model export help

[houseplant2]

When im exporting a model from 3ds the export program bombs out when processing the meshes. I have done this successfully before. i remember you have to fix the vertices or something for the model once its imported into 3ds. It was some time ago when i did this and i abandoned the project when i realized there were no animations. Can someone tell me or point me to a tute for how to fix the vetices for it? i have found one before and it worked great. i tried a couple i found and they didnt work. it gets stuck when processing the meshes. Im not to handy with 3dmax so i could use the help. any help would be great, thanks.