Sorry if this has been asked before in another thread but how do you add effects such as fire and smoke to buildings? Would this simply require odf editing or hardpoints in XSI?

All you need is a very small model, or an invisible one, that has a null, then you can place them wherever effects are needed.

Lord Bandu's Holocron model fits this description perfectly.

Right, so where would i get this? And what would I put that would make the effect such as flames or smoke appear in game? And thirdly would This be an object that is placed in ZE?

Go to the assets/worlds/KAS/odf or something like that. You'll see an odf called kas_prop_dirt. In the ODF, it has an assigned effect. Just change the effect.

Hoth and Geonosis also have respective "dust" emitters (like geo_prop_dust). You could use those too. And yes, they all go in ZE.

alright i will try that train. So you just place it and the effect appears just like that? That seems almost too easy.