes the best I could

 

[stan03]

dern i was going to buy utk04 and bring it... thanks for the heads up. yea i can't drink yet... whoa you blew a circuit? how many comps? will 6 be to many?

and yea happy 21st... i got about err 5 years to go

 

[JoT]

whoa you blew a circuit? how many comps? will 6 be to many?

It really depends on your house's circuit; I've run a dozen computers on one circuit and never blew the breaker once.

 

[stan03]

ok cool thanks

 

[TimDgsr]

dern i was going to buy utk04 and bring it... thanks for the heads up

UT2k4 owns!

 

[stan03]

but will it be too much trouble to get it set up?

 

[JoT]

but will it be too much trouble to get it set up?

Yes, UT2004 is SIX discs.

 

[hrdwrjnkie]

But, if you had the UT2K4 discs, wouldn't everyone need their own play disc and keycode to get this to work?

 

[TimDgsr]

oh yea, im setting a day for setup and a day for playing ... its going to take forever for us to set up... only a few of us are computer litterate

I don't think it would be too much trouble to set it up if you are planning one day to setup and the next to play, but that's just my opinion. It takes does take a while to load, and requires 5.5GB of free hard drive space.

But it's awesome

 

[TimDgsr]

But, if you had the UT2K4 discs, wouldn't everyone need their own play disc and keycode to get this to work?

that goes for every game that's not free, no?

i mean, not all games require play discs, but you know what i mean.

 

[hrdwrjnkie]

Right, but I'm just curios that is no on else has the game, does he expect everyone to just go out and buy it for the LAN?

 

[stan03]

no im buying it.... just me... and im getting the dvd version not the cd one

 

[hrdwrjnkie]

OK, so say I'm coming to your LAN party and don't have the game... just sit around chillin while ya'll play?

And if I already have the game, I've probably got it all set up, eliminating the need to use my install CD's...

 

[stan03]

no if you don't have it you install the game i bring.

 

[hrdwrjnkie]

Hence bringing in the issue of installing your copy of the game on more than one machine... neccessitating more than one play CD and more than one CD Key...

Sorry for the threadcrap but I'm just trying to get this figured out as I am looking at doing a larger LAN this fall.

 

[JoT]

Hence bringing in the issue of installing your copy of the game on more than one machine... neccessitating more than one play CD and more than one CD Key...

Sorry for the threadcrap but I'm just trying to get this figured out as I am looking at doing a larger LAN this fall.

UT2004 is very particular about multiple installations, plus it takes an hour (at least, even with DVD) to install.