Mds is an interesting format to work with; we had fun getting to grips with it. Here’s a cut and paste of our own internal howto with regards to mds compiled by Frankie, it should give you some pointers:
MDS Mini HowTo
To convert a model from 3D Studio MAX to mds format, you first need
to export your model to the skl format. Install the SkelOut plugin
in the plugins folder of your 3DSMAX installation. Load your model
and choose File->Export… Save the file as a .skl file.
Now you have your skl file, the next step is to run buildmds on it. Type
‘buildmds [filename] -mds’ at the commandline; [filename] is the relative or
full path to your .skl file. This should now build your .mds model.
In order for the export process to be successful the following must be true:
ACTIVE.
The biped and the root is the only element of the model which is
active, i.e. unfrozen and unhidden. See note.
FROZEN.
You must make sure that all the objects you want to be exported are frozen,
So in the case of the player model: l_legs, u_body, u_lfthand, u_rthand
and all the tags should be frozen, along with bip01 footsteps. See note.
HIDDEN.
All the objects which you want the exporter to ignore should be
hidden, for example any reference objects used to get the correct
hand placement etc.
Note: Dummy objects can be either frozen or active to work. In
the Gray Matter / Nerve models they are frozen.
I hope this helps, if not let me know 
cheers
-Fluffy_gIMp
<insert witty line here>
<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Fluffy_gIMp on 2002-08-28 20:08 ]</font>
would it be someone at iD? activision? gray matter? nerve? i was under the impression from a certain dj named bob that it was going to be released in conjuction with the 1.33 source but it wasn’t. :sad:
