I'm kinda stumped about how the BasicEffect class is able to find out which texture to render a model with (from just the model object).  I know that models can have textures built in, but I'm unsure about how to access them without loading them separately.

Right now I have to load up the texture, set a parameter on the shader to the texture and then render.

So I guess the questions are:
1. Can I find a model's texture from the model object?
2. Is it possible to have the shader know which texture to use (without setting a parameter) when it draws a model?

1. Yes, you need to get the texture effect parameter from the modelmesh's effect
2. Sure, build it into the model. But that just sets the parameter itself, there is no way for it to just "know"

FortisVenaliter Productions:

1. Yes, you need to get the texture effect parameter from the modelmesh's effect
2. Sure, build it into the model. But that just sets the parameter itself, there is no way for it to just "know"

Thanks,  that means that the texture is associated with the BasicEffect when the model is imported with the content processor then?

If I recall, it is associated with the stored effect, not sure if its a basiceffect, though. I don't even use the built in Model class usually, because I want my own functionality attached

If the .x does not reference a specific effect, it will load with BasicEffect by default (a factor of the XNA Content Pipeline). You can access the texture using the "BasicTexture" parameter for the effect instance on a ModelMeshPart.

I'm not sure what happens if your model has a custom effect referenced in it.