Is it possible to link two computers with just 1 Ethernet cable and play a game? (Dawn Of War)?

Yes, connect the two computers with the cat5 cable. Without a router you must manually assign ip addresses to each machine. Go to network connections (in control panel in windows xp, under network and sharing center under windows vista). There you will see an icon labeled "local area connection". right click and select properties. Then in a box under the networking tab, double click on Internet protocol version 4. Mark "use the following ip address" and input the following (only an example that should work).

ip address: 192.168.1.100

subnet mask: 255.255.255.0

default gateway: 192.168.1.101 (this will be the ip of your other computer)

go into network connections on the other computer and edit the ip settings in the same way, except set its ip as 192.168.1.101, and default gateway as 192.168.1.100, and use the same subnet mask. The computers now can communicate and you should be able to play your game.

If you have a normal cat5 cable then you would need a little adapter twoddler to put on the end of the cable and make it a crossover cable. Otherwise you would need a network switch or hub to connect the 2 computers.

If you have a crossover cable then you can connect the 2 network adapters directly. Yes you could assign static I.P. addresses like 192.168.1.4 and 192.168.1.5, but I don't believe that is necessary. If both adapters are set to get an I.P. automatically then both PCs should get an auto configuration address when they start up. Therefore I think you can connect without setting static I.P.s.

Trust me, you're MUCH better off using a simple router (even a $30 one) which puts you both on the same subnet or LAN. Then they will be easily networkable.

There are complex and other ways to make this happen peer to peer when connected with a cable, but there are generally easier ways to accomplish what you are trying to do without breaking the bank.

Good luck!

If one of the computer is recently new, the NIC (Network Interface Cards) would be auto-sensing, which means you can connect the two NICs together with your straight Ethernet cable. Use a crossover if the computers are more than 2 years old.

Branco is correct the product is called a crossover cable, you can make your own from standard CAT5 cabling with an RJ-45 tip. or you can buy them for arround 5 bucks

To connect 2 different computers together you either need a switch (built into routers or can be bought on its own) or a cross over cable (most are either red or orange)

yes it is possible however you need a cross over cable...unless your network interface cards are really new and use the smart sensors that can work both crossover and straight through cables...and you probably need to change some settings such as giving both of your PCs static IP addresses ... for example the IP for PC1 would be as follows

internet protocol:192.168.1.1

Subnetmask: 255.255.255.0

gateway: leave it empty

DNS:192.168.1.1

alternative dns 2: leave it empty

For PC2:

IP: 192.168.1.2

mask:255.255.255.0

gateway: 192.168.1.1

DNS:192.168.1.1

2 options

Get a router

or

Install a second network card in the computer that has internet and enable ICS (internet connection sharing) and then plug your network cable into that newly installed card.

Maybe, you would have to play in network mode.

its called a router