Anyone know of a file converter, from .max to .fbx, or .3ds???
AFAIK there are no free converters out there that can convert .max files. I remember looking for that some time ago myself, but didn`t find any. I would say the best thing to do is to find someone with a 3dsmax license, or download the 30 day trial and do it yourself 
I don’t think there is one. All the ones out there that I’ve found require you to have 3DS Max installed to use them.
Max fileformat is a closed format and there is no external converter existing. All converters available which seem to do some kind of standalone conversion rely on an installed Max Version, which gets started in the background and/or controlled via the COM Component Max registers to windows…