I can't continue with my plans until I find the answer to a few important matters regarding milkshape. I've decided to post this globally since anybody with knowledge of milkshape can help me here.

1: If I change parts of a group in milkshape and 'hide' sets and then save the file whilst they're hidden. Will those groups be removed in-game. Imagine a unit has 3 armour sets on the texture map, and I delete the groups for set 2 and 3 but leave set 1 in-tact and then save it, will this give that unit in BC just the 1 texture group I left unhidden. or is the hidden feature only there so you can concentrate on specific things when editing a model.

2: If I change or move parts of the UV map within milkshape and then save it - will those changes stay in place when I convert it back to the mesh.file. I need to know this since I need to alter some of the UV mapping on one of the armour groups as it's using a piece of armour from the 3rd armour texture for the sleeves of the 2nd armour group - which makes it look stupid since i've made every armour have new chain-mail.

3: If i edit a model structure in milkshape and save it, will it still work in BC - or do they require re-rigging via skeleton selection??

4: In the groups section of milkshape, I figured that head_01, body_01 and leg_01 refer to the 'grouped' model of 01 when the unit is created in BC, so it follows the trend of pairing up. If I renamed leg_03 to leg_01 and I changed leg_01 to leg_03 will they appear as I intend in BC if I save and convert back to the mesh file.

5: Is there a way to apply to normal maps for viewing via milkshape - or does milkshape not support rendering engines (I want to be able to see the unit as best as possible WITHOUT going in-game)

I'm sorry for how awkwardly I have written these questions. But they are hard for me to try and write up since I'm not 100% sure what I actually want from milkshape, something that will make this experiance of mine interesting rather than mind-numbingly boring lol.

Anyways thanks to anyone who can help me with these questions. I'm posting this here since well - it's all for BC 3.0 work.