Sorry, i wasnt very clear on texturing the items.
If your item is white:
Be sure the bitmap path to the texture is in the dropitem folder. If its in wrong folder, it appears to be white.
To export as smd:
Export as *.ase file (must be same name as item you replace) Delete old smd, and run the game. Game.exe converts it to smd.
When using multiple objects but they appear in different spots in the game:
You must set the pivots all to the same location. When you create seperate objects, but they are together in max, by default the new objects pivot is not the right position. The best way to do this is make a "Parent" model, usually this would be the handle or main peice of the item, set the pivot. After, when you add a seperate object, select it, and "attach" to the parent object. They will become one and share the same pivot. It will ask if you want to share the material IDs, do not alllow them to share or the newly attached object will change texture.
Post if you continue to have issues. Hope some of this helped.