3D Studio - The DOS years

[YOke]

I used to do a bit of 3D back in the day. When I did I used the old Autodesk 3D Studio for DOS. I guess this would count as abandonware theese days, so I wondered if anybody still has this old gem. I miss it a lot. I can't stand the new version. It makes me want to jump off a roof!

So, please, please, pretty please! Anyone?

[Da_Elf]

im sure going back to a relic like R3 in DOS would be more frustrating trying to do the simplest of things. i rather got to like MAX but so far i havent gone past v2009.

[DoorKnobHandle]

Is 6.5 years a new record? You'd think so.

[InCreator]

3ds max has changed name more times than it would be normal, but have stayed basically same since version R3. Which is about 11 years?

Why would you want to go back even farther?

[Darth Mandarb]

It must be necro-post day in Da_Elf's world....

Please avoid the Games in Production board Mr. Elf

[Layabout]

Hey Yoke. Out of a strange curiosity, I actually tried searching for a copy of 3d Studio. I was unlucky in my attempts.

3ds Max is currently going through a few changes, with an update to a node based material editor (which works much the same way as the original), a ribbon based interface for new modelling tools (most of which used to be plugin's/scripts) and SNAPS. They finally managed to fix Max's shitty snap tools. They actually behave as snapping should, unlike old snaps which were really broken. I'm not sure why it took 12 years to fix that, but damn, they finally did.

3ds Max 2011 is still buggy as buggery, though not so much as 2010 was on release.

I really wouldn't suggest going back to 3d studio dos though. There are many options when it comes to 3d packages nowadays. For a more simple interface and less clutter, perhaps check out Nevercentre Silo. It doesn't have any animation tools though.

Oh and since this board does allow abandonware discussion, http://tinyurl.com/2frxoe3

[Babar]

Yoke posted that question 6 years ago, Layabout. I'm not sure they had let me google that for you back then.

[Chicky]

How i miss YOke  :'(

[Layabout]

haha. Probably not. Admittedly I didn't notice the original posting date.

[Gilbert]

Interesting though, that this thread was never replied to until more than 6 years have passed.
It must have been programmed to resurface from the lost junk yard with a count-down alarm clock attached to it, so that people will be reminded of it at a more appropriate time. (Since when did we have a time-capsule feature in these boards? )

Anyway, back "on topic" (not that it is that important to post relevant info. in this ancient thread any more). I remember that the original DOS 3DS had crazily stupid hardware protections (thingies plugged in the parallel port or whatever, which would possibly be replaced by USB dongles nowadays) and most (all?) of the "obtainable" versions weren't completely cracked and strange things would happen from time to time (such as your models would all of a sudden become corrupted, and your kitteh will be shape-shifted into a murderous goat), and I don't know whether you can find perfectly working versions nowadays, even though the software is so old.

[Layabout]

I'm pretty sure Hardware dongles were ditched around 3ds Max 5. I think by this time they realised fighting piracy with hardware add-ons were a stupid idea. It probably also made it easier to implement floating licenses over a network. Nowadays it's just authorised over the internet.

Fun fact: VRay, a third party rendering system, still employs a USB dongle for licensing.