Now im a bit of a noob as just lookin into modding sins  and decided to look into creating my own 3d model for import into game as have done this on other games before.  now i realise that XSi is the preffered software compared to 3ds max, though i did try the importer for max 8 v 1.1 and 2.0 and neither imported anything for me so think i may of done something wrong but i was reading the entity files for the ships. Now i've got a basic understanding of what to tweak and can see that the meshinfo meshname "shipname" is where you relate the 3d model you've done, but the thing i cant work out is how you tell the game where the hardpoints are for things like weapons and for the engine trails etc..  I can see which lines are telling you what particles its using, but how will it know what part of the model to shoot from or put the exhaust vents from.

for examples i have say 4 canons on a frigate, so i open up the 4canonfrigate.entity and edit all its values costs etc.. and it have the sections "weapons" which i can tell it what type of weapon it is, how much damage and what particles its using for effects, but no where does it tell me how its linked to the mesh.

As from previous games i've modding like empire at war , you have a hardpoints on the mesh called canon 1 and  then in the code you tell it weapon type etc. and you tell it its attached to the model at point canon 1.

I have been reading http://soase.weebly.com/index.html for tutorials which is handy but wondering if theres any other goods sites/guides i should be looking at for help. thanks