tools of the trade: Cannonfodder's model decompiler

To access and modify models, you need to use this decompiler:

http://www.chaosincarnate.net/cannonfodder/cftools.htm

For the executable to work, it'll need to be in:

C:\Program Files\Steam\steamapps\\sourcesdk\bin\ep1\bin


then you can pick which file to decompile.  You'll get a bunch of files when you do:

.smd files are models, animations, and textures, all put together
.qc is a file in Quake C, that instructs the compiler on how to interpret things
.vta is a texture file

Extra steps are needed to get into each of these files. .smd files can be imported into Mod Tool by using the ValveSource plugin, as can .vta files. .qc files are plaintext so you can edit them.