1) you'll need to patch to 1.2 before installing LTC 2.3 over the top - not sure about the long road but as far as I'm aware most mods are now dependent on the latest patch

2) if you have photoshop you can use the cropping tool to cut the .tgas file down to size, then select the size of the image and save it as a .gif file - otherwise (although I haven't used it) I hear irfanview is also good

3) I believe (although I haven't used it myself) that a feature called "cinematic editor" comes with the patch 1.2 download - I remember seeing a readme for it somewhere in the files...

sorry I can't be more specific, hopefully others can fill in the gaps