My bad - bad file render name. I ended the file name with v005 with no underscore or period, so the files are named v0050000 etc. Still doesn’t explain the weird looking slider, but at least my file numbers are correct.
You’re right, that’s exactly what it looks like. Odd thing is, it IS set to frames, not ticks. It also happens randomly as I use Max. As soon as I grab the slider and slide the time, it goes back to frames. Not using PolyFX.
Are you using V-Ray GPU, by any chance? It switches to FRAME:TICKS during rendering, but then reverts it back. Perhaps just the UI is not updated properly. Which 3ds Max version is this?
Aha, yes I am using GPU. It does appear to be triggered by rendering, but doesn’t revert back. But as soon as I slide the timeslider, it pops back. So no show stopper, since the erroneous frame numbers were my own mistake.