wow all this help, ty guys, im touched! that shadertest program really opens my eyes. im just a bit confused on the steps needed to set it to the model:

1: is there any sort of order the materials need to be in in the manage skins window?

2: which one do i actually set to the model? if i set the normal map to the model what do i do with the other material?

3: is there any way i can do all this shading stuff without coding? and just applying in med? coding isnt my strong suit

4: also this is kind of off topic, but where would i find the best resource for learning c-script? is the manual all? if so i can work with it.

im real sorry to bother you with these questions, but ive exausted all my resources short of long hours of trial & error on these questions. i really appreciate all the help ive gotten so far. this site is really wonderful. its been set as my home page and ill go here every day! as a matter of fact, ive just been able to get a tool that will let me create normal maps in photoshop, so if you guys need any normal maps made let me know ill do em for free for ya cause you helped me so much!

::EDIT:: i think i did it! well kind of, what do you think??