(If this should go in bug reports, I apologise in advance.)
This is a very obscure problem. So let me explain...
I've been getting the following problem intermittently since patch 4, and so far, I have been unable to determine the cause.
However, I have managed to come up with a simple workaround for it.
The problem is this, when attempting to load a '.x' object (in this case, a low poly sniper rifle) the mesh of the object on certain polygons seemed to be pulled towards the posative end of the object's Z axis, as show below:
The simple workaround is this, load the object as a mesh, then create an object using the mesh, ie:
load mesh "sniper.x",1
make object 1,1,1
(I have used image 1 in this example, but this can be replaced with the objects texture, thus saving you from typing out 'texture object')
This will, using the same object as before, be shown as below:
Although I know this happens with '.x' objects, I do not know if it happens with other object formats, since i use '.x' 99% of the time.
Please tell me if this happens on other object formats.