help with intermission screens

ok, here's the code I currently have in my MAPINFO lump, which is NOT WORKING:

map DELTA "DELTA LABS"
	{
	warptrans = 6
	next = "HELL"
	sky1 = "SKY2"
	sky2 = "SKY2"
	music = "D_E1M3"
	}

map HELL "HELL"
	{
	warptrans = 7
	resetinventory
	
	next = "EXCAV"
	sky1 = "SKY2"
	sky2 = "SKY2"
	EnterPic = "HELLLOAD"
	music = "D_E1M7"
	}

now, the idea is that when I (normal) finish 'Delta' and go to 'Hell' (no pun intended...) I see a .png shown on screen for a few seconds. the code I presented isn't coming up with that effect. Is there anything wrong with it? is this not the way to do what I'm trying to achieve?
any and all help given is much appreciated.

cheers.

I used to have the same problem, I think. To solve it, I had to specify the same cluster to all maps. You do it like this:

First, start your MAPINFO with

clusterdef 1 {}

Then write this line inside the definition of every of your maps:

cluster = 1

Clusters also allows you to display texts between levels of different clusters. Of course this is voluntary. Check the wiki.

scifista42 said:

clusterdef 1 {}

what goes between those two '{' & '}'??
just nothing?
do I just leave it like that?

OK, I'll try this and report on the outcome
thanks for your help scifista.

SHIIIIT!!! it worked!! fuck wow! the only thing now is that it comes up tiled. I imported a 320x200 png, and my res is a little bit higher than that. must be that. I'll play around with the setting a little now.
thanks scifista, you rock!
this question had been open for quite a few days, with a lot of views and no answer... you nailed it.

pablogener said:

the only thing now is that it comes up tiled

Make sure you haven't put the graphic in the flat namespace. Flats used as background graphics for intermission screens are tiled, just like in Heretic.

Gez said:

Make sure you haven't put the graphic in the flat namespace. Flats used as background graphics for intermission screens are tiled, just like in Heretic.

that's right gez, that's the exact thing that was happening here. I removed the lump from the 'PNames' list and moved it to the 'graphics' area, right along the Titlepic and such and it shows up stretched now. Ok, just one more thing before i get this completely done right. I want to hide the 'tally' screen. I think that's the word for it, it's the 'counters' screen after the previous level. I don't want to see that, I want to go straight to the next leve, but still, see my 'intermission' pic before it.
I'll put it like this:

right now: map -> tallies -> i/m pic -> map
what I want: map -> ... -> i/m pic -> map
can that be done?

Not in a straightforward way. I think you'd have to use NoIntermission in MAPINFO to get rid of the tally screen; and then to get an intermission screen again you'd have to hi-jack the text screen feature by making each level into its own cluster.

Gez said:

Not in a straightforward way. I think you'd have to use NoIntermission in MAPINFO to get rid of the tally screen; and then to get an intermission screen again you'd have to hi-jack the text screen feature by making each level into its own cluster.

what if I 'clusterize' the map order?
sth like this:

cluster 1 [
nointermission

map 1 []
map 2 []
map 3 []

}

cluster 2 {
enterpic = hellload
map 4 []

}

cluster 3 {
nointermission
map 5 []

}

would sth like this give the effect I'm looking for?

It doesn't work like this.

It's more like

Map map01 "blah"
{
   blah properties blah
   cluster 1
}

Map map02 "blah"
{
   blah blah blah
   cluster 2
}

Map map03 "blah"
{
    stuff stuff stuff
    cluster 3
}

and so on.

cluster 1
{
   pic = map1tomap2
   exittext = " "
}

cluster 2
{
   pic = map2tomap3
   exitttext = " "
}

cluster 3
{
   pic = map3tomap4
   exittext = " "
}

etc.

See wiki.
http://zdoom.org/wiki/MAPINFO/Cluster_definition
http://zdoom.org/wiki/MAPINFO/Map_definition

Again. Every single map must have its own cluster if you want to fake an intermission without using the normal intermission because you don't want the tally screen.

Gez said:

It doesn't work like this.

It's more like

Map map01 "blah"
{
   blah properties blah
   cluster 1
}

Map map02 "blah"
{
   blah blah blah
   cluster 2
}

Map map03 "blah"
{
    stuff stuff stuff
    cluster 3
}

and so on.

cluster 1
{
   pic = map1tomap2
   exittext = " "
}

cluster 2
{
   pic = map2tomap3
   exitttext = " "
}

cluster 3
{
   pic = map3tomap4
   exittext = " "
}

etc.

See wiki.
http://zdoom.org/wiki/MAPINFO/Cluster_definition
http://zdoom.org/wiki/MAPINFO/Map_definition

Again. Every single map must have its own cluster if you want to fake an intermission without using the normal intermission because you don't want the tally screen.

ok, I get it, but can't I "group up" say, the first 5 maps in a cluster, then set the 6th map (the one that WILL have an intermission) in a different cluster, and a last map in yet another cluster?
moreover, is all of your code to appear in the MAPINFO lump? or do I need an INTERMISSION lump for those "cluster {}" blocks?
thanks for all your help Gez, you're really helping me out!! :D

Everything is in MAPINFO. Look up those wiki links.

The normal idea is that levels are grouped into clusters. For example, the first six maps of Doom II are in a cluster, then the next five maps are in another cluster, etc.

When you go from MAP06 (last of the first Doom II cluster) to MAP07 (first of the second Doom II cluster), the first cluster's exittext is displayed on a text screen. You know, D_READ_M music, and the thing about the fortified position ahead blah blah blah and then you get into Dead Simple.

Well what happens when you go between levels is that:

1. Intermission:
Exit picture ("level finished" with tallies)
Enter picture ("entering")
2. Cluster stuff:
if leaving a cluster, play the exittext; if entering a cluster, play the entertext


Now what you want to do is to have an intermission without the tally. This is not possible. So you use nointermission to cut the intermission entirely.

But you still want to display a screen with some picture in between two levels, right? So the idea is to use cluster stuff for that.

Can you still bundle several levels into the same cluster? Of course! But then you won't have any transition in between them. You'll quit one level and it'll immediately load the next. If that's what you want, great. If not, you'll have to go through giving a separate cluster to each level.

I don't know how to explain that more clearly.

Gez said:

Everything[...]

But you still want to display a screen with some picture in between two levels, right? So the idea is to use cluster stuff for that.

[...]
I don't know how to explain that more clearly.

does that mean that I have to make a cluster for each map?
you know the wiki's are... ok but they just lack a serious offer for an example, that's why so many doubts arise. now you do get what I want to do much much right, still, I'm not sure how to achieve that. cutting out the tally screen is not possible, as you say. But I still want to show an enter screen before a given map. So, if I'm not mistaken, I have to implement a cluster for each map, and in that particular map where I do want an enterpic, I set up the enterpic in that particular cluster's definition.
is that right?

Basically.

Gez said:

Basically.

We made it man. I just got that exact effect. I set up a first batch of files in the first cluster, a single map in a second cluster, and the following maps on the third cluster.
This is the chain of events coming to realize form that:

gamestart -> [cluster1 map1 -> map2 -> map3] -> [cluster2 (enterpic displayed) map4] -> [cluster3 map5] -> game end.

so, there's no intermission between any maps and a screenshot is displayed before this special given map. one more thing to add, no tally screens whatsoever either.
all from this magic approach you showed me of clusterizing maps.
thank you, gez, thank you all, so much!