I believe that .3ds is the file format supported by a program called "3d Studio Max", which happens to be the most commonly used model maker around.

You may try saving in another format that is supported by Milkshape, and then importing your model into Milkshape and exporting as a .shp file, someone created an export utility for that program specifically for Starlancer, I believe.

I may be erronous though, modeling's never been my cup of tea.

.3ds is in fact a pretty common file-format. This is actually the first time i heard of a program that doesn't support it.
you might be able to convert your modell with external programs (like deep exploration) into 3ds format, though no guarantee if it works..
Oh, and you might want to consider changing to a different 3d-app if you're going to make more game-models. "Blender" is, as far as i understand it, a pretty good freeware program.



(btw, .3ds isn't the 3ds max file-format. .3ds is i think from the old dos 3D Studio, and MAX doesn't handle it differently than exporting to dxf or other formats)

Edited by - RubberEagle on 3/3/2005 3:52:45 AM

Modelings never been my cup of tea. =P