What do normal maps do?! I see them everywhere but I do not see the point.

The point is that you either should have searched the forum, or used Google.

Doesnt help me

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=normal+maps

That doesn't help you?

Normal maps are "special" textures that when applied on models or maps, give the impression of 3D depth without actually being 3D. They're used in conjuction with the normal texture to increase the detail without having to use high polygon counts. Doom 3 uses them on abundance, if too much even.

So, in Wile E's late war pack, which should I use? High poly or normal maps?

depends.

What can your computer handle? I have a 2.3ghz CPU and an ATI 9700 Pro vidcard -
I CANNOT run my own skin pack and have the normal maps running as well, but I can run the hi-res skins no prob.

the lower res skins were ONLY intended to be for people with MUCH older machines.

IF you have a vidcard made within the last 3 years, you can probably run the hi-res skins by themselves no problem. If you have a vidcard introduced within the last year or so, go ahead, knock yourself out and run the normal maps also.

easiet is just trial and error. Install the hi-res and normals. If you get massive FPS slowdown, just re-install the hires only (it will overwrite the existing VMT's with VMT's that don't specify normal maps) and it will disable the use of those normal maps. IF you still have problems, go ahead and install the lo-res skins. This will overwrite evreything with the low-res stuff.

Well I have a geforce 6600 but only 512 MB of RAM