Engines and Shaders compete for your love.

Cryocat

So. After multiple reinstalls, a single OS reinstall, and a sizable chunk of time devoted to forum trolling for an answer I've officially given up on using my copy of Unreal Engine 3 for previewing my work, on this PC. The issue involves it failing WHENEVER I attempt to open the material editor, rendering it nearly useless. No doubt an issue with a video driver or some hardware issue.
My question is this: What engine or shader would you recommend as a (preferably affordable) alternative to showcase my work as it would appear within a game engine, including my specular and normal maps. I know there are several choices, some of which I've used in the past, I'm simply looking to experiment with several different choices to find which works best for me.
In case there's any question of the specifics, I am using 3ds max 2009.

Any suggestions greatly appreciated, and if there is already a thread on this, that I missed completely, I apologize in advance.

Thanks fellow polycounters!

Kovac

Marmoset!

http://boards.polycount.net/showthread.php?t=61346

Cryocat

I'm givin it a whirl! thanks!

numo16

and there is also the crysis sandbox 2 editor:

http://boards.polycount.net/showpost.php?p=938236&postcount=28

Xoliul

My shader!
http://laurenscorijn.com/projects/viewportshader/

JohnnyRaptor

you have Hammer and Sandbox2. I havent really checked, but im sure you can set up some good DX shaders for inside any of the newer max viewports (if u use max) along with realtime soft shadows and what not.

Jonathan

If you're using UnrealEd that comes with Gears of War, I would have to say ditch it. UnrealEd that comes with Unreal Tournament 3 works rather well in XP and Vista. I would suggest, if you are using UnrealEd/UT3, updating your GPU drivers and ensure you aren't forcing tripple buffering with nHancer or other driver tweaks, etc.

Cryocat

I'm using the UnrealEd that came with UT3 with vista and fully updated vid drivers. I've been trying to fix the problem for a while now, ah well. I see Toolbag has an issue importing my .Objs but I'll look into that, looks like it's more for the Maya crowd. I'll certainly check out yours Xoliul and Sandbox.
Thanks guys.