Make sure that triangle is in your UV space (make sure it isn't dragged off the side). Also, when you re-compile to test it, make sure to use a different filepath name. The engine doesn't compile over existing mdls. So for example you might want to compile using <example>1.mdl, <example>2.mdl, etc.

The sword looks pretty neat anyhow!

If there is a shader plugin, then I don't know about it. I agree it would make compiling 100 times more simple... Let me know if you ever find one (or make one).

Looks sweet, dude! I gave it an upvote. Good luck.

Unfortunately, I don't. I never needed to, so I never learned :(

I'm guessing there are some animation tutorials somewhere out there, and the basic concept for porting animations into source is to use additional .smd files (an smd file is nothing other than an animation-- it can be dynamic or static which is what your idle smd is).

Ask TF2 related questions here. Please keep Dota 2 related questions to the appropriate steam disucssion thread. Thanks.

Create new threads for new questions.

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=155101824
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=154839575

I don't have these things memorized. I recommend decompiling the item most similar to what you want to make and seeing how it works.

No idea, but definitely a hat or misc item. Weapons are almost never chosen to ship in-game, and when they are they are usually part of large updates. Hats are pretty safe...

The $cdmaterials line in the QC is a folder, not a file. You specify the folder, then put your textures (vtf/vmt) in that folder, and because you presumably assigned the texture correctly in Blender, the compiler will already know which texture to look for.

Thus it should be the following:

For reference, here was the QC I used when I submitted the Carouser's Capotain 2 years ago:

Note that the only difference in the texturing is that I have 2 skins ("skinfamilies").

I help when I can. I'm glad you got it working, and best of luck in your future modeling endeavors.

Those black stiches are inevitable due to how UV unwrapping works. Those areas are where the seams are-- Good modelers learn to put the seams where they can't be seen easily (on the back, on the inside, within another mesh, etc). Another way to reduce the amount of black lines is to slightly increase the margin of your AO bake. In the future, try to put the seams where the viewer doesn't normally see them.

If you look closely, these seams are on every model (there are some TF2 hats that have blaring seams).