So if you've heard me asking around, I can't seem to get the envmapping function from meshtool 4 to work properly. Just for testing purposes, i took the alliance rifle, envmapped it with meshtool, then put it ingame. (renaming from .m5h to .msh isn't a problem anymore).
I copied the "helmet_envmap.tga" and .tga.option into my map msh side folder, those 2 files arent a problem (the .option has -cubemap in it). basically after about 3 or 4 efforts i tried out this model just to test and no differences. I always get this silvery white envmap, which cant be right (looking at rep's blue trooper posted under meshtool4 thread) I don't see why this isn't turning shiny black but an all-chrome shine
picture as you can see, the weapon tga is still there just being masked by this white shine. ive been told it could be the helmet_envmap.tga (which has not been edited) or the weapon tga, i just don't know what is required of a texture to get the blackish shine im looking for.

the one thing i did find was that in the alliance trooper msh file, the part with envmapping (in a hex editor) reads"helmet_envmap.tga" whereas any file from the meshtool reads (again , the msh file read in a hexeditor) "helmet_envmap" without the tga. however i dont think this is the problem as i tried the line "Helmet_en.tga" (renamed the tga obviously) and no change. if there are any other details im missing, please just ask for them. Any help or clarification on this issue would be greatly appreciated.

The "environment mapping" flag used is rendertype 6(chrome) according to the BF1 Edit Flags rendertype list, your weapon definitely fits the description.
Try darkening the helmet_envmap.tga a couple of shades in Photoshop, Gimp or whatever you use but leave the alpha channel as it is and see if it improves.
Lighting quality must be set to medium or high in order to see the effects of "environment mapping" in SWBF2.

Shipped examples that use this flag:
Tantive IV hallway objects
all_inf_tantive4trooper.msh

Hmm it seems that the tga i copied from the all/msh folder (helmet_envmap) had no alpha channel or i removed it somehow, as it is much less "blotted" now. Also darkening it helped. I can finally get going on my weapon meshes again, thanks a bunch ace