Hi, Yes you need 3dsMax8 or up to have a stable experience. 3dsMax 6 and 7 do work somewhat with regular materials, but the directX viewport is very unstable in max6 and 7. Not much we can do about with ShaderFX. For 3dsMax7 yo might be ok with using the standard and advanced material, but Glow and SSS will for sure not…
Awesome work, loved shader fx, havent tried any newer versions but it was always a blast figuring out what all the nodes do and how to use em to make some nice shaders. I hope its not bad to have the hopes up for a ShaderFX integrated 3dsmax version one day in future...