2 Laptops + cable = LAN?

[KukriKhan]

I should know this, but don't. #2 son is getting a laptop this week. We share interest in several games, but have never played each other before.

He's coming over, with his new laptop, to have a CallOfDuty2 duel with the old man.

Q: Must we go to the 'net to play, or can we simply connect machine-to-machine via ethernet ports?

The last time I actually performed this operation was 1985 with Burroughs 360's, using standard army WD-1 commo wire, LoL.

[Beirut]

I've been curious about the same thing. My woman's machine is right beside mine and I'd love to connect them and "fly united" with my sweetie.

Edit - Thanks for the title work Kukri.

[LeftEyeNine]

The modern day games usually have Direct IP connections if no LAN choice -and that should work out in any case.

However the 1-on-1 connection is more different than LAN. It should be the "DirectPlay Serial Connection" and that is simply performed by connecting two ethernet ports of the systems with a convenient LAN cable. By the way, I heard that Cable Cat-45 is a recommended one for LAN-plays.

It will be a great fun for sure. Do not forget to draw your swords on Medieval TW battlefield when you grow tired of WW2 ambience.

[drone]

It's been a while since I have tried anything like that, but I think it is still possible. IIRC, you should be able to use a Cat-5 patch cable and plug the 2 machines together. This cable swaps the tx/rx lines, so you get a direct connection. You can't use a standard Cat-5 cable, I know that much.

What you really should get is a router/firewall. You can plug in multiple computers, have the router be the DHCP server, and the firewall sits between you and your high-speed modem and keeps your machines safe. Even if you only have 1 machine, if you have high-speed it's definitely worth it. I've got a DLink 624 router, has 4 ports + wireless, works great.

[Xiahou]

It's been a while since I have tried anything like that, but I think it is still possible. IIRC, you should be able to use a Cat-5 patch cable and plug the 2 machines together. This cable swaps the tx/rx lines, so you get a direct connection. You can't use a standard Cat-5 cable, I know that much.

You're talking about what's called a 'crossover' cable- they're needed to directly connect 2 like peices of equipment (PC-PC or hub-hub). For LAN play, you could easily use a crossover to go between 2 computers- but I agree that the second option makes more sense.

What you really should get is a router/firewall. You can plug in multiple computers, have the router be the DHCP server, and the firewall sits between you and your high-speed modem and keeps your machines safe. Even if you only have 1 machine, if you have high-speed it's definitely worth it. I've got a DLink 624 router, has 4 ports + wireless, works great.

I agree- If you have an always on high-speed connection, there's pretty much no excuse not to have some kind of cheapie router/firewall. A $50 Linksys w/4 port switch will do all of that and allow you to connect up to 4 PCs to it- any connected PCs would be eligible for LAN play or even playing online together with others. If you dont need wireless, either get a router without it or disable it from the router configuration- it's a glaring security hole that your average user overlooks.

[Beirut]

I do indeed have Linksys DSL router. We're both plugged into it and it's connected to the main DSL box which connects to the phone jack.

So it's just a matter of setting up addresses in each of our machines?

[drone]

I do indeed have Linksys DSL router. We're both plugged into it and it's connected to the main DSL box which connects to the phone jack.

So it's just a matter of setting up addresses in each of our machines?

Most people I know of set the router to be a DHCP server, so internally, your machines should have IP addresses like 192.168.0.X, where X is a one-up number. Most games these days have a "multiplayer LAN" option, they will show games hosted by machines within your IP range. So you can host on one machine and the other should be able to connect. Older games require the IP address of the host, they won't search for valid games unfortunately. Just enter in the DHCP-assigned address and you should be good to go.

You're talking about what's called a 'crossover' cable- they're needed to directly connect 2 like peices of equipment (PC-PC or hub-hub). For LAN play, you could easily use a crossover to go between 2 computers- but I agree that the second option makes more sense.

Corssover, that's the phrase I was looking for. Like I said, it's been a while.

[Xiahou]

I do indeed have Linksys DSL router. We're both plugged into it and it's connected to the main DSL box which connects to the phone jack.

So it's just a matter of setting up addresses in each of our machines?

If they're both setup and online already, you're good to go. The only thing that remains would be to determine the IP address of your computers (assuming you need to input that to connect in game). To do that, go to Start->Run and type 'cmd' to get a command prompt. Then type 'ipconfig', which will give you a bunch of info including your address which, as noted by drone, will probably be 192.168.1.X (Be aware, under dhcp that X could vary between reboots of your PC)

You should be off and running at that point.

[LeftEyeNine]

You cant connect 2 pc's directly through there Lan ports with a straight thru lan cable unless you have a router.

To connect 2 pcs together thru there ethernet lan ports, without a router you must use a crossover cable.

You can make them from a straight thru cable,
Instructions on google.
Or you can buy them.

..delivered to me by the_medieval_roman_Samurai through PM. He's right as already mentioned by other dear patrons here as well. Sorry for my mistake. You need a crossover cable that is easily made up froma straight cable for a direct connnection between 2 PCs..

[KukriKhan]

I see. Thanks fellas; a crossover cable ($2.99 at CompUSA) sounds like the most elegant and simple solution.



So, the internal wiring of the pins is different on a crossover cable than for a straight-through ethernet cable used to hook up to the 'net (if I understand correctly).

Are there any 'usual' pitfalls I should look out for?

[R'as al Ghul]

Are there any 'usual' pitfalls I should look out for?

It's pretty straight forward.
Your firewalls may block each other, though. Switch them off if they do.
You may also have to allow "files and printer sharing" over network.

[drone]

Are there any 'usual' pitfalls I should look out for?

You will probably need to set up your PCs to assign them IP addresses for your RJ45 net ports on bootup. Not sure how your laptop is set up now to access the net, are you using wireless/Cat5/56K modem? Usually, your ISP or router provides you with an address, sounds to me like you won't have that with this setup. You will need to adjust your network connection properties for your net port to do this (probably on both machines). Just remember to write down the previous config so you can return it after the fun and games are over.

[Lemur]

I remember some PCs back in the day were advertsied as having "auto sensing" ethernet ports, so you didn't need to buy a crossover cable. Was that a passing fad, or is it now a common feature? I'm more of a switch/router guy, so I've never messed about with crossover cables ...

[Xiahou]

I remember some PCs back in the day were advertsied as having "auto sensing" ethernet ports, so you didn't need to buy a crossover cable. Was that a passing fad, or is it now a common feature? I'm more of a switch/router guy, so I've never messed about with crossover cables ...

What, you never had to plug one switch into another?

[KukriKhan]

Update: Jason's laptop arrived yesterday. I had already purchased a x-over cable. Once he got Windows installed, then CallofDuty2, we plugged in the Cat5 crossover.

I got a little notification balloon "local area network detected'. He didn't. We dropped firewalls, shared file & printer.

We both fired up CoD2, and tried to configure the multiplayer/LAN settings so we'd be sychronized. No joy. Lengthy in-game error msg, then CTD on both machines.

It finally dawned on me that I'd patched up to v1.2, and Jason still had v1.0. By then, we'd fiddled around for about 2 hours, and it was getting late. He went home, patched up to v1.2, called me & we found each other on a low-ping server. Much joy. His monster-good new lappy + my mostly good lappy + a good 'net connection = a fine 30 minutes of hunting each other in Tunisia. After 25 minutes, the server disconnected, with the score kukri 6, electricSlurpee 6.

He'll come over Sunday, and we'll try again the machine-to-machine connection. I have a 4-port router to try. Will advise.

[Lemur]

What, you never had to plug one switch into another?

Um, no, the idea was that you could use standard CAT5 cabling to string one PC directly to another. It was kind of gimmicky, and I never tried it myself. The auto-sensing ethernet ports were supposed to eliminate the need for crossover cables.

Like I said, I've always been a router/switch person, so I never had a need to play with the feature. From the strong silence I'm guessing that it was a passing fad.

[Papewaio]

He'll come over Sunday, and we'll try again the machine-to-machine connection. I have a 4-port router to try. Will advise.

Use the router... you can use it for LAN games or play online together in an MP and sit side by side... that makes for some really good team play as you can communicate easily... even better if you had a wireless router you could walk around the place and play/get a beer from the fridge etc with a wireless laptop...

[KukriKhan]

... you could walk around the place and play/get a beer from the fridge etc with a wireless laptop...

Sounds best to me :)

Sunday we'll have more time available. So we'll try to make the crossover cable work. This time, I'll try a simple text file transfer first, to see if we really are hooked together. If no joy, then the router.

[LeftEyeNine]

Kukri, if you had router, why hassle with direct connection stuff ?

[KukriKhan]

After several failed attempts, using several configurations and re-trying LAN setup wizards - and using the advice here... I can happily report success with one game:

HALO

Cross-over cable. One machine selects 'IP direct connection' in-game in multiplayer options. The other types in the starter's IP address, then 'join game'. Run-and-shoot for hours. Too easy.

So apparently, it's mostly a matter of whether the particular game supports 'direct IP connection'. If so: joy. If not, fail.

Oh, BTW, the scores (deathmatch): 25-2, 22-7, 15-12, 12-15, 14-13 I got better over time, heehee (me the 2nd score).

[LeftEyeNine]

Son seems readily trained, however there is an old wolf out there

[hoom]

LAN connection in most games should work.

Generally helps to have:
Both PCs set to the same workgroup
Both PCs set to the same IP range eg 192.168.0.1 & 192.168.1.1 may have issues where 192.168.0.1 & 192.168.0.2 won't.

Best would be to use the router with DHCP turned on & the PCs set to Automatically Detect IPs (is it a router, a switch or a hub? if anything other than a router, it won't have DHCP).