That's a lot of info just there
,
I'm using the hypershade, but that doesn't mean that I know what 'nodes' should mean, or how it is suppose to work...I just know how to set up the shader seen in the renders and that's it really....
that is,in my oppinion, because I have no clue on what is what, Im dutch from origin and some word aren't really fitting into my vocabulary
so but this really clearify's things!!
for the enviroment, I'm thinking of putting it into an vue scene.....that way there won't be any light maps....or HDRI images needed