Okay so I know it is probably somewhere in the manual but I can't find it. My entity created using ent_createlayer(str_gun,0,20); is not working right. It appears but it is completely black. What do I do? Is there a flag I set?

Have you maybe disabled sun light? Or assigned a different material to the view entity?

You might be better off just using ent_create, adjusting its position and angle to the camera, and setting its ZNEAR flag on so the walls do not clip it. This way it can be effected by lighting and what not.

I agree with Stansmedia.
Also you'll have to use workarounds if you want to use post-processing shaders and view-entities at the same time.

View entities are also affected by sun light (but I personally prefer world models), so you better set ambient in WED around 40 - 50 and sun_light to 100.