okay this is how you use gloss mapping.
1.) Take the texture you are using for the polygons that need glosmapping and save them as a new file with _gloss at the end. (for example MCV_floor_tile1 becomes MCV_floor_tile1_gloss).
2.) Take that copied texture and open it, then using your texture editing program, transform your texture into a grey scale or a monocrhome image. make sure you still save this texture as a .tga. (this is the same type of texture used in bump mapping)
3.) Create a .tga.option file sharing the EXACT same name as your _gloss.tga file. (for example if I had MCV_floor_tile1_gloss.tga, the .tga.option would be MCV_floor_tile1_gloss.tga.option)
4.) Inside the .tga.option place the following lines.
-bumpmap -format bump_alpha -bumpscale 6.0
5.) Load XSI 5.0 or 5.11, and upload your scene.
6.) Using the polygon select tool, select the faces of your polygon you wish to apply gloss mapping to. then open the pandemic edit flags script.
7.) once open select render type 28. do not put anything for data0 or data1, all of your specular details (lower gloss effects) are applied through alpha channels (transparency's) and your phong material (specular decay). in the first texture box put your texture and .tga.option files name down under one name (which is why you want to always have these as the same name). for example, if my textures name was MCV_floor_tile1_gloss.tga, and my option files name was MCV_floor_tile1_gloss.tga.option, then file name I would put down in the box would be MCV_floor_tile1_gloss.... YOU SHOULD NEVER HAVE TO ADD .TGA or .TGA.OPTION IN THESE TEXTURE BOXES. make sure you have the full folder name as well behiund your texture. so it should look like this in the texture box.
C:\BF2_ModTools\data_mcv\worlds\mcv\msh\MCV_floor_tile1_gloss
8.) simply export and your set.
(note: if you desire there to be just glossing effects without the bump mapping you simply set the bump scale from 6.0 to 0.0 inside the .tga.option file.)
here is a pic of my glossing in starforge.
*drools* 
