LlamaLAN

So; now I've got myself all sorted and signed up, I figured I'd introduce myself properly.
My name is Danny; naturally.

I've been gaming since I was really small, like about 3, I'm now 22 years old. I like any and all types of game, From FPS, RPG, Puzzles, TBS, RTS, Adventure, Beat 'em up, there is not a genre I don't enjoy.
I like to do a little programming in my spare time; but it's not my job; messing around with DirectX; Networking; Multithreading; and the like is really fun to me.

I played WoW for a while.. But now don't. Was a raider in WOTLK, but i got to 85 this expan and quit due to it being exactly the same as the last 2.. and vanilla..
if anyone /cares heres the armory link:
http://eu.battle.net/wow/en/character/a ... sed/simple
(yeah i raced changed when cata came out, sue me.)
Altz: http://eu.battle.net/wow/en/character/a ... spi/simple , http://eu.battle.net/wow/en/character/t ... ite/simple

recently I've been playing some L4D with bryaugh, some Castle Crashers, and quite a lot of minecraft (I have my own dedicated server for that if anyone's interested) and a bit of CSS (again I have a dedicated server to that); I have a mumble server for voice chat as well as an IRC; all set up on a nice vps with an insane Internet connection..

I like computers loads.. My computer spec is as follows;
Mobo: ASUS P6T
CPU: i7 920
RAM: 6GB
GFX: GTX460
HDD: 2 TB
Monitor #1: 22" SyncMaster 2233 [1680x1050]
Monitor #2: Generic 19" Monitor [1440x900]
Stereophonic: NVidia 3D Vision

I probably wont be brining my 3D monitor though unless I can find a perfectly safe way of transporting it via train.. for fear of breaking it; so I'll probably bring my smaller more crappy one.

so yeah; in april we shall be traveling via train (unless we can find a better solution) to ashford international from portsmouth to see kats (bryaughs) parents on the 11th; and I'm due home again on the 18th; so we figure we will go see them and then we have to go from high halden to chatham for LL.
Um.. what else..
Any advice on how to transport 2 computers, 2 monitors, + keyboards, mice, power cables ps3, and a week worth of clothes via train is much appreciated..
and whats the best way to pack things like monitors and a tower without it getting damaged? Just trying to make sure if i need to buy like any suitcases or anything I'm aware of this well in advance..

oh; just incase anyone wants to pop by and say hi on any of my servers;
ip: geek2.org
My awesome url. most games /things will accept that as the ip (infact all of the ones mentioned above do)
default ports all around.

best time to pop on the server would be after next week, as we are going to be in kent this week too from Monday -> Friday ish, probablly going to be visiting canterbury at some point, may even pop by chatham to see if we can figure out the least stressful way to get to the scout hall.

um.. thats about all I guess.

Hi!

Hi Danny, welcome to our little community

Danny wrote:may even pop by chatham to see if we can figure out the least stressful way to get to the scout hall.

with regard to this, what we have done in the past is made sure anyone traveling by train has contact details for one of the admins. Then on arival you can contact us and we can get someone to come down to the station to pick you up

KF

Kanonfodda wrote:Hi Danny, welcome to our little community

Danny wrote:may even pop by chatham to see if we can figure out the least stressful way to get to the scout hall.

with regard to this, what we have done in the past is made sure anyone traveling by train has contact details for one of the admins. Then on arival you can contact us and we can get someone to come down to the station to pick you up

KF

Awesome; that sounds like it'll save us some hassle

As someone who has been LANning for nearly 10 years I have the following advice ... wear sunscreen ... (sorry, a Baz Luhrman moment there).

The best packaging for your equipment is the original box, but barring that, a suit case with as much rigidity as possibly with your clothes as the packing materials, if you have a slightly recessed soft TFT screen as most are then find something inflexible and flat which extends beyond the outer edge of the screen taped in place to prevent the screen being damaged, everything else is pretty bombproof.

If you have a ridiculously large heatsink perched precariously on your CPU then I would evaluate whether it is worth removing it for transit, you would be amazed at how much damage some of the huge metal heatsinks can do to the inside of the case if they break loose.

Travel light, at least ICT wise, don't think about the "I'll bring that just in case" scenario, I always do and I fill a car up, if there are items you would like to bring but can't then ask on the forums, someone with more flexible travel options may be able to assist. I've even see people flying to events with components and borrowing a case to put them in for the weekend ... or even a Pizza box on one occasion.

There is a list of recommendations and essentials on the forums somewhere, if you can't bring them along then ask around ... need a power block then ask if someone can bring a spare ... hell if you need a monitor then someone may be able to oblige ... the same goes for most items ... ask you you might receive.

Welcome Danny, nice to welcome in an experienced gamer simultaneously new to LANs. LlamaLAN is a quality event to start (and continue) with. Be warned, the bug may bite.

CyberDrac wrote:As someone who has been LANning for nearly 10 years I have the following advice ... wear sunscreen ... (sorry, a Baz Luhrman moment there).

The best packaging for your equipment is the original box, but barring that, a suit case with as much rigidity as possibly with your clothes as the packing materials, if you have a slightly recessed soft TFT screen as most are then find something inflexible and flat which extends beyond the outer edge of the screen taped in place to prevent the screen being damaged, everything else is pretty bombproof.

If you have a ridiculously large heatsink perched precariously on your CPU then I would evaluate whether it is worth removing it for transit, you would be amazed at how much damage some of the huge metal heatsinks can do to the inside of the case if they break loose.

Travel light, at least ICT wise, don't think about the "I'll bring that just in case" scenario, I always do and I fill a car up, if there are items you would like to bring but can't then ask on the forums, someone with more flexible travel options may be able to assist. I've even see people flying to events with components and borrowing a case to put them in for the weekend ... or even a Pizza box on one occasion.

There is a list of recommendations and essentials on the forums somewhere, if you can't bring them along then ask around ... need a power block then ask if someone can bring a spare ... hell if you need a monitor then someone may be able to oblige ... the same goes for most items ... ask you you might receive.

Some very good advise there; i'll have to see what i can realistically bring; and then see if anyone else can maybe help out.