[Closed] Max 2012 Normals

When i set the normals of a mesh in max 2012 they appear to work correctly and hold and do not vanish anymore however when i add a skin modifier on top of that the normals seem to be auto generated again. Is there a way to stop this from happening or can someone tell me how to use the edit normal modifier and i could add that on top of the skin modifier and that should hold the normals i would assume?
here is some pictures to show you
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