Opened up a 3ds, and the thing got messed up like so.

I want it so that the arrows are centered on the object I'm moving. It works properly when I select faces, but not as a whole object.
Any ideas would be helpful.

(Trying to fix up a weapon model)

looks like you have this problem because something in that scene has been removed/deleted but not fully.
where the arrows are on something you can't see, that could be part of a model from another object,
try selecting verts select over that area to see if you can select them,also try unhide all.

Select the object, up at the top where there are all those tabs (that blue curvy thing, and the red hammer). Find the tab that looks like 3 boxes connected to one bigger box up above. Click that tab. Then hit "affect pivot only" and "center to object"
That's it, you're done.

Ahh, thank you. you have saved my insanity.

i reckon UnevenElefant5's post probably explained what was needed, i posted that after i had a problem that looked similar to yours.

problem fixed anyway. nice1