LAN Party Instructions

Table of Contents

• General Information
• Human Considerations
• Bringing Your Own Machine
• Hardware Recommendations
• General Recommendations
• Hardware to Bring
• System Software Configuration
• Half-Life Configuration
  
  

General Information

• Hosts:
• Mike Newhall:
• Deals With:
• Hardware & software configuration & questions
• Local service: Maintains machines & network @ house & configures guest machines
• Initial gameplay training
  
• Logistics questions: (because party is at parents' house) dropping off / picking up machines, what to bring, etc.
• Cell: 617.LITHUANIA (617.548.4826)
• E-mail: mike@newhall.net
• TJ Fabrizio:
• Deals With:
• Organizing events: who is coming, when they are coming; contacts
• Field service: Setting up & tweaking your machine in your home
• Advanced gameplay advice :-)
  
• Cell: 978.317.6629
• E-Mail: tj@fabrizio.net
• Location:
• Address: 5 South St., Peabody
• Phone: 978.532.0615
• Homeowners: Maureen & Al Newhall
  

Human Considerations

• Dress lightly (T-shirt & shorts, for example) as with all the machines, monitors, and humans going it can get pretty warm.
• Make sure you're showered and wearing deoderant! :-)
• If you've never played before, arrive early - training takes 15-30 minutes per person (in other words, if there's going to be two new people, arrive 30-60 minutes early, etc.).
• Food & drink: We have some spring water, juice, beer, some soft drinks, milk, and some crackers and light snacks. We can order pizza (or whatever) if there's a demand for real food.
• Since it's my parents' house and my Dad's beer :-), perhaps we should contribute $1 each (plus $1 for each beer?) to defray the costs & repay them for their hospitality; alternatively, you could bring refreshments or food; we can leave the extra when we go.
• The bathroom is at the top of the basement stairs.  There is a refrigerator in the basement that usually has some of the drinks in it.
  
• We have room for two to five people: four seats in the basement, two of which are usually occupied by the hosts (Mike & TJ), and one seat upstairs, although it's rarely used. When there are more people than seats, we set up a rotatation. Alternatively, you can bring your own machine:
  

Bringing Your Own Machine

Hardware Recommendations:

• Processor: Pentium II or above; preferably 350 MHz or above.
• Space:
• The current Half-Life configuration requires almost a gigabyte of hard disk space.
• If you are short on space, this requirement can probably be tweaked to fit, however if you have less than 500 MB free on your hard disk, it's time to delete some unnecessary files and / or get a second hard-drive, or a new machine if your old one can't be upgraded.
  
• OS:
• Windows 98/Me recommended, especially for slower machines.
• Win 95 may have compatibility problems (actually few if any machines exist that are good enough and still run 95).
• Windows NT/2000/XP may have compatibility and / or performance problems.
• Speeds recommended for a given OS:
• Win NT: 450 MHz
• Win 2000: 500 MHz
• Win XP: 550 Mhz
• Graphics:
• 3D acceleration highly recommended; however game is still playable in software-only mode.
• Any 3D accelerator 3-4 years old or younger should work well.  Examples that should work well:
• Matrox G400 / G450 / G550 or newer
• 3Dfx Voodoo2 / Voodoo3 or newer
• NVidia TNT / GeForce or newer
• ATI Radeon 8500 or newer; several older models should also work well
• Networking:
• You will need a network card or built-in connector, preferably 100 Mbps.
• Memory:
  The more memory you have the better.  OSes take up various amounts of memory.  Here's some guestimates for minimum recommended memory by OS:
• Win 95/98/Me: 64MB
• Win NT: 96MB
• Win 2000: 128MB
• Win XP: 256MB
  

General Recommendations:

• Arrive early for machine setup, including physical setup and loading the latest software updates onto your machine.
• Consider dropping your machine off hours earlier or even the evening before to expedite the process.
• Coordinate with Mike for times.

Hardware To Bring:

• Input:
  The importance of this category cannot be overemphasized. Your mouse and keyboard are your primary playing equipment.
  • Bring a good keyboard (or alternative input device, like Belkin Nostromo n50 SpeedPad), even if you have a laptop (plug it in to the external keyboard port (or USB for USB keyboards)).
  • Your keyboard should have the standard "inverted T" layout for the arrow keys.
  • If you have multiple spare keyboards, pick the one that feels the best to you (I prefer big old 'clicky' keyboards to new, small 'mushy' keyboards).
  • I have found the above-mentioned SpeedPad to be totally superior to a keyboard. I got it at CompUSA for $20 (although they are closer to $30 when not on sale).
  • Bring a good mouse, even if you have a laptop with a built-in pointing device.
  • If you have a mechanical mouse, clean it thoroughly (take off the plastic ring holding the ball in and scrape all the crud off all three wheels, using a Q-tip, Kleenex, etc.).
  • Very important: Mouse Quality: If you have multiple mice to choose from, or are considering buying a new mouse:
    • Optical mice are far superior to mechanical mice.
    • A mouse with a scroll wheel is far better than one without.
    • Failing that, a mouse with three buttons is better than one with two.
    • An optical mouse with a scroll wheel and many buttons is ideal. TJ & I found mice like this at Target for $20. Unfortunately due to compatibility issues this two-wheel, five-button mouse appears as a one-wheel, three-button mouse to the game.  They're still the best mice we've found so far ("GE" brand, believe it or not; actually relabeled - manufacturer is A4Tech).
  • Make sure your machine has the right number and kind (PS/2 and / or USB) ports for all your input devices.  Laptops especially sometimes have limited ports.
• Sound:
  • Bring good, comfortable headphones or external speakers; if you have a laptop chances are the built-in speakers will be inadequate.
• Video:
  • If you have a desktop bring your own monitor.
  • If you have a monitor stand or something that can act as a monitor stand (such as a thick dictionary) bring it; otherwise the monitor will cause you to have to look downward all night leading to neck discomfort.
• Network:
  • You will need a standard network cable (CAT-5), preferably long (8, 10, or 12 feet, for example).
  • It should not be a crossover cable (used to connect two machines directly without a hub).
• Power:
• Try to bring an outlet strip and / or 3-prong extension cord, as we are short on outlets.
• Don't forget the AC cords for your PC, monitor, and speakers if necessary.
• Test as much of your setup ahead of time.as you can.  Plug in everything you will be using at once and see if it all works and works together.

System Software Configuration:

• Update all your system software:
  Many performance,  compatibility, and aesthetic problems, and many other bugs, are caused by not having the latest software.  You should update every important system component to the latest versions.  The potential updates listed below do not have to be performed in any particular order; however, they are listed from most to least important.  Some suggestions below have links that may help find the latest updates for your system.
• Update your graphics drivers:
  This is the most important component to update.  Update this component if you update no other.
  
• Get your driver version & release date by right-clicking on a blank area of the desktop (or choosing Control Panel => Display), then choosing the Settings tab, then clicking on the Advanced... button.  From here it varies by manufacturer, but there should be some information somewhere in here (try the different tabs if there are any) listing your driver date & version.  Write this down.
• Go to the manufacturer's website and download & install tha latest drivers, if the latest one listed is more recent than the one you already have.  The major sites:
• 3Dfx (out of business, but drivers still available)
• 3Dlabs (bought by Creative)
  
• ATI
  
• Matrox
• NVidia
• S3 (now S3 Graphics)
• Update DirectX:
  DirectX is the part of the OS that deals with game software.  The latest version is version 8.1.
• Note due to limitations of the OS, Win NT cannot update it's DirectX component separately.  The Service Packs contain any fixes or improvements to the DirectX component.
  
• To find what version you have currently installed, click on Start Menu => Run... and enter "dxdiag" (no quotes).
• If you get a 'not found' error, you probably have an old version of DirectX.
• If you get a window with information in it, look for the version number.  If it's less than 8.1, you should update.
• Microsoft's DirectX 8.1 updates .
• Note that DX8.1 is a very large download, and will take a while on a dial-up connection.
• Update your OS:
• Go to www.microsoft.com and look up any available updates to your OS.  This is especially important for Windows NT: the latest 'service pack' is Service Pack 5 - update to this if you haven't already.
• Microsoft's listing of all Service Packs
• Update your BIOS:
  This is an operation not for the faint of heart.  There is a small chance you could permanently ruin your motherboard in the process (if the power gets cut at the wrong moment).  To update your BIOS:
• You must first find the exact make and model of your motherboard , which is visible for a short time while your computer is booting.
• If you see a colorful 'splash screen', like "COMPAQ" all in large red letters, instead of the old-fashioned text display showing the boot progress , your 'Power-On Self-Test' (POST) display is disabled.  Sometimes you can bring it back by just hitting a key or Escape, but sometimes you have to go into the BIOS menu and disable the splash screen / enable the POST display.  Usually you can get into the BIOS (CMOS) settings screens by hitting a key during the splash, which may tell you what specific key to press, or waiting until you see a message telling you the key after the splash ("Press 'F1' to enter Setup", or some suchlike, like the DEL key, etc.).
• If the motherboard ID disappears to quickly, try pressing the 'Pause' key on the keyboard to freeze the display while it's still up.  Then press 'Enter' or 'Escape', etc., to unfreeze the display after you've written down the information.
• Once you have the info, go to the manufacturer's website ( www.tyan.com for Tyan motherboards, etc. -- guess or do a search or look it up at Yahoo , etc.).  They should have a 'Support' option where you can find BIOS updates by model.  From that point on they should provide all the instructions you need.
• Yahoo category for Motherboard Manufacturers

Half-Life Configuration

• Install Half-Life:
• If you don't already own a version of Half-Life, obviously this will have to wait until your machine arrives at the house
• It is not necessary to own a unique copy of Half-Life to play multiplayer - only the single-player game requires owning the game.
• If you decide to buy Half-Life, there are several different retail packages.  Note that Deathmatch Classic, CounterStrike and Team Fortress are all free add-ons, so it doesn't matter if they are included.  The significant difference is which single-player games are included: the original adventure, Opposing Force, and Blue Shift.  If you get all three you will be able to have the most complete Half-Life installation currently possible.
• When you install Half-Life,
  
• If you have Half-Life installed, you may want to change your desktop and / or Start Menu shortcuts to a more advanced way to start the game: :right-click on them and select Properties, then, where it says "hl.exe", add " -nointro -noipx -console" (so it reads "...\hl.exe -nointro..." -- that is, make sure there's a space after 'exe').  This will skip the opening videos, eliminate some irrelevant error messages, and enable the console, a poweful game control mechanism (hit the "~" (tilde) key during a game to bring up the console or make it go away).
• Test your setup by running Half-Life, selecting "Multiplayer", "LAN Game", "Create Game", select the "crossfire" map (or any map) from the list on the right, then hit "OK".  A multiplayer game should start, although you will be the only player in it.
• Update Half-Life:
• An updated version of Half-Life is necessary to play - the version on the CD is out of date.
• Updates can be found on Planet Half-Life's Half-Life update files .  These links send you to FilePlanet to do the actual downloads.
• Note that you do not need to sign up to use FilePlanet - just use the 'public server' links, which are free.
• However, note that the latest patch - 1.1.1.0 - is untested; we still use 1.1.0.8.  1.1.1.0 will probably be just fine and may be even better than 1.1.0.8.  If it doesn't work I can install 1.1.0.8 instead.
• Test this new configuration again as above.
• You may want to take this opportunity to select "Controls" within the Multiplayer menu (hit escape to get back to it if you are in a game, then hit "Done" if you are not in the main Multiplayer menu) and customize your keyboard and mouse settings to your liking.
  
• Add Jumbot:
• Jumbot is an extension to Half-Life that adds computer-controlled opponents, or bots.  This is the version we play now so you need it.
• Download this 'mod' (game modification) from the Jumbot site .  After (or during) unzipping, you just need to put the Jumbot folder in yout Half-Life folder.
• Fix Jumbot: Download this fix to a bug in the last release of Jumbot and follow it's simple included instructions to apply it.
• Add waypoint (JRF) files: Download Scary Jeff 's waypoint files and install them as per the instructions.  These are files that help bots navigate around specific levels.  Some of these have the same name as existing files.  You can either overwrite the old files or keep them - I'm not sure which ones are better than which other ones.
  
• Now copy one of your modified Half-Life shortcuts (see above), so you have a second Half-Life shortcut on your desktop and / or in your Start Menu.
• Rename this shortcut to "Half-Life Jumbot".
• Right-click on it and select "Properties...".  At the end of the same line you modified before, add " -game jumbot".
• Again test this as above.  However, this time, if everything went correctly, several robot players will be in the game and will start shooting at you.
• Find the crossbow, pick it up, select it as your weapon, and hit the right mouse button to enable the scope.  If the scope does not work, the Jumbot fix you installed above didn't work.
• Add Content:
• At this point, all you should need to do is load the levels, models and logos that we are using.  However this is easier to do once you are at the house than downloading them all yourself.