Yeah, I know how you feel... But then again, shaders seem to be the future.

But seriously, once you get your head wrapped around how shaders work, it's not all that bad. The program structure doesn't change that much and you'll only need to learn HLSL, the shader language for DirectX as that's what 3DGS uses for the rendering API. Here's a possible start: http://www.directx.com/shader/index.htm

and a very good FREE shader programming IDE: http://www.ati.com/developer/rendermonkey/

You may wish to take a moment and read through the Render Monkey site as there is a TON of useful shader related information (along with the usual propaganda and noise...)

A couple of cavaets: Render Monkey requires DX 9.0c and a capable video card. If you have an older video card, some of the examples will still work, but the more advanced ones will not and the program will let you know.

Cheers and good luck!