Multiplay Insomnia. What do *you* do when you go, if you go?

[Evilsod]

I went to i46 last year and bought and paid for i49 a couple of days ago (Earlier Bird + EAS). Luckily I have my own car this year so I can drive myself. Will be a lot less cramped for space for my pc/monitor and I can always take some other stuff with me if I need to.

Also I learnt my lesson last year, I'm bringing a towel and actually having a shower this time. I was thinking of festival style showers so avoided it but they sounded quite decent and a very nice thing to have in a morning (while I was sat there stewing in my own juices ).

 

[Kosmiche]

Only been to i32. At newbury.

I was sat in the Counterstrike Source area with my mate who was in a css clan and asked me to come along. I did play CSS at the time but my main was UT04 at that time so thats the game I played most of the time.

My pc wouldn't start when I arrived, so I took it to the travelodge we were staying at and fixed it in my room.

I thought my logitech g7 mouse was broken so I bought a logitech g5 mouse from one of the stalls. The g7 just wasn't charged up and not broken which I found out when I came home.

Went clubbing in the night time in newbury and had a great laugh.

All in all it was amazing even though my pc initally didnt work and I had to buy a new mouse.

 

[Hilly]

This post covers it for me. I Go with my Clan mates and we meet up on the motorway services and have brunch before heading to the venue (we all have EAS), Get the Tents set up in a good spot (not too close to the toilets). Then put al our PC's in my mates Van and head around to the venue. (Campsite is half a mile on foot but about 2 miles in a motor!). Get the PC's setup (Make sure you have a multi plug adapter as you will be needing it!) Sort out steam and jobs done! Your ready for a weekend of fun and drinking!

I wander around quite a bit as sitting in your own ass vinegar most of the weekend is not at all nice! Oh and the food delivery service is awesome, for years my Clan leader has been trying to get them to draw a dragon on the box of his pizza and last year (i46) they did it along with a badger on the packaging of my Sub Roll

Alcohol in the venue is expensive (only a little more so than a pub) but they have good cider (Stowford Press) so I'm happy to pay the price, That said ASDA is not that far away and its very easy to smuggle booze into the event as long as you don't take the ****.

If your still bored after all that then go hassle the fit birds on the ttE Sports stand for free stuff and raffle tickets (most of the stands offer things to do and raffle's to enter), I did quite well last year and walked away with a new Keyboad, Mouse and a Kingston Tiki Head!

Sleep if you want to, the first couple of nights I usually just power through and hit the sack around 5am, get about 5 hrs then back at it after a shower.

Showers, they are no way nearly as bad as Newburys, they did breakdown last year and there was always a que. (they opened the communal showers in the rugby club last year). But really who wants to be in the shower for more than a few mins when there is alcohol and games to play?

Think thats covered it all!

You also have a Wetherspoons 2 minutes around the corner, which'll sort you for your cheap drink needs and cheap breakfast.

Soon enough you'll also have the Southwater complex completed, which'll include nandos, wagamammas etc.

I haven't been to an iSeries since Newbury times and many years ago at that. But being from Telford I know the location and venue (my work hire out the International Centre for the Christmas party) and used to watch the snooker there.

When I used to go, I just got very drunk, ate a lot of pizza and played in the tournaments (TFC usually).

 

[BigChief]

You also have a Wetherspoons 2 minutes around the corner, which'll sort you for your cheap drink needs and cheap breakfast.

Soon enough you'll also have the Southwater complex completed, which'll include nandos, wagamammas etc.

I haven't been to an iSeries since Newbury times and many years ago at that. But being from Telford I know the location and venue (my work hire out the International Centre for the Christmas party) and used to watch the snooker there.

When I used to go, I just got very drunk, ate a lot of pizza and played in the tournaments (TFC usually).

Interesting insight into the future of the SouthWater complex and made me go look at the website. Really impressive proposals, which will make host iSeries at TIC even better. They just need to work on some serious improvements to security.

 

[Admiral Huddy]

I thought the meals in the canteen where very reasonable and varied. Couldn't resist the Wetherspoons big breakfast though.

 

[Akagi]

Cheers guys

From what I've read above, I have a few questions now

How close can you park to the venue to unload/load up the PC gear?

Are there any kind of trolleys, or do you have to physically lug your PC to and from the the desk?

Are there Kensington locks, or do I need to buy my own?

What is mobile reception like? I am probably getting a lift from someone I met through the forum, so for setting up and packing away etcetera I would need to be able to call/text them.

Are asda and weatherspoons in short walking distance?

Anyone want to meet for a chat as I'm going alone? Need to find some people to stick with some of the time for the full experience. I can't be a one man pub quiz team, and eating breakfast in weatherspoons alone sounds depressing

I have been advised to go to some clan box to meet people, which I may well do, but my main interest (in relation to computers) are the computers themselves rather than being a fanatical gamer (though I enjoy a bit of gaming of course, and could easily spend the entirety of the event glued to my games of choice if there wasn't so much else to do. )

Oh and someone made reference to 'borrowing' fans. I hope you actually meant borrowing, otherwise you can stay away from my rig

 

[Admiral Huddy]

Cheers guys

From what I've read above, I have a few questions now




How close can you park to the venue to unload/load up the PC gear?

it's like next door.. like shopping at ASDA

Are there any kind of trolleys, or do you have to physically lug your PC to and from the the desk?

Yes you do lug your stuff to and fro to the desk.. Not sure about the trolleys, we brought our own but couldn't use them as there was too much snow If you are brining your own, it takes minutes to setup. The i49 website has a list of stuff you need to bring

Are there Kensington locks, or do I need to buy my own?

You need to secure your own PC. However, each is labelled and security will cross check that with your badge. I would take a box that is lockable for your peripherals when you leave.

What is mobile reception like? I am probably getting a lift from someone I met through the forum, so for setting up and packing away etcetera I would need to be able to call/text them.

No problems. It's in the Town Centre.

Are asda and weatherspoons in short walking distance?

8 minutes in the snow, less than 5 without. It's literally outside the complex, left then first then right
Don't do what i did, go there on Sunday at 4pm thinking it was 11am

Anyone want to meet for a chat as I'm going alone? Need to find some people to stick with some of the time for the full experience. I can't be a one man pub quiz team, and eating breakfast in weatherspoons alone sounds depressing

If you are going alone, you'll soon mix in . Guarantee it

 

[Akagi]

Cheers Huddy

And thanks for moving the thread here too. In hindsight I should have posted it here in the first place

 

[Hilly]

Interesting insight into the future of the SouthWater complex and made me go look at the website. Really impressive proposals, which will make host iSeries at TIC even better. They just need to work on some serious improvements to security.

It's not just proposals, it is actually happening. Contracts have been signed etc;

It'll be a good little area, as it is in need to rejuvination.

As Huddy has mentioned, it's literally just off the ring road which surrounds the town centre, which means you're close to everything. The town centre which has an Asda, Whetherspoons, Costa, GAME, McDonalds Greggs etc etc, and also in close walk of the retail parks - PC World, another McDonalds, Sainsburys, Maplin and so forth.

It's a decent location to have an event, especially because it's very central, saves every one having to travel down to Newbury right down the south of the country.

 

[Akagi]

It's not just proposals, it is actually happening. Contracts have been signed etc;

It'll be a good little area, as it is in need to rejuvination.

As Huddy has mentioned, it's literally just off the ring road which surrounds the town centre, which means you're close to everything. The town centre which has an Asda, Whetherspoons, Costa, GAME, McDonalds Greggs etc etc, and also in close walk of the retail parks - PC World, another McDonalds, Sainsburys, Maplin and so forth.

It's a decent location to have an event, especially because it's very central, saves every one having to travel down to Newbury right down the south of the country.

If my PC breaks down I think I would rather leave it broken than source parts to fix it from either of those stores you mentioned

I personally think they should move it to Newbury. saves me having to travel up to Telford right in the middle of the country

 

[Hilly]

Interesting insight into the future of the SouthWater complex and made me go look at the website. Really impressive proposals, which will make host iSeries at TIC even better. They just need to work on some serious improvements to security.

If my PC breaks down I think I would rather leave it broken than source parts to fix it from either of those stores you mentioned

I personally think they should move it to Newbury. saves me having to travel up to Telford right in the middle of the country

Obviously you can buy from the stands which would be there; but what happens if it does break down? Are you just going to sit there and not play your PC? Surely not.

 

[Akagi]

Obviously you can buy from the stands which would be there; but what happens if it does break down? Are you just going to sit there and not play your PC? Surely not.

I'll steal parts from someone elses PC. It doesn't sound like an un-common thing to do (i'm joking of course )

I will probably take a couple of spare bits and bobs. Just a couple of RAM sticks, an OS install disk, that kind of thing. Nothing in my PC has failed on me in 2 years, I would hope that it wouldn't decide to break during those particular 4 days , but yknow. Sods law.

 

[Clav]

Just make sure to have some (a lot) of free hard disk space available to absorb other peoples pr0n movie collections.

 

[Akagi]

Just make sure to have some (a lot) of free hard disk space available to absorb other peoples pr0n movie collections.

I have at present... Just over 1.5TB free

I am considering taking my other - Phenom II system rather than my sig rig with me though. I'll just swap the GPU's over. Simply because I don't mind if the other one gets scraped in transit, not to mention the fact that it's smaller, lighter and less valuable. In which case I will probably have around 300GB free.

Hopefully gaming is OK on Windows Server 2012?

I am perfectly happy to download buy movies as and when I feel like watching them though

 

[Hilly]

*ahem* no piracy talk please!

 

[Akagi]

*ahem* no piracy talk please!

Clav was of course, talking about copying peoples home movies (only those which contain no copyrighted material), with the express permission of their original owner.

I was talking of course about purchasing and downloading films using Amazon Instant, I merely chose to change my terminology to make my statement more clear

...

 

[Akagi]

I would take a box that is lockable for your peripherals when you leave.

I don't really have anything suitable, so I think i'll just take my partially damaged old G11 and an old dog-eared G9 (if I can get it working). Nobody will want them. And if they decide that they do, small loss

Alternatively, does anyone have a suggestion as to how I could affix my peripherals to the desk? Maybe something to do with the wire? I think you can get PCI blanking plates which you can thread the cord through can you not?

 

[mrbios]

Only time I've ever been was to i27 and i went purely for the CSS tournament. In the evenings and once it was over though i spent pretty much the rest of my time meeting fellow gamers and getting redeyed with them.

Really fun and would have loved to have done it many times more but sadly those days of my life are long past.

 

[Akagi]

Only time I've ever been was to i27 and i went purely for the CSS tournament. In the evenings and once it was over though i spent pretty much the rest of my time meeting fellow gamers and getting redeyed with them.

Really fun and would have loved to have done it many times more but sadly those days of my life are long past.

You could get back into it

 

[Etheco]

I don't really have anything suitable, so I think i'll just take my partially damaged old G11 and an old dog-eared G9 (if I can get it working). Nobody will want them. And if they decide that they do, small loss

Alternatively, does anyone have a suggestion as to how I could affix my peripherals to the desk? Maybe something to do with the wire? I think you can get PCI blanking plates which you can thread the cord through can you not?

When i went too the iseries i had 2 Kensington locks 1 for pc and 1 for monitor which was firmly connected to the table, i then got a normal lock was a small one which i then locked the cables inside that so keyboard/mouse/headphones cables + the kensington lock cable. and also i made sure it was clearly on show to put them off if they wanted too. The lock i used was small and with the cables inside was no room for moving it obviously they could just cut the cables but then the item is worthless