Dont give up on it, just wait a bit longer.
I dont know everything! Someone else may yet have an answer for you.
I know a guy who did it with ent_mtlset, but I can't get it to work lol, so I guess there isn't much of a choise.
Besides, the model is now at 195.000 poly's, no problem atall, test by several people, but it's a waste ^^
