Since it took me FOREVER to figure this out, I figure I'd share the knowledge. Below is the method I've come up with for creating a 3dfa hit counter. NOTE: This method will count all hits...So when someone reloads the page, it will add another hit.
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First, create a page to hold the current count.
TOTAL_COUNT.TXT

In the file you can put any value you'd like for your starting number. I started with 1000.

You MUST CHMOD this file to 666 or it will not be able to be written to.

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Now you need to create the script to process the counts.
call it counter.php
PHP Code:
<?
$counterval = 0;
$fp = fopen( "./total_count.txt","r"); //Change txt file's location
$counterval = fread($fp, 26 );
fclose( $fp );
$counterval = (integer)$counterval + 1;
$fp = fopen( "./total_count.txt","w+"); //Change txt file's location
fwrite( $fp, $counterval, 26);
fclose( $fp );
echo "&newcount=$counterval"; //newcount is the name of the editbox
                              //in 3dfa.
?>
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Now for the 3dfa file.

This is the easiest part.

Create a small movie.
Add an editbox and assign variable "newcount"
format the text, it's color and it's look.

Select "Starting Script" and put this
loadVariables ("url to counter.php","GET");

That's it!
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I hope that this will help people.
NOTE: If you don't name your edit box "newtotal" then make sure to change the echo command to: echo "&3dfa_variablename=$counterval";