LAN
Hylas · LAN Party Deployment · v9  ▌

LANFORGELAN Party Game Deployment

A self-hosted, Steam-like game deployment system for LAN parties. One machine acts as the master — all other machines discover it automatically, browse the library, and pull what they need. Zero configuration from the client side.

00 At a glance
v9
Current version
16+
Catalogued games
UDP
Auto-discovery
SMB
Primary sync
Flask
Web UI

HOW IT WORKS

LANForge replaces the chaos of USB sticks and version mismatches at a LAN party with a single web UI served from the master machine. Clients auto-discover the master via UDP broadcast on port 5002, sync game files over SMB (or HTTP fallback), and can browse and run installers without touching the host machine.

In v9, games no longer need hand-written manifests — the master auto-scans the game directory and any subfolder becomes a library entry. A lanforge.json inside the folder enriches the entry with display name, icon, and launch args. If absent, the master infers what it can from the folder contents.

01 Features
STEAM-STYLE LIBRARY
Browser-based game library UI served from the master machine. Browse all available titles, see version info, and launch downloads from any client on the LAN.
AUTO-DISCOVERY
Clients run a single agent script. UDP broadcast on port 5002 finds the master automatically — no IP configuration, no network setup from the client side.
THREE-TIER SYNC
SMB Robocopy for primary delta sync (fastest). HTTP fallback if SMB is unavailable. USB mirror builder for offline events. Each tier is automatic.
INSTALLER BROWSER
Filterable browser for runtime dependencies, tools, patches, and full-game installers. Categories: games, solo/filler, tools, patches. Amiga titles included as filler content.
LIVE DASHBOARD
Real-time client status dashboard — see which machines are connected, what they're syncing, and their download progress. All served from the master web UI.
VERSION LOCKING
Critical version pins enforced in manifests. Warcraft III stays on 1.27b (LAN removed in 1.28+). OpenRA stays on release-20231010 (all clients must match).
02 Network ports
PortProtocolPurpose
5000TCPLANForge web UI + API
5002UDPMaster auto-discovery (broadcast)
7777UDPUnreal Tournament 99 server
7778UDPUnreal Tournament 2004 server
27015UDPCounter-Strike 1.6 HLDS
27020UDPGoldenEye: Source
1234TCPOpenRA
6112UDPWarcraft III LAN
12203UDPMedal of Honor: Allied Assault
DL Download
LANFORGE v9
Self-hosted LAN party game deployment
⇓
LanForge.zip
Full package · extract and run · Windows 10/11
Served from hylashub.me · No account required · Windows host + any LAN client