Cannot Select Anything In Scene

[cmcinhk]

Hi I'm a noob at using 3DS Max so please excuse me if this is a dumb question but basically I have a Max file from 2009 which I want to export geometry from. 

So I open the file in Max 2019 and it says that some vRay files are missing I'm assuming these are textures so I skip it since I don't need the material just the geometry, and then it prompts me to convert so I do. Then when it finally loads I cannot select anything. Exporting to OBJ or FBX produces no geometry.

I try adding a primitive box which I can select which leads me to believe it's a problem with the converted meshs and not whatever settings I have. Can anyone give me some advice? 

Thanks!

[10DSpace]

@cmcinhk 

First thing to try is to "Merge" (File>Import>Merge) the geometry from the 2009 Max scene into a fresh new scene in Max 2019.  It is possible that the 2009 scene is corrupted, but you may still be able to merge geometry into a fresh scene in max via the merge dialogue.   If you cannot merge all geometry, try with 1 or 2 objects.  Sometimes it is just 1 mesh that is messed up.   Hope it helps. 

[cmcinhk]

Thanks for your reply but unfortunately that didn't work. When I go into the merge dialog all that's available is the camera so for some reason I am able to see the geometry but Max isn't actually recognising it as such.

[10DSpace]

@cmcinhk 

I see that Scene Explorer is displaying the objects as in the scene.  Does it also display the number of faces each has?    I guess you have already tried Ctrl + A to select all and to click on the objects in scene explorer without success in selecting them?    

From the screenshot it doesn't look like it should be a big max file. What is the actual max file size?  Post the max file here if not too large  (i.e., less than the 71 MB forum limit) and I will take a look to see if I can find anything.

[cmcinhk]

Yeah I tried that already. Here is the original unconverted file hopefully you'll have better luck at it that me.

Thanks

[10DSpace · Accepted solution]

@cmcinhk 

There is no actual geometry in your scene.  The max file you posted Xreferences a number of other max files which Max cannot find in their expected directories.  Here is a screenshot of the error message you get when opening the file:

And below is the expected complete path for these Xref max files as shown in the XREF Scene dialogue box in Max.

Your max scene needs these other max files to load in the geometry.  If you don't have these other max files, you are out of luck.  Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but at least you won't be spinning your wheels on this. 

[cmcinhk]

Thank you so much! For some reason I didn't receive the Missing XRefs error message when I opened up the file, but I found it in the menus. I looked at all the missing referenced Max files and found them one by one and relinked them. All the geometry is now back.

Cheers!

[10DSpace]

@cmcinhk 

Hey that's great! Glad I could help and it worked out for you.