I tried to change the model of the health droid to this box i made: as you can see, it shows up in ZE but in the game the model is still the default med droid,
all i did was rename my model to "item_healthrecharge" (whatever the right name is, i just copied and pasted)
i also tried a whole new ODF but that killed the map because it couldn't find the geometry. (i put a copy in EVERY folder related to models, but still nothing)

please help!

The time of the file you made and the time of the original may be off (had this problem, but with textures). try a clean.

You will need to make a custom ingame.lvl. Just apply the concept of this tutorial to changing the model of the health droid (or any other common msh).

Easier to just copy over the health droid odfs and mshs to your map's world folder and rename them, then edit the referenced msh in the odf to your new msh name. It will work if done right.