Need help recovering corrupt .3dS files and backups.

[Capt.ArD]

i know of nothing to do to save a corrupt model. sorry
exactly how complicated is this model? can you redo it?
if you want, post a pic of what you want and people can offer tips on how to make one quickly.

[MiNT]

I've encountered this before too, and unfortunately, just had to go back to the last 'checkpoint' save that I had.

There *is* a bug in MAX where upon crashing, and attempting to save at crashtime (save a copy), that not only the file that you were working on becomes empty, but the recovery file also gets written as empty. Check and make sure the file sizes aren't close to nothing - if they are, then its gone.

I'm sorry to hear this about your work, but unfortunately the only recovery trick that I really know of is merging. Start a new file, and try and merge the contents of your old scene into it. If you can atleast see the objects list, then most likely it is just one object that may be the problem, so merge them over in groups to isolate the problem. Its worth a try. Also, I know you said that you tried your recovery file, but did you also try the .bak files in /autoback?

Finally, there is maxfile.bak (also in autobak), which is updated every time you save, with the last file that you saved. If you haven't changed anything, this might still be your last good save and not the recovery.

And I know its a bit late to tout this, but incremental saves. File0000, File0001, File0002...thats why the '+' button is there in the save as box.

Good luck with the files

[Nimmy]

ok, LUCKILY I have the model for the robot ready (on yet another file, sheesh we save a lot)
I only need to make the claw again, oh well only 12 hours or so lol...

here it is, just so you guys see it, if you have any ideas on how to make 3ds max work faster with out hiding object ide appreciate it (f3 dosent help)
it's slow cause of the materials...

here's the picture of on of the models:

http://img133.imageshack.us/img133/5...olmodel3oa.jpg

if your wondering what makes it so heavy it's mostly the wheels (but also the main body), which we have used the STEEL material (I think it's a map though), which is very heavy and the rendering takes forever on close-up.


hey I just saw the other response, I checked the file size it's 800kb which means the data is still there, still the .bak didn't help

this is so frustrating, for now I'll work on other things, but I really hope my miracle cure is from someone on this forum *hopes*.

[Nimmy]

wow MINT you saved my day =), when I opened the autoback folder it only showed .max files, and you said there's a .bak file
so I went looking and there it was, in all it's glory =)

I really appreciate this guys

in any case if someone DOES know how to fix this corrupted files, I think it would be invaluable to all of us im so happy

//edit: still can't save, it corrupts the file

could this be due to the fact there are Xrefed objects in the scene?
if so, what am I gonna do abotu the animation???