First try will be 3DS. Then I have a couple of other options! FBX didn't seem to work for me at all ( Max 7 ) when I tried to get it into Max from Milkshape. Will try the reverse if 3DS doesn't work. Since I am only really after teh geometry, and will assign the verts to bones in MS3D, I am not too worried.

I would MUCH prefer to be importing the bones and weightings as well though... I have only really used MS3D as a 'cnverting engine' for other game mods I worked on. It was worth the money for that... but it lacks the ability of Max with envelopes etc. Now we have proper vertex weighting, Max would be a big benefit.