For the 3 pass thing: is it possible to pack the blend maps in one map so blendmap.tga is the red channel and blendmap2.tga is the green channel? This would make it much easier for me (have problems with alpha channels) and could be edited in gs by the pixel functions.

--> Imagine the entSkin3 to be earth full of ashes etc. Now you could make some bombs falling on terrain and paint on the blend map where they impact and you'll have some nice war terrain. (would need that for my game and putting sprites on terrains is a desaster).