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Gaming, 2024

This is a curated collection of games we like to play with 4–8 people on a LAN party. As Local network for games is more rare in modern releases, many titles are from the ’00s or earlier. Games with complex LAN setups have small step-by-step guides.

1. Call of Duty MW2 ⭐️
2. Trackmania 2020 ⭐️ 🌍
3. Warcraft 3 - Frozen Throne
4. Counter Strike 2 🌍
5. Age of Empires II
6. Sauberbraten
7. Flatout 2
8. Halo 3 (did not work for us)
9. Luanti (formerly Mine Test) ⭐️
10. Duck Game
11. Counter Strike Source
12. Left 4 Dead
13. Battle for Middle Earth ⭐️
14. Call of Juarez – Bound in Blood ⭐️
15. Halo
16. Battlefield 2 Demo
17. Mixed Retro Games

Call of Duty MW2

2009, This game reached EOL, but still playable via iw4x blog post about it on cod.tracker.gg. It enables you to play compatible maps from other games inside the same clients. The client also supports community mods such as “gun game”.

Call of Duty MW2 (2019) LAN Guide

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• Confirmed Version: v0.6.0
• Confirmed Gun Game Mod: v1.9
• Reset Player Data: Delete or rename the players folder to quickly reset all settings and your player progression. We like to do this before sessions as it levels the playing field.
• Crashing on Start: The Steam runtime will futz with the iw4x client somehow and won’t let you start the application. Make sure that the Steam client is not running before starting the Game
• Server disconnecting Players on Entry: Make sure to not use special characters in your Multiplayer Name, using special characters in your name will result in a disconnect when you join. Be sure to only use Aa-Zz 0-9.
• Server disconnecting Players on Entry: As folders might be copied around during a LAN party, it might have happened that two of the same player profiles connect to a server: Another reason to always Reset Player data.
• Missing Map Rotation: use the command /map mp_highrise to switch to the Highrise Map. The currently enabled mod will be active on the new map, too. Favorites are: mp_rust,mp_highrise,mp_boneyard,mp_strike,mp_shipment and mp_shipment_long
• Error: “Create Texture 2D”: The game crashes during the connection. Map loading freezes at around 10% and an error message is thrown, this is only visible when tabbing out of the games full screen mode. Disabling SLI with machines that use two NVIDIA graphics cards seems to fix this error.

Track Mania 2020

2020, 4GB – You’ll need a Ubisoft Connect account, ONE person to host will need any of the paid access versions to the game, all other players can be using the free tier.

Trackmania 2020 LAN Guide

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• Steam Controller: To use your Steam Controller with Trackmania 2020, add the Trackmania.exe to your Steam library as Non-Steam game. Add Non-Steam Games to a Library. Make sure the Ubisoft Launcher is running. Then start Trackmania 2020 from your steam Library.
• Map Preparation: The person who will host the sessions should already download a few of varying difficulty, so set up will be a lot quicker, and you’ll be able to also enjoy community maps. Thank you, Jens.
• Game Mode: CUP – all players start at the same time and compete for the best time. Best time gets 10 points, each slower time gets fewer points. Players accumulate these over each race. If one player reaches 100 points, they reach the final. The first finalist to win a race will win the CUP.
• CUP Parameters for 6 players: ~8 Maps for a CUP, 3 Races per track, 100 points to reach the final.

Dedictaed Server: You’ll need Internet access for the verification and invite system. If you want to set up a dedicated server, the host needs the 30€/year club access to Trackmania 2020 to set up the Server. A step-by-step guide for dedicated servers can be found on the Trackmania wiki wiki.trackmania.io

An alternative to the recent Track Mania 2020 is Trackmania Nations Forever, which has reached EOL but can be played completely offline.

Warcraft 3

2002, This game reached EOL, but is playable without modification over LAN if you own the original CD. It is recommended that you back up your game and also your community maps somewhere. In case you get a new machine or loose Data.

Counter Strike 2

2022, 85GB – You’ll need a Steam Account and to connect to the internet once to play: Steam

Counterstrike 2 LAN Guide

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CS:2 – Host

• Start a practice match in any mode
• Open console (needs to be enabled from settings)
• sv_lan 1 to make LAN play available
• status
• Look for a server IP, it looks like this “111.111.1.1 : 11111”, but numbers are different
• Send this IP to your other PCs via messages or however you want

CS:2 – Clients

• Copy the host IP
• Open console (needs to be enabled from settings)
• connect 111.111.111.111:111111 

CS:2 Commands

• bot_kick all Kick all bots
• mp_forcecamera 1 restrict watching enemy players after death: 
• mp_warmup_end end warmup
• mp_match_end_restart 1 Start the same map when the match ends
• spec_autodirector 1 Turn on autodirector if the game is being streamed
• mp_autokick 0 Turn off kicking AFK players

Age of Empires II

1999, Absolute Classic, 2013 (HD) version runs perfect on modern systems and supports mods. Get it on Steam during the one of the sales for little to nothing

Sauberbraten

2004, This game received it’s last update in 2020. It’s a open source interpretation of Quake 3 Arena. Still very fast, and very playable sauberbraten.org 1GB, Mac, Linux Windows – It just works (TM)

Flat out II

2006, Physics based Racing Game 3.5GB – we had some minor visibility issues with clients finding the host. Also, some of the mini-games are turn based and not as fun as the races or demolition derbies.

Halo 3

NOTE: This game did not work for us in 2024, we might have made a mistake or misconfigured the network.

2007, This game reached EOL, but is playable via clef-0 Community Project. Downloads available at Subreddit

Luanti

2010, Open source re-write of the most known voxel building and exploration game – just like the original. ~16MB. Works on all desktops and has android builds available. minetest.org/downloads

Make sure to keep the host’s game world and server data. If the players also note down their nicknames and passwords, you can pick up where you left next time you play.

Duck Game

2015, Modern Retro Graphics 2D Run and Gun. Very fast, very fun. Can be played over LAN as well as Local Multiplayer with enough controllers connected.

Counter Strike Source

2004, Tactical shooter. The source engine is also the base for Left 4 Dead, Gary’s Mod and other games. For small groups, it’s recommended to play small maps and fun modes.

Counter Strike Source | Gun Game LAN Guide

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Dedicated Server via SteamCMD English Guide on steamcommunity, German Guide on steamcommunity, German Video Guide on youtube. THe author of these guides also supplies a tool to handle server creation automatically

All info regarding gungame server configuration https://forums.alliedmods.net/showthread.php?t=93977?t=93977

Left 4 Dead

2008, Zombie Survival, usually 4 players.

Left 4 Dead LAN Guide

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If you have any issues for LAN configuration, be sure to check out how other source engine games work in LAN configurations. Weird internet trick: If you only have one original Steam version, you can copy the game to all machines, then go through the process to log in to Steam and start the game then log out on each machine until all games are running. It’s recommended to start a full dedicated server for the best results.

• Open console (needs to be enabled from settings)
• sv_lan 1 to make LAN play available
• host map MAPNAME
• status to get your IP
• Then all other clients connect to your IP via: connect 111.111.111.111:111111 

Battle for Middle Earth

2004, Real-time strategy, up to 8 players. There is an effort to keep the game and multiplayer leaderboards alive bye the BFME Arena Project, consiting of launchers for the game, patches, servers, matchmaking and modding support. We played the vanilla version, available through the All In One Launcher, without any problems.

Call of Juarez Bound in Blood

2009, First-person shooter, up to 8 players. The multiplayer game modes all have weird names that might need translation. You do not need to add a password to your account when first starting the game.

• Shootout – Deathmatch FFA
• Posse – Team Deathmatch
• Manhunt – One Player versus all other players

During the matches you can always use your collected bounty to level up your player class. Try out some of the classes while you’re at it.

Halo: Combat Evolved

2001, First-person shooter, abandon ware, up to 16 players.

Battlefield 2 Demo

2005, First-person shooter, abandon ware, up to 64 players. Somehow in 2005 a demo shipped with online and LAN multiplayer was a thing. Battlefield 2 is best played with more than 8 players, but 6 players with 50 tickets is also fun for one or two sessions.

Mixed Retro Games

I’ll link to the Wikipedia article of these games. These articles always supply a lot of links to the developers, open source conversions or active communities:

• Liero (1998) – Real-time Worms Shooter with destructible 2D level wikipedia
• Re-Volt (1999) – RC Car Simulation active Community using the RVGL re-write wikipedia
• Soldat (2002) – fast action 2D Run and Gun wikipedia

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🌍 Internet required ⭐️ Personal favourite