Вот выдержка из FAQ на сайте discreet:
Problem
A new option with 3ds max 5.1 is the ability to select DirectX 9. However, after you select DirectX 9 and start 3ds max 5.1 you get the following error:
Direct3D failed to initialize, Please make sure you have the latest version of DirectX installed.
Solution
Revert the Direct3D version back to DirectX 8.1.
Confirm that you are running the latest version of DirectX 9 (by running DXDIAG). If not, download it from http://www.microsoft.com/directX.
DirectX 9 was under Beta development at the time 3ds max 5.1 shipped. Microsoft made some changes that prevent DirectX 9 from working with 3ds max 5.1
We anticipate a fix to 3ds max 5.1 for this problem, but as of 20 Jan 2003 have not set a release date.