Cheers Bink for this one. AUTODESK VIZ files are corrupted by service pack four of Windows 2000, according to the firm. This is clearly a significant problem.
A notice on the Autodesk site says that both it and Microsoft are working to fix the problem.
The note says that if you have installed Service Pack 4 for Windows 2000, you might well find that Autodesk VIZ 4, 3D Studio VIZ 3 and 3D Studio VIZ3i won"t open any .max files any more.
Autodesk suggests that users that haven"t yet installed SP4, don"t. If you un-install the Service Pack, the firm says it will "alleviate" the problem. It offers some workrounds, here.
But some data will still be destroyed, said Autodesk.
And there"s a forum discussion about the problem, at CGA Architect