LAN Party Question

[Made In Canada]

So my buddy is having a party soon and is inviting a few friends (they said 7, me included), and their plan is to head out to some resort or something in the middle of no-where with no internet. The place is said to have a large solar array so it could support a few PC's i would assume (although most of us would probably bring a laptop) and im tasked to do is find out how we could setup a LAN and all play a specific game (which i dont know exactly what yet, but i think it is like miscreated or something).

 

So here is my question.

1. How would i go about getting a server running so we could all connect to it and play? (buying one, or not needing to buy one, etc).

 

remember, there is no internet. And  it does not help that ive never done anything with game servers before. From there, i should be able to connect everything and get it running, i would hope.

 

Any suggestions for the server or advise about doing a LAN party would be appreciated.

[Electronics Wizardy]

4 minutes ago, Made In Canada said:

How would i go about getting a server running so we could all connect to it and play? (buying one, or not needing to buy one, etc).

 

Here is what you need

 

1. Router. ANything workse, your mainly using it for the dhcp server. Just plug one of the lan ports into the switchy

 

2. switch. Anything works. 100 should be fine

 

3. computer for game severing. You can host this on the same computer your playing games on if you want.

 

Also make sure everyone has the same version of the game and that it doesn't need to ping some other server.

[Oshino Shinobu]

You're mainly going to be needing a switch and possibly an (or some) access points if you need devices to connect by WiFi. 

 

As for the server, what you need really depends on the games you want to play. You need to check whether the games you want to play support a local only server and don't require connections to outside servers in order to work. For specs on the server, you'll want to check the recommendations of the developers, or check forums for what people suggest. Best to test the server setup with it disconnected from the internet before hand to make sure things work. 

 

 

[Made In Canada]

18 minutes ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

 

Here is what you need

 

1. Router. ANything workse, your mainly using it for the dhcp server. Just plug one of the lan ports into the switchy

 

2. switch. Anything works. 100 should be fine

 

3. computer for game severing. You can host this on the same computer your playing games on if you want.

 

Also make sure everyone has the same version of the game and that it doesn't need to ping some other server.

THANK YOU SO MUCH! Keeping it easy and simple, i appreciate it alot.

[Made In Canada]

15 minutes ago, Oshino Shinobu said:

You're mainly going to be needing a switch and possibly an (or some) access points if you need devices to connect by WiFi. 

 

As for the server, what you need really depends on the games you want to play. You need to check whether the games you want to play support a local only server and don't require connections to outside servers in order to work. For specs on the server, you'll want to check the recommendations of the developers, or check forums for what people suggest. Best to test the server setup with it disconnected from the internet before hand to make sure things work. 

 

 

I will be sure to watch for that, Thank You Very Much!

[mariushm]

If you're not going to have Internet, a simple 8 port switch would be enough.  Just make sure all of you have regular network cards, some laptops only have wireless. If some of the guys have only wireless cards, it would make more sense to go with a wireless router + optionally a switch

 

Most wireless routers have also a network switch built in, but usually the number of ports is fairly limited (usually it's 4 ports or 7 ports). You can however expand the router's capabilities by plugging a network switch into one of the network ports, and that way you'll have more physical network ports.

 

Like others said before me, you could use router's management software to enable DHCP which will in turn automatically assign IP addresses to every computer that connects to it, which will make things easier. However, it's really not that complicated to do it yourselves if you decide to go with a simple switch without management. You just have to go in network card's configuration and enter an IP manually (192.168.0.1 , 192.168.0.2 and so on) and make sure all computers have the same subnet mask ( 255.255.255.0 )

 

Don't forget to pack patch cords (ethernet cables, make sure they're long enough so that all you guys could comfortably play around a desk or on sofas .. maybe make them 3-5 m long each?)

Don't forget to pack a bunch of power strips, for all you know the room where you'd play may have only one or two outlets .. you'd have power adapter for wireless router, a plug for a switch (if you need more ethernet ports), then all your laptop adapter plugs have to go somewhere and maybe one of you guys brings alone some powered speakers for music or something.. it adds up.

You should ask the people there how much power you  actually have available... laptops don't use much power but it adds up .. let's say 50-90w each laptop, but there's going to be 7 of you.. so you may use close to 1kWh.  The place may have solar panels on top but it's winter, may be cloudy, the panels may not produce a huge amount of power so there may not be a lot of "juice" stored in the guy's battery banks and if you're unlucky you guys could discharge his batteries in a few hours and leave him without power until the morning.

 

If it's that remote, it may be a good idea to rent or buy a power generator, looking on Amazon Canada the cheapest seem to be about 200 Canadian dollars but you may be able to rent one for around 30-50$ for a weekend or something like that.

[Made In Canada]

6 hours ago, mariushm said:

If you're not going to have Internet, a simple 8 port switch would be enough.  Just make sure all of you have regular network cards, some laptops only have wireless. If some of the guys have only wireless cards, it would make more sense to go with a wireless router + optionally a switch

 

Most wireless routers have also a network switch built in, but usually the number of ports is fairly limited (usually it's 4 ports or 7 ports). You can however expand the router's capabilities by plugging a network switch into one of the network ports, and that way you'll have more physical network ports.

 

Like others said before me, you could use router's management software to enable DHCP which will in turn automatically assign IP addresses to every computer that connects to it, which will make things easier. However, it's really not that complicated to do it yourselves if you decide to go with a simple switch without management. You just have to go in network card's configuration and enter an IP manually (192.168.0.1 , 192.168.0.2 and so on) and make sure all computers have the same subnet mask ( 255.255.255.0 )

 

Don't forget to pack patch cords (ethernet cables, make sure they're long enough so that all you guys could comfortably play around a desk or on sofas .. maybe make them 3-5 m long each?)

Don't forget to pack a bunch of power strips, for all you know the room where you'd play may have only one or two outlets .. you'd have power adapter for wireless router, a plug for a switch (if you need more ethernet ports), then all your laptop adapter plugs have to go somewhere and maybe one of you guys brings alone some powered speakers for music or something.. it adds up.

You should ask the people there how much power you  actually have available... laptops don't use much power but it adds up .. let's say 50-90w each laptop, but there's going to be 7 of you.. so you may use close to 1kWh.  The place may have solar panels on top but it's winter, may be cloudy, the panels may not produce a huge amount of power so there may not be a lot of "juice" stored in the guy's battery banks and if you're unlucky you guys could discharge his batteries in a few hours and leave him without power until the morning.

 

If it's that remote, it may be a good idea to rent or buy a power generator, looking on Amazon Canada the cheapest seem to be about 200 Canadian dollars but you may be able to rent one for around 30-50$ for a weekend or something like that.

Thank You for the detailed explanation. There are alot of really good pointers (the generator and or power strips). Also the simplification about the switch is much appreciated. Thank You Very Much.