i recommend 1.74 as it seems to be the most compatible with the current set of plugins

Here's a list of the ships that I've managed to extract from the CMP's into Milkshape. Because of the compatability issues with the plug-in I can't import them perfectly, there's always at least one mesh out of alignment.

Bretonian

Crusader
Cavalier
Clydesdale
Destroyer
Gunboat

Borderworld

Stiletto
Sabre
Dagger
Dromedary

Bountyhunter

Barracuda
Hammerhead
Piranha

Civilian

Starflier
Startracker
Starblazer
Hawk
Falcon
Eagle

Corsair

Centurion
Titan
Legionnaire

Kusari

Blood Dragon
Dragon
Drake
Drone

Liberty

Defender
Juni's Defender
Patriot
Rhino
Cruiser

Pirate

Wolfhound
Bloodhound
Mule

Rheinland

Valkyrie
Banshee
Humpback

Order

Anubis

Nomad

Fighter
Gunboat
Battleship

Most of these only required a little work to put right, the Corsair ships are a mess and require quite a bit more work to realigne their wings, fins, engines & weapon plates. I've also got some of the utility ships but like the Corsairs they need a bit of work as well.

The rest won't import because of the way some of the CMP's have been made, most ships have 1 vms mesh for each LOD level, but some of them have 2. The plug-in can import the 112.vms mesh without any problems, but it only loads garbage for the 212.vms mesh.

Problem Models (so far)

Bretonian Battleship Needs major reconstuction
Kusari Battleship 2 vms
Kusari Destroyer 2 vms
Kusari Gunboat 2 vms
Liberty Dreadnought Needs major reconstruction
Rheinland Battleship 2 vms
Rheinland Cruiser 2 vms
Rheinland Gunboat 2 vms
Osiris 2 vms
Transport 2 vms
Large Transport 2 vms
Hispania.3db 212.vms

Post which ones you want and I'll mail you the MS3D's for them.

**shuffles of with a new headache**

I use 1.76 myself without any probs but there are always issues importing original ships into Milkshape. Custom ones work fine, importing or exporting which is most def a good thing. Follow Bejaymac's guidelines for importing original models tho as those problems will def occur

there might be a file depending on the version called buggyplugins. if you add freelancercmpimporter or whatever its named to that it will work but it will crash when you close it and occasionally a model will not load, just explode.

SO SAYS TEH HAPZORZ!!!

All newer version of Milkshape (1.7.7 onwards) will crash on start up if you don't add "CMPImporter.dll" to the buggyplugin.txt file, all older versions will run without a problem, but it still won't import properly for most people. This is down to a compatability problem the plugin has with graphic drivers, directx & your OpenGL version (a bit like VISTA atm).

**shuffles of with a new headache**

Bejay, i did find a method for importing parts that could help you - open the CMP with UTF editor and delete all the .3db parts you don't want (i think i deleted the Cmpnd node references too..) and save it, then you can import that one .3db you need without a problem (finger's x'd)