Show us your .vmt and a screenshot of the blue channel from your exponent map.

http://i.imgur.com/75naMgM.png


"VertexLitGeneric"
{
"$model" 1
"$nocull" 1
"$surfaceprop" "Metal"

$basetexture "models/76561198043516202/FireSword/FireSword" //Replace

$bumpmap "models/76561198043516202/FireSword/FireSword_map" //Replace
"$envmap" "env_cubemap"
"$normalmapalphaenvmapmask" 1
"$envmapsaturation" "0.4"
"$envmapcontrast" "1"
"$envmaptint" "[0.4 0.4 0.4]"

"$phong" 1
$FORCEPHONG 1
"$phongalbedotint" "1"
"$phongfresnelranges" "[0.5 1 3]"
"$phongexponent" 100
"$phongexponenttexture" "models/76561198043516202/FireSword/FireSword_exp" //Replace
"$lightwarptexture" "models/shared/lightwarp_darken"
"$phongwarptexture" "models/shared/phongwarp_metallic1"
"$phongtint" "[0.6 0.6 0.6]"
"$phongboost" "110"
"$rimlight" "1"
"$rimlightboost" "4"
$rimlightexponent 1000


$CHARGEPASSENABLED 1
$CHARGENOISETEXTURE "Engine/noise-blur-256x256"
//$CHARGEAMOUNT 0.3
$CHARGEFRESNELPULSEENABLED 1

$CHARGESPECULARBOOST "1"
$CHARGEGLOWBOOST "1"
$CHARGEPULSESPEED "8"
$CHARGEDARKENMAXINNER "0.8"
$CHARGEDARKENMAXOUTER "1"

$CHARGENOISEAMOUNT "0.75"
$CHARGENOISEBASESCALE "0.1"
$CHARGENOISEFLOWSCALE "0.005"
$CHARGENOISEFLOWSPEED "25.0"

$CHARGEFRESNELPOWERMIN "0.1"
$CHARGEFRESNELPOWERMAX "4"
$CHARGEFRESNELAMOUNTMIN "0.4"
$CHARGEFRESNELAMOUNTMAX "2"
$CHARGEFRESNELNOISESPEED "4" //"20"
$CHARGEFRESNELNOISESCALE "30" //0.1
$CHARGEFRESNELNOISEDISTANCE "60"

$CHARGEMODULATEBYFRESNEL 1

//"$CHARGETEXTURE"
//"$CHARGENORMALTEXTURE"

$CHARGEAXISFWD "[1 0 0]"
$CHARGEAXISLEFT "[0 0 1]"
$CHARGEAXISUP "[0 -1 0]"
"$PHONGEXPONENTTINTMASKENABLE" 1

"Proxies"
{
"PlayerTint"
{
}
"PlayerChargeEffect"
{
"resultvar" "$chargeamount"
}
"PlayerChargeColor"
{
"resultvar" "$chargeColor"
}
}
}

You don't have anything on your exponent, its blank.

Fully green means nothing will change, I'm surprised its changing color at all.

Random example in my photobucket account:

http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f122/Sader325/Valk_exp_zpsd96602a2.png

Also, looks like you're using the wrong green.

Tried a different shade of green in the exponent and that fixed it eventually

Colour changing is handled in the blue channel. Define areas you want to have color tintable by making them white.

Normally when I use an exponent map I add a greyscale phong mask to the red channel (to define areas of phong highlighting). The green channel I just 100% white (unless you want to define an albedotint) and the blue channel 100% black (unless I want color tinting as mentioned above). Alpha channel is for rimlight but I just normally use global rimlight settings.

Here's some reading most relevant at the top (note color tinting the blue channel is specific to Blade Symphony):
https://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/Phong_materials
https://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/$phong
https://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/$envmap
https://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/$envmapmask
https://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/$lightwarptexture
https://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/$rimlight

That all just sounds really complicated.

Ok coming from the top as a lot of people get confused.

"The Phong mask is a greyscale image stored in the alpha channel of the models normal map"
(So that's your env specular map).

"The Phong exponent defines the "tightness" of the highlight. A higher exponent results in a smaller, tighter highlight while a lower exponent results in a broader flatter one."
(So that's your exponent map defined in the red channel of your exponent map).

The rest of your exponent map's channels you don't really need to worry about apart from what they should be as default: green (100% white) the blue (100% black) and alpha (can just be ignored compressed texture DXT1).

But if you want to add color tinting, albedo tinting or define a rimlight mask see image:

Here:

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/38085756/ref/exponent_map.jpg

You should note that a model does not need its own exponent map or specular map you can use settings in the .vmt to globally define stuff, but you have less control.