i decompiled the grunt mdl, and replaced the ref smd and the textures, and recompiled it as fgrunt (female)
but it will not work, it is an mdl file i used milkshape to do the compiling. it goes into the level but when i play it says cannot find fgruntmdl and shuts down.
i am having same prob in CS that says cannot load client dll and shuts down (this has nothing to do w my current problem but is still pretty urgent)!!!! please help me someone, lest i have no hair left by the mornin! 
I'm not knowledgable enough to know much about the model compiling process, but if all you want is a retextured model, you can use the Half-Life Model Viewer program to import and export textures. Just save as... a new model and you're good to go. Easy as pie.
put the model in a folder by itself. if you can then view it in hlmv, the model is fine, so you should check its target path in hammer. and remember to put it in your mod/models folder, and not your desktop or somewhere. 
if it doesn't work when it sits in its own folder, then its back to milkshape i'm afraid.
as for the .dll thing, dunno.
This is a tut on how to make a cs model. It covers everything from startin from scratch to... Compiling
http://www.moddev.net/files.php?p=info&fid=1
also, in my experience, everything i want to compile in hammer, has to be in my sierra/halflife/VALVE folder
And for the cs client.dll, try reinstalling cs. That usualy fixes most of the problems with game files.
[addsig]
