I keep loading up the CK and unloading it in order to see my changes to textures and nifs that I'm working on, but I've been thinking there has to be a faster workflow than this. Anyone know how to setup a 3ds max model to have environment maps and texture maps and view them as I make changes? Like any tutorial on setting up the work environment efficiently?

F5

Pressing F5 in the CK render window refreshes it. This includes reloading textures and meshes.

Otherwise, various shaders in Max can load environment maps for easy preview... Just getting them to look like they do in-game may be harder.