would like to pick up your thread, fastlane,
my player code includes
while(1)
{
phent_enable(my,0);// disable physics
inputmove();//ent_move player, can be replaced by addforcelocal after phentenable
anime();// defining the animating frames of the model
phent_enable(my,1);// enable physics
wait(1);
}

all works fine, even ent_move when physics are disabled - but:
the model shows fine smooth physics behavior only with ph_type SPHERE (some force constantly pulling down the feet), with a ph_type BOX set it starts getting shakybumpingbouncy - especially with collisions - like a BOX. When set to SPHERE it doesn't fit through doors anymore. So how do you make the model stick firmly to the ground while running its animation frames and moving it?

Hmmm, there are alot of things to consider re: the workings of the Physics Engine before we go too indepth into your code:

a) what is your gravity set to? (ph_setgravity)
b) what is your elasticity set to? (phent_setelasticity)
c) do you have any of the corrections set and what to? (phent_setmasspeed and ph_setcorrections)

Perhaps in answering this question and messing with these parameters you get more stable behaiviour. Otherwise, post you settings (or lack thereof) and we can take it from there.

It's been my experience that simulating gravity using phent_addforce IS NOT the same as setting your grav_vec.

I was trying to remember where I saw your behaiviour in my code and this was it; when I manually set grav (using phent_add), I too got that shaky bouncybehaiviour when I "landed" on the gound. My final conclusion was that the Physics Engine kept trying to pull the object down to the ground and this set up all kinds of nasty instabilitys with bouncing and shaking. In other words, I was unable to have an object stabling pushing on another surface. You could set your elasticity to 0 and this would stabilize your gravity, but as you said, then you wouldn't be able to bounce off walls.

Some things to try out:

1) play around with ph_setcorrections. Make it unforgiving (ie a high correction value) and it might stabilize your movement. If using the physics engine, it's good to familirize yourself and optimize the ph_setcorrections since the default values ofter aren't good enough for our projects.

2) You might want to turn on gravity to have your player be smooth and then apply a phent_addGLOBALforce (needs to be global since gravity is global) pointing up (opposite the direction of your grav_vec) to all other object to counteract gravity and thus simulate null grav. This way, your player will be the only one to fall under gravity, but your other entities should move as it there was no gravity. Not sure about this method though

Your second idea seems to be it, thanks a lot!