http://www.onepc.net/index.php?view=docs&doc_id=75

My suggestion is set up a shared folder with updates and such.

Make sure you got a good a/c... it gets hot. and spread out your power usage on different circuits.. basic electrical knowlegde is fun for film sets and Lan parties!

i miss my lan party hosting days..... :(

One thing you can count on at a lan party.
One guy will have to reinstall something or can't get on the network for some unknown reason. :lol:

Ok that's two :p

We are almost 100% positive my computer is going to die right at the begining of the thing

That's really odd cause ours usually die by w/o a LAN...meaning that it is time to LAN :D

We've definitely built/broken/rebuilt several computers over the past few months at "the lan that wouldn't end"(same lan captainfluffer is talking about).

Blankets (body seems to stop generating heat after the 20th hour)
Food (hunger kicks in very quickly)
Hub
Cables
Computers
Essential Software
Extension Cables

Remember not to plug too many computers into any one area. At my first LAN party, we plugged up 8 computers to 2 different sockets in the same room, and we blew a fuse or something and the power just died for the entire room. We had to use huge extension cables to plug into places throughout the building.

pop-ice and eggo waffles... trust me, these alone can keep a LAN running 3+ months

Isn't that the truth.....make sure you decide on a ip addressing scheme right away. And then make sure everyone has done all the matience like virus scans (virus across a network = bad) defrag (i've known people to defrag at lan parties, why beats the hell outta me) And make sure everyone has there own disk per game and have all the games installed before they come over.

man running lans is sooo much fun I do it every once in a while I have a site totally designed (waiting on the coding) but when it's done I can saftly say it will be the best lan party site out on the net unless someone comes out with something better than it, before it's complete.

Where do you guys get monitors? Do people bring their own?
I cant think of buying 10+ monitors.

try dragging a 21" inch CRT to one... not the best way to start off a good day

Yea, propaganda's 21" inch montior did cause us a few technical difficulties. He may as well host the lan from now on...

I drag my 18 inch flat screen every where lol

We just took our CRTs with us. Heavy, but it works. LCDs are even better. If you play RTS games, a laptop will even work.

And yes, someones computer inevitably gets royally screwed. Make sure everyone brings ALL their software, including OS disks. I cant tell you how many times I have seen (or had my own machine) start tanking at a LAN, requiring a total rebuild.

Make sure you draw power from multiple circuits in the house not just one, run power from every where and make sure no one vacuums or other high load devices. Hosting a LAN takes a lot of power and it is common to blow circuits (or at least for me 30 man (and woman) LANs are fun) so make sure you know where and how your circuit breaker works.

I can't agree more with the comment about knowing your house's circuits. Figure that everyone will have a monitor and a tower, and possibly speakers (though headphones are preferred). If you've got 15 people, you've got about 30 devices to plug in, all of which are gonna be sucking down a lot of power.

As for monitors - yea, we normally bring our own, which makes lugging CRTs not fun, but there's nothing you can do. Unless you run "professional" lan parties, and charge people a lot, it's not even remotely practical for the host to supply monitors.

The way we do LAN parties: The host supplies the house, the guests bring themselves, their computers, food, and alcohol. :D