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The thread explaining multiple textures in an entity is here:
http://forum.thegamecreators.com/?m=forum_view&t=49224&b=21,
Zero was the author of the FPE which showed how to get around the texture limitations in the FPE!!

My own $.02 on this:

1. Texture mapping. A long, long time ago, when I was first getting started with 3DMax4 (DOS), texture mapping was pretty easy. You would just throw a bunch of bitmaps on the model, kludge 'em in there with "fit to region" or some other planar mapping, and voila! Unfortunately, this does not work with game graphics. Even though everybody and their sister has a bazillion GB of RAM in their systems and video cards, waste not want not. This means that your nifty 3D object gets one (1) skin. Skinning is an art in and of itself, and many great modellers are lousy skinners.

1a. Once upon a time, our low-poly game objects -- did I mention your object needs to be low-poly, too? -- got a texture of 64x64, or 128x128, if we're lucky. Nowadays, 1024^2 maps are commonplace, but it looks like Lee gave us a practical limit of 512^2. OK. So this 512 texture has to texture the whole object. But how do we wrap the texture around all the nooks and crannies? Answer: you don't. In fact, you apply the texture, or map, in a single planar project. You do the opposite of what you expect...you flatten the object, map it with your flat map, and then "roll the object back up".

2. Sound easy? It's not. Skinning is a skill that requires practice, some know-how, a good pixel pusher (I use Paint Shop Pro, it was cheap), and 3D Studio (it was notcheap...but Milkshape would work just as well). Good skinning is a bankable skill. Not everybody will have this skill, but it's fun to play.

3. Closing: there is no "instant map" program to put a bunch of separate maps to an object. If you are playing with an object that uses a bunch of maps, you will have to:

a. Flatten your mesh (object). This is a chapter's worth of work on it's own, especially since you have to set it up to be "unflattened".
b. UV Map it (planar)
c. Use the above two to create a template
d. Now the easy part -- painting over the template.

I hope this helps clear this up a little.

--scharmers

@Scharmers:

Ah! Another old timer 3D Studio R4 from AutoCad user! Yeah!

I agree with you there Scharmers, skinning is an art. Yes, you can look through a few tutorials and understand it BUT if you don't play with it for a long time, your not going to get it.

Take a sphere for example. If you lay it out flat, your going to have to rip certain parts of it to get it flat. Where would you put eyes, nose and a mouth at for a face? Will they align properly? LOTS of trial and error.