3ds Max 2010 is not binary compatible with plug-ins built with previous versions of the 3ds Max SDK. Older plug-ins will not load into 3ds Max 2010 so developers will need to recompile them with the latest version of the 3ds Max SDK and usingMicrosoft Visual C++ 2008 with service pack 1 installed. A plug-in upgrade guide has been included that describes in detail the major changes required to plug-ins.

A list of major new features, as well as incremental improvements has been included. In addition a number of user interface changes have been made to 3ds Max which may impact existing plug-ins.