LAN party?

Kuragari · 06-12-2005, 00:12

i'm thinking of having a LAN party soon and was wondering, what will i need in terms of like, an ethernet hub and stuff, also, will all the computers be able to hook up to the internet at the same time through that hub (connected to my modem), if it can, do you think it can support about 5 or 6 computers running an mmorpg?

**David F** · 06-12-2005, 01:01

yes

lol simple answer.
You will need the game server and a hub to connect all other pcs. A modem behind a router will allow internet but back up all settings on all pcs as these may be altered.The pc clan of this forum had a very successful lan party in august with a lot more than 6 pcs connected

SMHarman · 06-12-2005, 11:37

You would need a router if all PCs wanted to connect to the internet, not a HUB. A HUB would enable all the computers to communicate in the LAN, not to the WAN as your CM only has one IP address and there is no NAT in the scenareo above.
So...
CM>Router (with DCHP enables) > PCs (with extra hubs to enable all the connections to be made into the router).

Mauldor · 06-12-2005, 21:42

Can I ask, are you going to be running the MMORPG server are all of you going to be connecting to a P2P One (hence the internet part I guess)??

If running a Server yourself, a MMORPG requires very little bandwidth per user anyhow so no real need for the LAN part - might as well all stay at home and play on there own PC. A FPS on the other hand uses quite a bit of Bandwidth per client and thus better if all connected via 100mbit Lan or Wireless.

Hope that helps

Kuragari · 07-12-2005, 00:23

well actually, we were planning on all playing world of warcraft or final fantasy xi, so none of us will be hosting a server, but we'll also probably play BF1942 as well (my computer can't run BF 2

) so, i'd need a router? is there a router that can hold about 6 or more computers? (let's say ten or so, cause i'm planning on a bigger one later if i can get this one to go well), or would i need like, a router and an ethernet hub? (and i'm no good with accronyms, what does CM, DCHP, and NAT stand for?)

Strzelecki · 07-12-2005, 00:34

CM = Cable Modem DHCP (not DCHP) = Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol, is a way to enable a server to dish out configuration settings to computers as they connect to it, such as IP addresses, google for more info. NAT = Network Address Translation, this allow one set of IP addresses for internal traffic and a second set of addresses for external traffic, therby allowing multiple computers in a building the ability to all use the same net connection. The best thing would be to get a router (4 port or more), if it doesn't have more than 4 ports then buy a Switch too and you can plug this into one of the routers ports to add further ports. You can get unmanaged home networking switches for about £15 for a 5 port one.

SMHarman · 07-12-2005, 00:39

Your average router takes 4 pcs.
Then get some hubs plug those into the router and that will expand the number of PCs you can plug in. A router can handle many more devices than the four on the back.
CM - Cable modem
DCHP - the acronym for the bit of a router that assigns IP (internet) addresses to each computer on it.
NAT - network address translation, the bit that works like a switchboard in the router. It sends data out from all computers attached but knows when the data comes back from the one place which one it should send it back to.