Basically, geometry data gets translated to POF in relative form from the object of which is generated. So if you move, rotate, or scale an object rather than its constituent geometry, what actually gets output will differ from the geometry present in the max scene. It's worst affect is on collision. On paths, it causes the path to export the points in relative coordinates, so if you created the path and then moved it, or scaled it, or rotated it, or anything else that wasn't acting on vertices, then all of that will not convert and only the underlying vertex movements will get exported. The solution is to reset the transforms (reset x-form is how max describes it) of all objects - geometry and support - before you set up the scene hierarchy. I'm shocked you haven't had trouble with this before though.
