Basic MAPINFO level definition tutorial

[enderkevin13]

Okay, so today's the day that a newcomer to mapping wants to add some story or setting to their map. You want a custom name, a afterstory when the level ends.
The problem is, you aren't sure how to do that! But that's why I made this thread, for the sole purpose of teaching basic MAPINFO to beginners.

First off, you wanna have SLADE3 installed or downloaded.
SLADE3 is a program that allows you to edit lumps and customize your map with your own textures, or some that you wanna add.
This is important because it's needed to add lumps like MAPINFO or GLDEFS, but we're talking about MAPINFO here.

Anyways, lets start off with the first line. The first line consists of two things: the map number AND the map name.

First off, we wanna type "map", because this is a map definition we're creating. lets start with it.
Next we wanna add the map number and then the name. Here's how it should look.

---

map MAP01 "insert name here"

Right, next we wanna press insert (enter) and add a curly bracket. Then repeat this again and then add a new line between the curly brackets.
Here's how it should look now.

---

map MAP01 "insert name here"
{

}

Okay, so it seems like you're almost there. We have to add the extra stuff. Music, a sky of your choice, etc.
First off, we should choose what music you want to play. Here's a list of MIDI file names.

Now that you have a list of default songs to choose from, you might be thinking: "How do I add my own songs?"
That's simple, just drag and drop any audio file containing music in. Make sure it loops properly though.
It also needs to be less than 9 characters long for the name.

Right, so you wanna type "music = "SONGNAME" in the line between the curly brackets.
Now that you've done that, it should look a bit like this.

---

map MAP01 "insert name here"
{
music = "SONGNAME"
}

Anyways, lets add another line underneath the one defining the music.
This one will define the sky texture. By default, there are 3 textures to choose from.

SKY1
SKY2
SKY3

Anyways, you can find how to add skies in the extras.

For now, lets choose from a default sky. Once you've chosen it, you can define it in the new line you've added.
You have to type "sky = "SKY1", 0.0". The numbers seen to the right of the definition define how fast it scrolls. 0.0 means it will not.

Lets see how it looks now.

---

map MAP01 "insert name here"
{
music = "SONGNAME"
sky = "SKY1", 0.0
}

Okay, so lets move on to the next step: goto levels.
Alright, you want to make it where when you exit, it takes you to a second level.
Here's how you do that. First, you type "next = "MAP02"".
Now you might be thinking about making a secret level. Just type "secretnext" instead of "next", and type in the map number of the secret level.

Here's how it should look.

---

map MAP01 "insert name here"
{
music = "SONGNAME"
sky = "SKY1", 0.0
next = "MAP02"
secretnext = "MAP31"
}

And there you have it! A basic MAPINFO definition!

map MAP01 "Starport #14"
{
next = "MAP02"
secretnext = "MAP31"
sky1 = "SKY1", 0.0
music = "D_RUNNIN"
}

EXTRAS: coming soon!

[|ndußtrial]

this is awesome, you should expand it to include the rest of mapinfo over time (it's so incredibly useful)
or (yes, i missed the title...) you could maybe make a tutorial series

[enderkevin13]

I wonder how many people I've helped out so far. Either way, I hope that new mappers benefit from this. A new star is always welcome!