Set up for a small Lan Party

[Toro 45]

We'll be running a small lan 8-9 people using 3 four port routers.Do I connect the routers to each other with a regular cat 5 or a crossover cable?

Also were going to be playing Battlfield 1942 seven of us have the game & expansion packs but 2 don't, will we need to have individual code keys to play on a lan or is that just for online play?

Thanks.Toro

 

[sharq]

What routers do you have? Some routers require a crossover cable if you are going to connect the lan port of one to the wan port of the other. Some require that you plug a standard cable from the lan port to the lan port and set it up as a bridge/switch, etc. Let us know what routers you have.
Someone else might be better at answering the game question.

 

[martind1]

any particular reason you are using routers for this application as opposed to hubs or switches?



most of the time an uplink port will use a straight cable to a port on another router.

 

[buleyb]

yeah, more info, and why routers...

 

[AFB]

Switch > Router for speed.

 

[martind1]

exactly, thats why we are wondering why routers. I would think a hub would be better than a router for this as well.

 

[AFB]

Ohh.. I think I see what you are trying to do. You can hook the switch that is built in to the routers together to have more ports. Do not use the WAN port of the router at all. Whether or not you use crossover cables is som thing you have to find out. It depends on whether or not your switch built in the router is auto sensing. If it is, it will not matter. I would recomend that you use crossover cables to connect them so it will work even if you do not have auto sensing. Make sure to turn off DHCP in all the routers except one and turn of routing or NAT in all of them.

 

[martind1]

Originally posted by: amdfanboy
Ohh.. I think I see what you are trying to do. You can hook the switch that is built in to the routers together to have more ports. Do not use the WAN port of the router at all. Whether or not you use crossover cables is som thing you have to find out. It depends on whether or not your switch built in the router is auto sensing. If it is, it will not matter. I would recomend that you use crossover cables to connect them so it will work even if you do not have auto sensing. Make sure to turn off DHCP in all the routers except one and turn of routing or NAT in all of them.

ahhh good catch. That would at least make more sense for using routers.

Agreed. router to router use a crossover. Better safe then sorry. computer to router -> straight.

 

[Toro 45]

Were using routers because thats all we have,I got rid of my switch years ago.I have a Belkin & the others are a Linksys & a D-Link, their all four port.Seems like my old Linksys had an uplink port & my buddy is using the same model.

I was thinking like this

First four port router:
3 ports to 3 comps
1 port leading to WAN on 2nd router

Second router:
3ports to 3 comps
1 port leading to WAN on 3rd router

Third router
4 ports to 4 comps as needed

If one has an uplink port I could just run it to the Wan on the next righter right?

 

[AFB]

Originally posted by: Toro 45
Were using routers because thats all we have,I got rid of my switch years ago.I have a Belkin & the others are a Linksys & a D-Link, their all four port.Seems like my old Linksys had an uplink port & my buddy is using the same model.

I was thinking like this

First four port router:
3 ports to 3 comps
1 port leading to WAN on 2nd router

Second router:
3ports to 3 comps
1 port leading to WAN on 3rd router

Third router
4 ports to 4 comps as needed

If one has an uplink port I could just run it to the Wan on the next righter right?

WAN=BAD Bad WAN port, bad. No, you can't use it. You have to use the LAN ports.

 

[martind1]

you dont want to use the router as a router. That would slow down your network. you want them all on the internal switches.

3 comps into each switch on the router, then use the 3 open ports (1 on each switch on the router) and use a crossover to another router. ta da., all done.

why woudl you ever get rid of a switch? i assume you gave ti to someone who needed it, instead of trashing it.

 

[Toro 45]

So your saying do not connect the routers via the WAN port, use one of the lan ports & connect each router by a crossover cable?

"why woudl you ever get rid of a switch? i assume you gave ti to someone who needed it, instead of trashing it."

Why would I trash it? Back in the "day" when routers costed an arm & a leg most people used switches or hubs for their home network,when the router prices dropped I sold my switch and bought a router.

 

[martind1]

Yes you got it right. no wan. you dont need to send packets through the routers. this will jsut make things easier, and as a bonus, no need to worry about router configs! well except turnign the dhcp off on 2 of them.



but why woudl you get rid of a piece of networking equipment? what if you ever wanted to expand, or say, have a lan party?

 

[Cheetah8799]

For BF1942, if you don't want to be "legit", you can install using the same key on the extra 2 systems. When the game starts, it asks for a cd. Just use one of the discs from someone else to start the game. If you have to, you can take it out. Either disc will work. You only have key problems via the internet. WHen done, be sure to uninstall from the extra 2 systems so that they don't use the other person's key online... not cool...

As for your lan, I would have everyone bring extra switches/hubs, network cables, and cross over cables just incase. Then instead of routers, use normal switches or hubs if you have to. You may want to use 1 router to have DHCP to give everyone IP addresses, but don't use more than 1 router or you will have DHCP conflicts... Depending on what types of switches/hubs you have, you may or may not need crossover cables to connect them to the 1 router. DO NOT use the WAN port on the router, just use the normal 4 ports to connect up the extra switches. If you need to chain the switches together, you may or may not need crossover cables, it all depends on if the switches have uplink ports or not.

 

[OracleOfDelphi]

If you do wind up using the routers, just be mindful of the built in LAN IP addresses of the Routers. I have had a small Lan party for some of my son's friends
(7-8 Kids altogether). Had problem using my D-Link router in conjunction with a LinkSys Router. The goal was to have everybody on the network and go head to head and also have internet access. The D-Link and the Linksys have different default subnet addresses. This caused problems. I did try disabling
DHCP and router function on the Linksys, just did not seem to work. Yes, I did try changing the default LAN IP address to change subnets. Wound up using LinkSys router with NetworkEverywhere (LinkSys in sheep clothing) router, I also had a LinkSys hub. This worked wonderfully. Hope this helps.

 

[martind1]

ao in other words, do what everyone has already mewntioned, but do it 3 times.

 

[Voip]

I would just buy an 8 or 12 port switch.

 

[Garion]

Originally posted by: Voip
I would just buy an 8 or 12 port switch.

Agreed - Have everyone kick in a few bucks and go out and snag a cheap one. It will make your life MUCH better. Plus you don't have to mess with everyone's routers and disable their DHCP servers to avoid conflicts and change the IP addresses. If you DO end up messing with the routers, ten bucks says someone's going not going to be able to get theirs back working again.

Switches are cheap nowadays. Here's a 16-port for $35 at ComReady.

- G

 

[sep]

if you going this once then you can get by with the Router Daisy Chain. If you're going to it more than once get at least an 8port switch. You can get one from Newegg for $5 after rebate (check hot deals).

Make sure you disable DHCP* on all your routers. Let's assume you don't have any uplinks. Your only going to have 6 ports due to the crossover (2) needed that will take up 3 ports, one from each router. You'll need another router and crossover cable for 9 pc's. If your routers have crossover/xports then you can use standard cat5 cables.
*Assuming your not accessing the internet! If not, then don't disable one router's dhcp.

Network Protocol:
Static IP (192.168.1.1-11), Subnet (255.255.255.0) and no other settings (no wins, no gateway, etc.). For gaming this should be just fine, but a lot of work.

Internet/LAN:
Most games, including BattleField 1942, don't check keys when playing local. Check out some mods for BF1942 (Desert Combat, Eve of Destruction, etc. -too many to list). There fun at lan parties. Also, get game demos that have multiplayer. These are fun and everyone can install them (UT24, etc.)

You're more than welcome to email or PM me if you have any questions. Have fun...lanparties.teamsna.com
-JC
TeamSNa

 

[Toro 45]

Wow thanks for all the great tips, I completely forgot about this thread.We had to bump our party back till next weekend, kinda glad so we can work out some of the potential tech problems.

I don't know if we'll be doing this again anytime soon but the idea of buying a cheap switch does sound like a good call.We have Battlefield 1942,Wolfenstien Enemy Territtory,MOHAA Demo,Halo Demo & Tribes 1 & 2(Were all old Tribes1 junkies).We will be accessing the internet as well as head to head.Glad to hear Battlefield only checks for key on internet servers.I hav'nt run a Battlefield server in a while does anyone know if I can play on my comp/server at the same time(P2.4, 1 gig DDR, Radeon 8500) without lagging everyone?

Thanks

 

[AFB]

Originally posted by: Toro 45
Wow thanks for all the great tips, I completely forgot about this thread.We had to bump our party back till next weekend, kinda glad so we can work out some of the potential tech problems.

I don't know if we'll be doing this again anytime soon but the idea of buying a cheap switch does sound like a good call.We have Battlefield 1942,Wolfenstien Enemy Territtory,MOHAA Demo,Halo Demo & Tribes 1 & 2(Were all old Tribes1 junkies).We will be accessing the internet as well as head to head.Glad to hear Battlefield only checks for key on internet servers.I hav'nt run a Battlefield server in a while does anyone know if I can play on my comp/server at the same time(P2.4, 1 gig DDR, Radeon 8500) without lagging everyone?

Thanks

Probably not, BF 1942 takes a lot of power. Try asking in the game or hardware forum.