Learning to model and texture and need help with 3ds

[Saithies]

I just got a copy of 3ds from a friend and with his advice to learn from others completed works . so... I decided to do some modding on FF7. Anyways here is the deal 2 days ago I have never used 3ds at all and after reading and reading I have learned how to rip models from games and import and load textures and export and a few other small details. I have 2 problems I can not seem to find the answer to (maybe I'm not wording it right). First is with hair I get the white edges around the ends in 3ds. Will this resolve in game or is there a setting in 3ds to fix it... or both like the game will fix it but 3ds also has a setting for the renderer... my other issue is this particular model has 2 meshes and I know for ff7 its best to have just one due to the naming hierarchy... so my other question is; is there a way to combine 2, 256 x 256  textures into 1. I read somewhere that ff7 can use 128x128, 256x256, 512x512 and some other weird size. I would like to stick to the 512 x 512 since thats what I will be using for my own later but is there a way to combine them like just heck up the pieces and play tetris or will that cause problems? I would really like a quick answer and maybe a link to a good texturing tutorial. I have photoshop also if its a program specific tutorial (don't know what version i have though). Thanks in advance for any help

Note: This will not be for use in game I am just learning with it... I really want to make my own stuff soon!

Pic of hair

[Saithies]

I think i figured out the uv maps thing. I can cut up the textures but I have to rework the uv maps... would a texture thats 256 x 512 load OK in ff7? or does it have to be square? Also can blender edit the uv maps? 3ds makes it a pain, not sure if there will be much diff since I don't know what i doing lol just mashing buttons got me this far  I still haven't made any progress with the white ends on the hair it does it on all the models I currently have. I haven't converted any from the forums to try out yet. still missing some tools and too lazy to get them right now lol. If I'm using the wrong terminology let me know...

[BlitzNCS]

I think you should switch to blender, it's faster at modeling and texturing. And in my opinion a better program than 3Ds max.

that is, if you have a mouse. i.e it sucks for laptop users, i've tried D:

[Saithies]

I thought it was alphas but in 3ds when you turn it on it renders twice (2 windows) one just like the pic above and another and its all white head to toe... im going to try blender. Sucks for me about the computer situation my laptop has wireless and my desktop doesnt but I have to do all my modding, and gaming on the desktop causes its got the space and a mouse so the mouse isnt the issue but if I forgot a programm or need a tutorial I gotta turn off the desktop and switch to laptop and then transfer whatever i needed with an external HDD... its really annoying lol