Well, unless you want to pay for max you aren't going to get it, unfortunately. There are actually better modeling programs out there. Max is way to plugin dependent, which introduces bugs, instability, and crashes. Modo is a far better program. It's $1000. I use Cinema 4D. It's way easier to use than any other modeling program. If you can use Milkshape and Photoshop you can learn C4D pretty easily. The basic package is also $1000. You can spend more for more features, but a grand will get you everything we use for game modeling. For free there's blender and there's also Softimage Modtool. It's an amazing program! Seriously, I wouldn't buy a program today for game modeling. I would just use Modtool. Any of them will export to .3DS and then you can use Gmax to export to .MOD. You'll have to learn any of these other programs, but once you have I think you'll find any of them easier to use than Max.