Sorry for tripple posting! Okay... I think I was just on "select by facet" mode before... I switched to "select by vertex" and it looks like before. Such a newb! Still, my only question at this point is, why can I assign new groups now, when before I couldn't? What was broken with that other obj, if anything? Or did I just hit a wrong button last time right after importing? Oh well. I'll update again soon if I get really stuck.