Looking for affordable LAN options at college?
Looking for affordable LAN options at college?
We’re working with an old game that doesn’t support online or multiplayer play outside a local network. Even though we’re all connected to the same Wi-Fi, we haven’t been able to activate LAN mode—likely due to the college dorm network, varying access passwords, multiple routers, and no admin rights. The issue seems to appear only when I connected my Ethernet cable directly between laptops, which normally worked for two players. We’re aiming for up to eight players, but the game supports twelve. I checked switches and large models with many ports, but they’re too expensive for a game that’s been around for years. I’m wondering if using USB-to-USB as a LAN connection would work, since we have plenty of USB ports and only need a few extra cables.
Affordable 100Mbit and gigabit switches featuring 8 to 24 ports are widely available now. You can find an 8-port switch for less than $30, making it a budget-friendly option for a Wi-Fi access point. Travel routers also fall within this price range and can be configured for basic AP setups.
Are all devices equipped with Wi-Fi? You could create a Wi-Fi hotspot on OnLaPop, allowing everything to connect to it.
Consider any Ethernet switch with sufficient ports; you can use a budget model from a thrift store. Alternatively, set up Internet Connection Sharing on one of your laptops, turning it into a Wi-Fi hotspot for others. Ensure peer-to-peer connections are turned off on the network.
Maybe we don't need a full internet connection—just a method to link all our laptops together. Since I already have a CAT 5E, I could connect it to the AP, allowing other laptops to join via the AP. I think the laptop attached to the AP would serve as the host, managing all traffic between the wirelessly connected devices?
It seems possible one laptop could handle both playing the old game and acting as a host for others via hotspot. With the mix of devices—new, Mac, Windows 10/11, and an older ThinkPad—it’s likely manageable. Cross-compatibility should be fine thanks to Wi-Fi connections.
A network remains a network, and Warcraft III isn't old enough to need unusual protocols from the DOS era.