What does this model say it is compatable with and what software do you have to work on it? One of the ways to model in MAX is to build pieces out of line of other pieces so that you wont snap to other objects. Suppose you build a car with four wheels. You model one then duplicate it and move to the four places it goes. If this was done and the stack was not colapsed in max correctly then the pieces won't line up. Max will open it correctly but no other 3D application can handle the transforms.