[Skyrim] Workaround for the symmetry modifier in 3DS Max?

[Asjure]

I've tried Googling and searching the forums, but I haven't found a solution that works. I'm trying to rework Skyrim's werewolf model and I really don't feel like manually mirroring vertices on one side to another. I can't use the symmetry modifier because Max screws up the vertex IDs and when importing it into the game, the vertices freak out and turns the werewolf into Two-Face. I suspected it might be due to the skin modifier mirroring incorrectly, but I also tried using mirror mode to paste green bones/verts to blue bones/verts and so on, tried collapsing the symmetry stack into the editable mesh, etc.

 

I tried a combination of the mirror modifier and instancing like the one relevant post I could find suggested, but mirroring an instanced side causes the faces to flip and become invisible. The same post also said something about skin wrapping, so I even did that after applying and collapsing a symmetry modifier and still no go.

 

So, at this point I'm out of ideas and was wondering if anyone knew of a solution. I also heard that Max is notorious about this and that Blender apparently works fine, so I guess if all else fails I can try downloading that and working with it there.

[DogtoothCG]

Have you tried collapsing your modifier and copying the skin weights? Collapse to editable poly, than reset xform and convert to editable mesh before applying the skin modifier. That should remove anything skewey from your model and leave you with an "unaltered" model ready for export.

[nuska]

There's a free plugin called Transmographier floating around (just google for it), I've been using it for all kinds of symmetrical editing and it preserves vertex order. :)

[Asjure]

Very belated reply, but thanks for the suggestions guys! Haven't had much of any time to mess with more mesh tweaking, but I'll experiment with both of those things when I have more time. (: