Photoshop and Fireworks don't play well together

I spent several hours trying to perfect a design of a forum skin using Fireworks. I use that program because I know it a little better and that's not saying much. I bought the design and it only comes in PSD format. I paid good money for Fireworks and Photoshop CS3 because they were s'posed to be able to work with each other's files. Turns out that's not true at all. I can't edit very much at all of the PSD file in FW. Mostly, I can't change the colors, which is mostly what I want to do (and I haven't had much success replacing colors in PS either).

So, like I said, I spent hours (a pro coulda prob'ly done it in less than an hour) making all these new graphic elements from scratch. It really looked great:

http://www.enterprisejm.com/images/s...fp_design4.jpg

Compared to the original file:

http://www.enterprisejm.com/images/s...erine_orig.jpg

But when I open the finished work in Photoshop so I could save the slices to web (FW couldn't do that either), I notice all my beautiful work looks like blech:

http://www.enterprisejm.com/images/s...fp_design6.jpg

It's like everything got flat. So, I figure I can manage to slice up the project in the same size slices as the original - more work, but I can do that - but when I open it back up in FW, it still looks terrible. And I can't edit any of the graphics I spent so much time making in FW. Why oh why I didn't save a copy in PNG format I don't know. Maybe I assumed the claim that I could edit in either program was true.

So, do I have to start all over again, or can this be salvaged somehow? Thanks for any help with this. If I could just edit the colors in Photoshop, I'd be satisfied. For some reason, I can't seem to get the replacement tool to change the color to the one I want - and I don't know why I couldn't just find where the original color was chosen and change it there (it's so much easier in FW - as long as it's a PNG file).

Thanks for any help,

Jim

how is the psd file organized? is there not just different layers for the different pieces?

Yes, there are many different layers. I can edit sizes in Fireworks, but I can't edit color, effects or much of anything else.

Jim

right, you can't edit colors between the two, because photoshop can only have flat colors (not gradients) for its shapes, as far as i know. so when you import one to the other they would probably be rasterized.

though, i thought you could slice for web in fireworks. i know for a fact you can in Fw MX. did they really remove that from cs3, or did you just miss it?

Yes, there is a slice tool in fireworks, or at least in my copy. In the "Web" box in the toolbar.
On top of that, I suspect that the gradient is applied in photoshop by having a blank box with a gradient effect on top, which is the bit you want to edit. Check if the layer has an "fx" thing on it, like this:
http://xs319.xs.to/xs319/07391/demo.jpg

i kind of like more the ruined one :D