I'm not familiar with modding in other games, but I did some little mods for Steel Fury (tank sim) and it was so much easier than in SH. All that was needed was the model importer (given by the devs) and text files editing. You export the entire model in one .x file, complete with damage boxes, all moving sub-parts (guns, wheels etc).
Most of the work is done straight into your 3D studio: architecture of the model (parent/child relations between parts), pivot points position/orientation (for wheels, turrets etc) and so on, and the model and components use a set naming convention so that the game roughly knows what does what.
Then in the text files you just set the specifications, performances, make the link between model parts and ingame functions and that's it.
Another advantage of the "official" importer is that the original game content is protected: you can import your .x model into the game's own format, but you can't export original game models.
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