How do I attach chlothes on characters that covers 2 or more bodyparts so they follow properly when the character moves. I tried to attach the cloth object direct to the character's body, but this didn't work at all, and attaching it to a single body part doesn't work well when I bend or twist any of the surrounding bodyparts.

I've had nightmares working with the cloth object too... I wonder if using multiple IK chains on it and the Grouping tool might help?

Assuming you mean to use one prop clothing to cover 2 body parts, you can`t unless you create Morph Targets for every possible bending, wich is impossible (different axis bending MTs won't mix well). AFAIK, you should divide the prop in two parts, each one covering each body part, and create a posable clothing file with it (a new character).

Select the clothes, then hit menue "Figure" and then "Conform to.." should help here, or i didn't understand your problem.