Mac to Mac connection?

[neoelectronaut]

Would it be possible to play a network game between two Macs connected with an ethernet cable? How so?

[Dreadnought]

Yes! Depends on the game. In most games that let you play via a lan, there will be a login screen of some kind. One machine (the faster) starts up the game and will be the server. The other machine starts up the game and let it find the server by typing in the IP of the server and voila you are ready! This also works with different machines and different platforms. Have played a lot of diablo 2 with multiple friends of mine who all have a pc. BTW, with most games you will need to have the exact same version!

[neoelectronaut]

Do I have to any special sort of setup in system preferences? (Is more of what I meant)

[Dreadnought]

no! with most games that have such an setup you don't have to do anything else! Maybe turn of your firewall if you have any problems.

[xelterran]

I believe you need to use a crossover ethernet cable if you are going to connect them directly to one another.

[telecomm]

Actually, you probably won't need a crossover ethernet cable. All of the more recent (say, late 2001 and beyond) Macs will autodetect the sort of cable being used, so you don't need to distinguish between cable types.

Oh, and I used to connect my (former) ibook to a G4 via ethernet, while I was running OS 9 and my roomate OS X, to play unreal tournament. It was pretty killer.

[Dreadnought]

Originally posted by telecomm
Actually, you probably won't need a crossover ethernet cable. All of the more recent (say, late 2001 and beyond) Macs will autodetect the sort of cable being used, so you don't need to distinguish between cable types.

Didn't know that! You learn something everyday!! But if you are trying to directly connect to a Pc you will need a crossover ethernet cable. Or use a hub or a router, just the same way as you configure a LAN!

[telecomm]

In fact, if you have a computer that'll autodetect the cable type, it doesn't matter what's on the other end - other mac, router, etc. There's an Applecare doc about this, entitled "Macintosh: Apple Products That Require an Ethernet Crossover Cable".

Pretty cool feature.:cool:

[neoelectronaut]

Well, if anything, it'll be 2 1Ghz eMacs, so they'll be modern enough.

Edit: How about a PC and a Mac?

[mattmack]

Originally posted by neoelectronaut
Well, if anything, it'll be 2 1Ghz eMacs, so they'll be modern enough.

Edit: How about a PC and a Mac? I believe with a pc to mac connection you would need a router or a crossover cable. i am not aware if the PC can detect cable type

[thatwendigo]

The easy answer is to go drop $25-40 on an ethernet switch and cable the machines into it. That way, you're sure that they're going to have no problem with the kind of cable you're using. Of course, if you're like me, then you have everything hooked up to a broadband router anyways... :D

Switches should be crossplatform, too, since they tend not to use any kind of software on the machine to do what they do. I'd recommend that, if you're at all expecting to use the setup for any extended period of time.

[grapes911]

Originally posted by mattmack
I believe with a pc to mac connection you would need a router or a crossover cable. i am not aware if the PC can detect cable type

PC'c can't auto detect. But since the mac can, the pc will read the cable in it's standard form and the mac will auto dectect and make the connection work.

[Dreadnought]

Instead of using a cable and since you will be running it with 2 modern macs, you can also connect via airport, that is if you have an airport card in both machines!

[thatwendigo]

Originally posted by Dreadnought
Instead of using a cable and since you will be running it with 2 modern macs, you can also connect via airport, that is if you have an airport card in both machines!

Or, I don't know, you could spend $40 on a 10/100 switch and have a faster and more stable connection... Never rely on wireless, unless you're willing to face signal loss, noise, and other aspects that people seem not to consider.

That being said, I love my iBook and its Airport card. :D

[mattmack]

Originally posted by thatwendigo
Or, I don't know, you could spend $40 on a 10/100 switch and have a faster and more stable connection... Never rely on wireless, unless you're willing to face signal loss, noise, and other aspects that people seem not to consider.

That being said, I love my iBook and its Airport card. :D Including security:)

[nolem]

Go with an airport dude.
If your comp has one anyways. It's even more painless to setup then an ethernet connection. just click "Create network..." in the airport menu. I love it.

[mattmack]

Originally posted by nolem
Go with an airport dude.
If your comp has one anyways. It's even more painless to setup then an ethernet connection. just click "Create network..." in the airport menu. I love it.
Why would you use a wireless solution to play games?
It just seems so limiting as far as bandwidth goes. I would offer wireless as a solution for networking for games only as a last resort.:)

[nolem]

I've never had a ping over 150, which is fine. But I do suppose the more players the more ping there would be.

[Dreadnought]

Games don't need that much broadband to function properly. So you can use wireless if you want! I have played for many years Diablo2 with a switch with four other computers connected. Even that runs smoothly! And almost every game out there uses, when connected to a network, the 10 Mbit connection. So no need to get faster.