If you are a noob, I really very strongly recommend learning Lite-C. Actually, I recommend it to anyone, but you're less likely to be heavily invested in a project using C-Script.

It's faster, offers more features, and is actually no harder (some may argue that it is, but only slightly).

Shaders rarely depend on the script much, and normal mapping will definitely work in C-Script -- it's just a matter of assigning the .fx file to the material. Is there any shader in particular you want to use (links, please?)?

Jibb