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I have nowhere else to turn Dakka, so I'm asking you for solutions.

A little bit of background. Me and my folks have recently moved into a new and much larger house and for the time being, no longer have an internet or wireless connection and mobile signals are too weak to support any reasonable computer internet use.

To combat this, I make use of free WiFi points as much as possible, I'm typing this up outside of a truck stop at this very moment.

Now usually, my phone and my extremely junky laptop are enough to get me by on emails and such when I need to use the internet but I do have a large and powerful desktop gaming computer that I lug over to my friends' for LAN parties and such. At the last one I was at, I cleared some hard space on my monster of a computer and downloaded all three Mass Effects so I could play through the whole series at home a couple times when I was bored. All three are installed on my computer. The only problem? None of them have been activated via Internet connected Origin system so I can't play any of them (don't ask how infuriated I am by this).

My friends are out of town for the weekend, living it up while Spring Break lasts so I can't use their internet and my Laptop is so hella slow it will only play League of Legends and World of Warcraft with minimal settings so I've loaded up my desktop (which is wireless enabled) in my car to find a hotspot where I can activate my Mass Effect games, the only problem is the AC/DC converter that gives life to the slumbering beast isn't enough. It shorts out every time I try to turn it on. So my only option is to carry the whole damned tower/monitor/keyboard/mouse into this truck stop, plug it into the wall, click a few buttons, unplug it and walk out with my three new games to play. The employees will probably have no problem with it but it'll still be really awkward and embarrassing.

So what do I do Dakka? Man up and act like I own the place or back down and wait a week or more to visit my friends to get my games up and running?

Get a dongle?

 Corpsesarefun wrote:
Get a dongle?

For what exactly? The computer is already WiFi enabled I just need power.

Apologies, I thought the problem was you needed internet to activate the games.

Or... just spend a week without playing games. Seriously, if you're having to play games from your car hacked into someone elses wifi, there might just be a problem there.

 djones520 wrote:
Or... just spend a week without playing games. Seriously, if you're having to play games from your car hacked into someone elses wifi, there might just be a problem there.

Yeah, you might want to get checked for videogame addiction before you shoot up a school

Is all you need a one time fix to activate the games? Then can be off-line?

Some modern cell phones with the right package can act as wi-fi hotspots. Know anyone with one?

You could get cable installed at your new place?

I'd also say to give up the games for a week.

Had my honeymoon a week ago, total time on internet was 30mins (used a coin op machine to facebook my parents and let them know we were having a good time and hadn't been kidnapped/mugged/etc at beginning of hols/just before we left), had no phone (I'm too cheap to pay for roaming tariff), no pc, no tablet, and it was absolutely great! in fact I was a little gutted when I got back that I had to start 'plugging in' again (as a software developer, I'm about 3 bendy cables and an infected looking port grafted to my spine short of a matrix movie).

As your posting on a wargaming forum, I'm going to assume you wargame, why not use this opportunity (I appreciate your moving home, so might not have unpacked yet) to catch up on some modelling/painting (which doesn't really require t'internet)

Why dont you call/pop into the roadside place in advance, explain politely your situation and see if they are agreeable.

That way, you save yourself any embarrassment just showing up on their doorstep, have given them a headsup and been polite enough to ask.
They might even allow you to use a backroom or something so you dont have to sit there with everyone else gawking at you.

Either way, you shouldnt find it particularly embarrassing. A few local diners looking at you shouldnt be a stresser.

 bocatt wrote:
So I've loaded up my desktop (which is wireless enabled) in my car to find a hotspot where I can activate my Mass Effect games, the only problem is the AC/DC converter that gives life to the slumbering beast isn't enough. It shorts out every time I try to turn it on.

This probably won't work... But you could try reducing the power. If you have a gaming system then you probably have a pretty hefty graphics card, and a whole bunch of unnecessary case fans. Maybe if you stripped it down to the bare essentials, you might be able to run it from your car without it conking out.

Read a book or something and play your games next week.

I'm putting my vote down for 'painting' - it's the perfect situation, I think.

I think you should wait one week to get a full spectrum of opinions, and make a decision after that.

 Corpsesarefun wrote:

 djones520 wrote:
Or... just spend a week without playing games. Seriously, if you're having to play games from your car hacked into someone elses wifi, there might just be a problem there.

Yeah, you might want to get checked for videogame addiction before you shoot up a school

No I agree. It's only a week. If he is having such an issue that he made a thread asking how to go around his problem........ there's a bit of an addiction going on. Just go do something else for a week,you might surprise yourself.

No internet for a week? Sue your parents. This is child abuse!

Well these reactions are all pretty cute but I've been just fine without any video games (console or PC) for 8 months or so and will continue to do so for quite some more time. I just wanted to pick up Mass Effect because I love BioWare games and I've started the first one and loved it but never got to play through it. So I'd appreciate it if you guys would tone down the whole "omg you have an addiction" thing.

By the way if anyone actually cares, I resolved the issue with an EA rep over a mobile hotspot that my family uses for work issues. In the process though I had to uninstall the game. I'm going to wait till the next LAN party to install it again even though the next one is probably two or three weeks off due to work schedule. I don't want to go over on data so Commander Shepard will just have to hold off on saving the galaxy.

Thanks for all your help