Engine constraints/workarounds

Apologies if this is in wrong forum/i am asking silly questions but i am very new to torque and have been looking for a couple of pointers but to no avail...


1) what would be the best way to make a useable door? i have been thinking along the lines of modelling a door that opens as an animation. then, when the player walks into the doors trigger the anim plays and the door opens.
would the engine cope with the collision specifics as the door opened? I am currently without modeller so havent been able to try this out...


2) are the lights in the engine hardware or software based? is it possible to have a level with, say, a full streets worth of streetlights, bedroom lights, lights off the television etc without too many problems?

3) how could you change the lighting of a level 'on the fly'?
ie night-day cycle? is there an 'ambience' variable to achieve this effect? or would you have to load a set number of prepared 'mission terrains' in due to the prebaked nature of the shadows?

thanks in advance and please dont be too harsh if im missing something obvious!

pugmartin