Modeling, texturing, and various other things

[Spiffy1034]

Hello all, i'm new to the whole mod scene, and also new to using any 3D modeling program.

 

I do however have 3D studiomax as well as Character Studiomax. My question is how would i load up a race model or armor model from the game's files ( no worries already know to make a copy for backup purposes) so that i may edit/alter it maybe even add an aditional joint area ( so the lizard and kitty people more closely resemble that from Morrowind)

 

If anyone has used 3d studio max and has gotten repeated moderate results please help.