LAN Distribution of Games

[Patman]

I am having a LAN coming up soon and I was wondering if I could make all the game cds into isos, or have all the users run the game files from the dedicated server. My worrys are 1) will everybody bog the server down to load pre-game and will the server slowdown mid-game if they require a file? 2) will i run into any other issues? 2.0 ghz celeron with 256mb ram, working roughly a 10 or so lan. Suggestions or thoughts for quick and easy distribution of games and patches greatly appreciated. Thanks!

 

[lomn75]

1) Is the game distribution legal? Worth asking.

2) For ISOs, you'll have a couple options and associated issues:
-- people burning the ISO (requires CD-RW)
-- peope having compatible software (requires whatever package)
I personally think choice 3 (you burn CDs in advance) will be much easier.

3) loading ISOs or game files would definitely be sluggish initially. It could easily generate lag mid-game as well simply due to network load. Specs won't be an issue for file transfer.

4) You seem a little underpowered on RAM, but I'm not a dedicated game server expert.

As for patches, though -- I'd say tossing a web server on is the best approach, but a read-only shared folder is fine, too.

 

[draconius]

I would advise against this for a couple reasons:

1. After a couple of people have mounted the ISO's and are installing, the more people that mount, the more it will slow down quickly as more and more are installing directly off the network.
2. Alot of newer games will not work either during the install or afterwards unless there is a disc in a physical drive on the computer....and although there are ways to get around this...

I think you would be better off just having everybody have a copy of the game (legitimate copy, I say)

 

[TekieB]

I see ram and network speed as an issue, but if that server is just for files you should be okay

 

[Dan17]

When I am at LAN parties, we often have to transfer alot of files and stuff, you might wanna have a 100Mb network. Only from experience,
...Dan

 

[Daishiknyte]

As long as people downloaod the ISO and have software such as Alcohol120% you should be fine. The RAM and network speed may be a problem.