@gradient: Yep, I did and do use Bryce. And I understand your point.
and @3DGuy: I believe that most shaders are worldmapped (except distance shader and so on)
As I assume that you are more into TG2 than me, I presume that you used the heading in 'angular position' to turn the sphere. Well, and I also guess that this did not show any result. Thus world coordinates!?!
What about a transformshader to the displacement?
I am rendering heavily at the moment, so I cannot give it a try now.
Volker