1. why can't you make your own critters..? what does the editor do when you try and edit one..??
you can't set the age, gender etc of the critter because it calls up a screen like the character creation screen, but when you press ok it just goes back to a black editor.. it's still running ( if your map has computer consoles with lights on, the lights show up in the darkness.. ) but you can't save or exit the map.. it's a known bug...
Just set the look and things like the armour and stuff, then use F.U.C.K. from the NMA or DAC downloads area to edit their names and stuff..
2. Scripting is pretty much like programming in C... you just need to write ( or edit ) the text file for the script in notepad and then compile it... ( see Setting up for scripting tutorial on my site..)