Sub-pixel mapping, clamping, baking of gamma and the infamed LWF checkbox are all hidden in the advanced settings pages.
The only certainty is if you know you do NOT touch any of the colormapping values, usually, so between 3.2 and 3.4 nothing changed there.
1) fire up 3ds Max 2016 the V-Ray warning comes up and I select NO
No warning comes up simply starting max. Are you opening a scene, there?
2) merge in data and setup my old “recipe” for quick tests
- 1280x720
- no GI environment
- primary set it IR low
- secondary set to LC 400
- exposure control set to physical camera EV 12
Regardless, what you outline above is a splotchy solution, nothing remotely close to the GI sp3 defaults to.
What you see is correct, reset VRay, re-set your GI to match the old settings.
You’re just unused to this accuracy in occlusion between geo and lighting, which of course will always be slower than the settings you’re using above, no question about it.
You can render the images, and save them in the VFB, then compare settings directly from there.