I don't think i can help you ryeguy146, since i have almost no knowledge of the programs (i just happened to get it to work like this). Since you are using a different version of milkshape, a different version of the cmp importer and a different version of 3ds max, it could be possible that it just doesn't work the same as it did for me.
However, the 3ds file should be "imported" not "opened". That could have a different result. Also i had to give the textures a 8-character name. Models in a .3ds format contain "links" to the texturefiles. Somehow milkshape or the 3ds exporter from milkshape, limit the name for these links to 8 characters. So if you export a model that has a link to a texture called "p_fighter01.TGA", the .3ds file will have it linked to "p_fighte.TGA" Since there is no texture with that name, it will end up blanc.
If you plan to render more ships, or several ships in the same scene, i advise to give it a completely unique name. The easiest would be something like "001pf1.tga" (instead of "p_fighter01.TGA"). The 001 refers to the ship, so the second ship, would get 002, etc., while "pf1" is short for p_fighter01.
I believe i put this part of renaming into the tutorial. So if you actually did rename it, then it's probably the different versions of the programs to blame.
