Thanks again!
Before I installed the trial version, the Vmwarevm files were folders that I could open and browse. Now, post install, they are files that I have to do 'show package contents', so Fusion setup the ability to see them, but when I select 'open existing' in Fusion, they are not showing as available to select. So looks like a dead end, potentially. I don't have that original mac they were used on, sadly. (It died)
Are there any utilities for dealing with older VMs? Will Player open them? Is there access to older versions of Fusion to try one of them? I'd really like to get a file out of the VM, and I potentially have more VMs to search...