3DS Max 8 (trial)

[mjqt]

Been looking into learning how to create a mod for NR2003, and the first tutorial video from @Mystical mentions that old 3DS Max versions (e.g. version 8) are needed to use the old exporter plugins made for Papyrus sims. So I decided to go hunting for a copy.

From this Reddit post, I found a link to this page, which contains a download for a trial version of 3DS Max 8. Download link is below.

https://www.moddb.com/downloads/mirror/36578/127/5dccd45602d008be38fdf309c604a1c8

FYI I'm uncertain how long the trial lasts (probably 30 days?) but this way you at least have a copy of the software you can use for NR2003 mod making. Also, I have no clue about how one might buy a license to such an old piece of software nowadays (my research implies it's impossible), if there's some way to use the trial mode indefinitely (e.g. by blocking internet access in a firewall), or whether the trial is restarted every time you reinstall the software (hopefully it is!). But I figured it was worth sharing the link anyways in the hope this might help a future NR2003 car modder to get started.

If other people download the software and find out more info about the trial mode, please comment below with what you've learned If I've understood correctly, access to this tool is essential for any modder looking to create a NR2003 car mod, so any discoveries about it are really important.

***Also, in case you're wondering why I haven't installed the software myself yet, it's in case I decide to create a mod in the future and need the trial period to script and compile a mod made in other software (for me, Blender).

 

[Mystical]

Matty'O (SRD owner) before he dipped from the community had a blog page that had 3DS Max 8 on it, can still find the files from the archive site: https://web.archive.org/web/2021031...0/3d-studio-max-8-download-important-plugins/

Autodesk, the owners of 3DS Max, sadly doesn't sell older copies of Maya or 3ds when you need a version that is many years older. This is a big reason why I hate subscription only programs because they wipe clean and 'upgrade' legacy versions of a software a developer may need from the face of the planet. The 3DS Max 8 Service Pack 3 even used to be able to be downloaded for free from Autodesk's site a few years ago (I have it) and they sadly now have deleted that archive too.

Even if you were to buy a subscription right now today for 3ds Max they only give you access to like 1-2 versions back (so in this case 3ds max 2021 and 2020). There is no other way to get the old versions through them. NR2003 requires 3ds max 6-8 for the papy plugins to work. Unless somebody comes around and can make the papy plugs fully work on new versions or better yet a free and open source program such as Blender we're stuck with 3ds Max 8 for 'true' 3do compiling with the PAS format.

I bought old versions of 3ds and maya a long time ago but the other issue is even with a proper license autodesk shuts down the authentication for those licenses sometimes too so 'legit' copies don't even exist. I have a copy of Maya 7 for example when it was owned by the company Alias (before Autodesk bought them), I wonder if I tried to install it if the program would even work with my code lol. Similar to how Adobe released the CS2 collection for 'free' I kinda wish Autodesk would do the same for the extremely old versions of Maya and Max. They aren't industry standard versions anymore and really just allow hobbyists to have fun making mods for older games at this point (but that is just my opinion).

With that said, do what you will with the link provided above. If you wanna made 3do's for NR2003 you need 3ds max 8.

 

[Cummins07]

Last year when I installed 3dsMax8 from MattyO's website, the papy_r6 plugin he provided works fine except for the PandaDirectXMaxExporter plugin, so use this attatched PandaDirectXMaxExporter instead.