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 okgg.org > Forum Index > Other Lan Parties > Tinker AFB Inaugural LAN: Seeking Advice

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Pwnzornaut
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Joined: 22 Apr 2016
Posts: 6
Location: OKC
Tinker AFB Inaugural LAN: Seeking Advice  Reply with quote  

Good Evening,

I have been indirectly tasked with setting up a LAN for Airmen at Tinker AFB. The Commander didn't really know what game to play or anything, he wanted a tournament format, and for it to be awesome. End quote.

We are looking at probably 50 ppl, does anyone have suggestions as to where I should look to rent/borrow a Server for hosting, and a crap ton of LAN Cables/Switches or Hubs?

Also, what games would you recommend? I was planning on doing a TF2 Five-Man Team Tournament. Any and all recommendations welcome!

Hit me up here or on BF4: Pwnzornaut

If you use those telephone things: (906) 202-2640

Post Fri Apr 22, 2016 10:33 pm  View user's profile Send private message
Sevnn
Candy Cane King


Joined: 22 Mar 2003
Posts: 7711
Location: Kyrat
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Most modern day computers are more than powerful enough to run as a server for most games that support that type of play. For those without dedicated servers, "listen" servers are when a game allows one player to host the game and for others to join. This is more of an ad-hoc play but usually works well. The biggest issue you'll have is that many modern games don't support either of these multiplayer server setups. Instead they are focused on internet servers. Will you be able to support internet play? If you are considering it you need to make sure you have a solid router for that many users and even more solid internet connection. If for instance you had 100mb/s across 50 players that's 2mb/s per player and good luck playing most internet games on that.

For switch hardware I'd try to find a couple 24 port gigabit switches or a 48 port gigabit switch. Setting up a bunch of smaller switches will be a pain to deal with and will have bottlenecks in performance depending on setup. Cabling can be purchased from somewhere like Monoprice pre-made for about the same price as bulk cable and you won't have to handle termination.

Power for 50 people is likely going to be an issue. You'll need a power strip for every 2-3 players and no more than about 5 players per 20 amp cable. You'll need to make sure each set of 2 power cables is on its own circuit or you'll be tripping breakers. In our previous LAN setup when we had to deal with extension cords we had 2-3 large ice-chests for just the power and network cables, and that was for 20 ish players. At 50 players we were using 5-6 crates of cable.

How are you handling tables? Are you providing chairs? What type of facility will this be in? Will you have enough A/C? The ability to make the room dark?

Continuing the internet thing, if you are going to have it, you need to make sure to provide some way to install the games and patch them. If you are planning to have players play Steam based games you need to make sure they go into Offline mode before they pack-up from home or they might not be able to authenticate their account.

You'll need to plan something as DHCP but this is easily handled with a basic router or have the server handle it.

If you are providing internet, assume that someone or couple people will hoard your bandwidth. It might be torrents, streamed video, or an unintentional virus. Any one of these can bring your internet to its knees. Per client throttling and some form of per client monitoring can make a big difference. You can port/service block at the router and that helps. If your router doesn't handle this there are a few windows/linux router software setups that can handle it for you. You'll likely need dual nics in your server to do it and have to play with the configuration. We did this when we were at the ELG and it worked well.

Setup a chalk/white board for information sharing. Having an intranet site helps but not if people can't connect. Having a shared board you can throw up addresses, times, games, etc can help a lot with a big LAN.

Something like TF2 should play well in tournament format. I would try to stay on the side of free-to-play or have the games otherwise available. The new Unreal Tournament reboot, if it has a private LAN server option, would be a ton of fun.

If you are going to try something like Unreal Tournament (assuming the new one is like the old one) and setting up your own server, make sure you setup an HTTP redirect. UT (at least in the past) would give users custom maps but it was SLLLOOOOWW. If you have an HTTP server (IIS, Apache, etc) locally setup, you can configure UT to tell the user's computer where the maps are location and they download much faster.

Sorry for the long post, hope this info helps spawn some thoughts and help you avoid issues.

Post Fri Apr 22, 2016 10:59 pm  View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail AIM Address ICQ Number
Brules
M F C E O


Joined: 23 Mar 2003
Posts: 11074
Location: Konnichiwa, bitches.
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I have a 24 port gb switch you all could use. Hook up a hom router to it for DHCP and you are set there.

Where will you be hosting this on base?
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Post Sat Apr 23, 2016 2:16 am  View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail
LightningCrash
Smile like Bob, order your free LC today


Joined: 03 Apr 2003
Posts: 5020
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You should see if you can't borrow one of the staffers or ex-staffers from here to help you out on your first LAN. You have two that have given you good advice.

You could probably get Brules by providing him with about $40 of beef jerky.

Post Sat Apr 23, 2016 8:15 pm  View user's profile Send private message
Pwnzornaut
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Joined: 22 Apr 2016
Posts: 6
Location: OKC
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First off, thanks a ton for your replies, I knew coming to you guys would be a good first step.

Trying to use the Listen server in TF2 always results in crashes every 20 minutes or so, so I definitely would need a Dedicated server. Sorry, I don't know what DHCP stands for.

The LAN will be at the Tinker Club, good point about the power, I will definitely need to spread everyone out and verify which outlets go to which breakers. Does anyone have a recommendation besides TF2? The Free UT ran terribly when I tried it a year ago, I will definitely revisit it. I will verify if it lets you host a game...

You made an excellent point about sticking to F2P, but there are precious few good F2P games out there that new players have a fair chance at. I was also considering Tribes: Ascend...

I can get LOADS of jerky! When/where/how could I borrow this switch from you?

I will check if the Club has wifi (doubt it). As long as people turn their steam to offline mode before leaving home they should be able to play LAN, right?

Thanks again guys, I'll be bothering you lots with updates as we get this party started. Is anyone interested in me looking into acquiring guest passes so you could attend?

Post Sun Apr 24, 2016 1:07 am  View user's profile Send private message
Sevnn
Candy Cane King


Joined: 22 Mar 2003
Posts: 7711
Location: Kyrat
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DHCP is how your guest's computers will determine their IP address. You could all have them assign as static IP address but that is a big pain in the ass and trust me when I say you don't want to go that route.

If they have wifi you'll need to either connect directly to it or bridge it to your network. Either way you need to have someone who is fluent in network setups or you aren't going to get very far.

Post Sun Apr 24, 2016 1:16 am  View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail AIM Address ICQ Number
Pwnzornaut
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Joined: 22 Apr 2016
Posts: 6
Location: OKC
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We now have a dude with a dedicated server.

Thanks Sevnn, I was going to run a combination LAN/Wireless LAN network for this. Is there a major problem with that? (I was anticipating people being 50/50 towers/laptops)

As for jerky, I am going to Alaska for two weeks...any special requests?

Does anyone know the best place to rent/acquire a crap ton of CAT5 cables?
If you are interested at all in attending this thing, please let me know so I can ask about on-base passes.

Post Sun Apr 24, 2016 2:49 pm  View user's profile Send private message
Brules
M F C E O


Joined: 23 Mar 2003
Posts: 11074
Location: Konnichiwa, bitches.
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Monoprice for CAT 5 cheap.

http://www.monoprice.com/search/index?keyword=cat+5
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Post Sun Apr 24, 2016 9:48 pm  View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail
Drix
SEAT #ASS 10


Joined: 18 Aug 2004
Posts: 1773
Location: Norman
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Sevnn wrote: ...The new Unreal Tournament reboot, if it has a private LAN server option, would be a ton of fun.

If you are going to try something like Unreal Tournament (assuming the new one is like the old one) and setting up your own server, make sure you setup an HTTP redirect. UT (at least in the past) would give users custom maps but it was SLLLOOOOWW. If you have an HTTP server (IIS, Apache, etc) locally setup, you can configure UT to tell the user's computer where the maps are location and they download much faster...


It (Unrealtournament.com) does do LAN games and servers, same as UT2004 (the previous proper version), but their launcher needs some minimal internet to authenticate per user, just like Steam. I don't think there is an "offline" mode for it just yet. They're still in beta with their launcher, and the game itself, while available is still in pre-alpha.
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Post Mon Apr 25, 2016 1:45 pm  View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail AIM Address Yahoo Messenger MSN Messenger ICQ Number
Brules
M F C E O


Joined: 23 Mar 2003
Posts: 11074
Location: Konnichiwa, bitches.
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Halo CE Bloodgulch CTF is still by far one of the best tourney maps/games ever. Smile
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Post Tue Apr 26, 2016 4:12 pm  View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail
Pwnzornaut
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Joined: 22 Apr 2016
Posts: 6
Location: OKC
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Air Force LAN is finally happening! Thanks for all your advice guys! If you have any other suggested games, it looks like we're gonna have to do this LAN only, no internet. Sad Any other words of advise or suggestion?

Post Tue Jul 19, 2016 10:24 pm  View user's profile Send private message
TehDanMan
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Joined: 01 Jul 2003
Posts: 13143
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Since most games require at least an internet connection to get playing, make a list of games that you can play without it. Then have installers ready for everyone.
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Post Wed Jul 20, 2016 1:47 pm  View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail
Pwnzornaut
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Joined: 22 Apr 2016
Posts: 6
Location: OKC
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Yeah, that's gonna have to be the plan. We were going to have 1 or 2 main games and then a variety of stuff set up on the side for those not into the main event.
Any LAN Only games you guys know of would be awesome to hear.

The ones we were looking at so far, that we can have installers ready for:
(Main)
UT2004 or UT99 GoTY
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. (SoC or CoP) [It has LAN, believe it or not]
Giants:Citizen Kabuto


(Sides)
Rocketleague (Splitscreen on a TV on the side)

If anyone knows how to get BF:1942 or BF:Vietnam going on LAN, that would be the Holy Grail.

Brules, can I come borrow your LAN switch? This thing is going down on Friday, August 8th. I gotta set everything up the night before.

Post Wed Jul 20, 2016 10:05 pm  View user's profile Send private message
Brules
M F C E O


Joined: 23 Mar 2003
Posts: 11074
Location: Konnichiwa, bitches.
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I can bring it to you. I have a badge to get on base and am out there several times a week. PM me your cell # and well text and meet up!
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Post Wed Jul 20, 2016 11:07 pm  View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail
Pwnzornaut
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Joined: 22 Apr 2016
Posts: 6
Location: OKC
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FINALLY! IT IS HAPPENING!

On August 26th, the TINKER AFB LAN Party will be going down at the Tinker club! If you have base access, you are invited!

Here's a link to the sign-up form!
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSegdnzlMQ4pIJtNQa1dsUz8A3g1FofeAhgg96wuGGRKCSHSmQ/viewform

Tournament Play: UT2k4 (4v4 TDM) // Star Wars Battlefront 2 (4v4 conquest)
Open Play: UT2k4(32 Players) // SW:BF2 (64 Players) // STALKER:CoP (32 players) // Rocket League (2v2 Splitscreen)

Admission: $10 [Gets you 2 free large pizza slices, pays for club use, contributes to tournament pool]

Post Wed Aug 10, 2016 5:55 pm  View user's profile Send private message
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