lan partys!!!

[Smags87]

whats the nicest lan party uve ever been to??

how big?
what was special?

im thinknig of having one for a bunch of people around here - any advice would be **super**

 

[dexter333]

Biggest I have been to has been around 12 people. It was pretty cool. I can't go much bigger than that only because of the space requirements. None of my friends houses are big enough to have more than 12 people.

Advice:

GET SWITCHES.... Don't use hubs if possible.
Prevents packet-sniffing
Improves network effiency
Make sure that they are 100mbps - They sell 5 port switches for 30 bucks at PC Crud.

Make sure everyone has 10/100 Ethernet cards

Have lots of food.

Also have a PS2 or XBOX or movies that people can watch if they get tired of gaming.

Try and run a dedicated game server. The games will run MUCH better if you do.

 

[DEDKampKounslr]

Well, I've hosted a few LAN's at my house, usually about 8-10 people. I have also gone to many LANs that were 20+ people, one was about 30-40 people (www.azlanenthusiasts.com).

For a LAN, follow Dexters suggestions, but also make sure you have some swag LAN games. Another note is to make sure you have lots to drink! Maybe not sodas (those work nicely, though it can cost a bit), but having some variety in liquid-intake is always good. Chips, and other snacks are usually eaten quickly, but having pizza, subs, or some other food with substance is a must.

The LAN's I've done run for about 8-10 hours on average, but it depends on how diehard your gaming pals are (and how much fun the games are

Oh, a couple games that have done REALLY well at my LANs:
- Carmageddon 2k
- Typing of the DEAD
- Serious Sam: The Second Encounter and Serious Sam (the original)
- Quake 3 Superheroes
- Team Fortress Classic
- Quake 1 (YES we still play it... so much better than q3 imho
- Science and Industry (Half Life mod)
- Age of Kings: The Conquerors
- Total Annihilation

People seem to prefer games that nobody is overpoweringly good at, so that they feel they have a chance. Plus, learning a new game and making mistakes with everyone else I find enjoyable

Oh, and one other thing... Probably the hardest thing to do is to keep everyone interested. Sure, there are the diehards who will play anything (me), but most people get bored after playing a game for an hour or so (sometimes less). Try to play games that everyone wants to play.

Goodluck! I hope your LAN is a lot of fun!!

Kamp

 

[Smags87]

thanks for the advice!! i was going to use a hub, but thats a good idea - ill pick up a high speed switch at best buy, 30 for a router - switch bundle!!


im going to have it next friday, ill tell you all how it goes!

 

[indianduddawg47]

more popular games for lan parties:
half life
counter strike (with bot mod if there are not enough people)
return to the castle wolfenstien
and
unreal tournament

 

[Poontos]

<< Biggest I have been to has been around 12 people. It was pretty cool. I can't go much bigger than that only because of the space requirements. None of my friends houses are big enough to have more than 12 people.

Advice:

GET SWITCHES.... Don't use hubs if possible.
Prevents packet-sniffing
Improves network effiency
Make sure that they are 100mbps - They sell 5 port switches for 30 bucks at PC Crud.

Make sure everyone has 10/100 Ethernet cards

Have lots of food.

Also have a PS2 or XBOX or movies that people can watch if they get tired of gaming.

Try and run a dedicated game server. The games will run MUCH better if you do. >>


How do you switches prevent packet sniffing?

 

[Mucman]

Switches don't send the packet throug the whole switch. When you are send a packet from computer A to computer B, and computer C is connect to the
same hub, the packet will also be sent to computer C which will reject the packet unless the nic is PROMISC. A switch will remember the MACs of computers A and B and will only send packets on those two switchports.

Hmmm, if that doesn't make any sense it is because I suck at explaining things . Wait for the gurus.

 

[Smags87]

now wait...according to your theory - how do highspeed hubs work??
do they follow the pattern of a hub or of a switch??

i would assume hub - but at 100 mbps things may change

 

[Poontos]

<< now wait...according to your theory - how do highspeed hubs work??
do they follow the pattern of a hub or of a switch??

i would assume hub - but at 100 mbps things may change >>


Nah, a hub is a hub is a multi-port repeater basically. Layer 2 device.

 

[Mucman]

A highspeed hub is just that, a fast hub .

Think of a switch as a smart hub. Here are two examples of a ping

hubbed network :

A wants to ping B
A broadcasts an ARP request to get the MAC address of computer B
All computers on the network recevice this, but only the NIC that has that IP configure replies with its IP
computer A receives the MAC and stores it in its arp cache.
A starts pinging B and all cables connected to the hub have this traffic going over it because the hub does not know anything.

switched network :

A wants to ping B
A broadcasts an ARP request to get the MAC address of computer B
All computers on the network recevice this, but only the NIC that has that IP configure replies with its IP
the switch learns which switchport maps to which MAC address and stores it in a table.
computer A receives the MAC and stores it in its arp cache.
A starts pinging B and the switch reads the MAC of the addressed machine.
The switch finds which port that address is located and sends the packet through that switchport only.

Umm, does that make sense? Gurus help me out here!

 

[Smags87]

this lan party is gonna rock

ill get a switch...not a hub

thanks

one more thing...say i did use a hub...i would have to statically asign ips correct??

 

[Mucman]

How you delegate IPs does not involve hubs or switches... You need a DHCP server if you want to dynamicaly assign IPs

 

[dexter333]

If you get a router, it will most likely have a DHCP server built in. If not, either run Windows 2000 Server or Linux as a DHCP server. Otherwise, just assign ips statically.

Router: 192.168.0.1
Game Server (if you have one): 192.168.0.2
Computers: 192.168.0.100 - 192.168.0.200

The difference between switches and hubs is that only the computer that a message (packet) is destined for recieves it with a switch. With a hub, all computers get the packet and they ignore it if it isn't supposed to go to that computer. With a switch all computers can transmit at 100mbps (200mbps full-duplex) while with a hub that 100mbps is split between however many computers are on the hub. So with an 8 port hub each computer only gets about 1/8th of 100mbps or 12.5mbps compared with 100mbps per computer with a switch.

 

[Smags87]

o i know that i have a router already set up

but i may not want to give internet, so the real question was if i just use a hub, will i be fine without manually setting all ips??

im going to use this computer as a dedicated box

i think itll be enough ooomph

 

[dexter333]

Most likely, because Windows will do it's random autoconfiguration ips. I'm not sure if those work for a network. You could just use your router and turn your cable modem/DSL modem off or disconnect the network cable. With some routers (d-junk di804) you can set filters for the wan side of a network. So you could block all by default and only allow internet access from your ip. Then you wouldn't have to give internet and you wouldn't have to deal with static ips.

 

[Smags87]

thanks....i think thats whta i will do

i invited 8...but then (what ive heard) they each invited a few....this is gonna be crazy

do you think my dual p3 1ghz will run fine or should i have a friend bring his ath. mp system?

 

[Ben]

Play Midtown Madness 2. It's kinda lame as single player but for some reason it's a blast at a LAN party.

DEDKampKounslr gave some good advise. Unless everyone attending is a direhard gamer then you'll fair better in the long run with games that people can learn quickly. Driving games usually do well because... most people can drive. A coop game of Serious Sam usually goes over well too.

I haven't had a good response from strategy games because most of my friends are too impatient.

In other words, UT may sound like a great idea, but those one or two people that don't play UT are going to get tired of being cannon-fodder in about 15 minutes.

You won't need much horsepower for a dedicated server.

I have pictures of my last party on my web site. Link's in my profile.

 

[Jombo]

Mucman did a pretty good text book like explaination of how computers resolve address on a network.
Dexter also added a good blip about hubs and switches, so i'm gonna try to add my 2 cents to it. ^^

Switches are used to segment a network to reduce the "collision domain" (In Ethernet, the collisin domain isthe network area within which frames that have collided are propagated [so says Cisco)

basically whenever a frame/packet needs to be sent out, a broadcast is put out on the network w/ the destination computer info. (this can be an IP addy or a MAC addy) the broadcast goes out to all the computers on the network and only the device w/ right IP addy or MAC addy will keep the frame/packet and all others will discard it.

when the frame reaches the hub, it'll just regenerate the signal and pass the frame on to rest of the network. while this is all good and dandy, in a larger computing environment, hubs will generate un-necessary traffic on the network which can result in lag. Hubs basically "extend the collision domain" while extending the network

When a frame reaches a Switch on the other hand, the switch will actually examine the frame to figure out where it should go (by the MAC address). By not letting the whole world know about the frame, switch optimizes network bandwidth as compared to a hub. so switches segment the network to recude the collision domain by eliminating un-necessary network traffic while extending the network.

enough rambling, hope reading above actually helped and, hope you and your buddies enjoy the LAN party!

 

[dexter333]

Your dual 1ghz p3 will do fine as a game server. I run a dedicated tfc/ut/warcraft 3 (shhhh)/web server for stats on a single celeron 433mhz with 256 ram. Have fun.

 

[toshiba3020]

wooo! fwgg

 

[CubicZirconia]

My friends and I have a 6 person lan every friday night. Its awesome, just make sure you have lots of pop. Some games I reccomend:

1nsane
Unreal Tournament
Aliens vs. Predator 2
Rune

Countless others....

 

[yoda291]

<< Biggest I have been to has been around 12 people. It was pretty cool. I can't go much bigger than that only because of the space requirements. None of my friends houses are big enough to have more than 12 people.

Advice:

GET SWITCHES.... Don't use hubs if possible.
Prevents packet-sniffing
Improves network effiency
Make sure that they are 100mbps - They sell 5 port switches for 30 bucks at PC Crud.

Make sure everyone has 10/100 Ethernet cards

Have lots of food.

Also have a PS2 or XBOX or movies that people can watch if they get tired of gaming.

Try and run a dedicated game server. The games will run MUCH better if you do. >>



I think you mean broadcasting...not packet sniffing. I'm pretty certain you can still sniff on a switched network.

switches are nice, but aren't going to do much is someone shows up with a measly 10Mbit NIC.

You just have to realize that you are having a party. Just because the theme is gaming and there's a lan there doesn't negate this fact. So just follow guidelines for a party. keep people entertained, fed, and reduce the bathroom line if you can. (IE, low fiber food...more buffalo wings, less celery).

have fun

 

[Smags87]

haha goood call


i doubt anyone will notice a difference 10MBit vs 100...but ill get the switchs anyway


thanks all

 

[spidey07]

when you are sniffing on a switched network you will only see broadcasts, multicasts and the occasional flood. Nothing of real importance.

best LAN parties I've been to had booze, snacks and most importantly - long enough and plentiful enough certified patch cables (you can never have too many).
also a network that doesn't run like dog doo helps.
A decent server or two.

I always bring a cisco 2948 to lan parties, that way everybodies happy.

 

[dexter333]

Spidey, is that switch yours or one from work. If it's yours, how much was it? I was thinking about buying one of those off ebay. I NEED a good switch. But I have no money. Minimum wage sucks. Oh well, once I get my license I can get a MUCH better job doing computer related stuff in Rancho Bernardo or Carmel Mountain Ranch (two big computer company cities in San Diego). No more sanitorial engineering for me.