Every time I reopen the scene the XRef materials have reset. - I tried assigning a normal material to the XRef objects and it resets. - I have tried assigning a XREF material to the Xref object and it resets. - XRef Materials Overwrite On/Off gives the same result. - The XRef object does not have a material in the XRef…
I solved it. I think it was caused because I deleted the XRef materials from the scene (only the materials). I then even removed all materials from the objects within the XREF scenes themselves. But that did not solve the problem. I then reapplied a standard material to the objects in the XRef files, and re imported them…
I don't know if you tried it, but check this box: I'm using xrefs on a daily basis and never had problems with it. It sounds very much like your materials just get overwritten on reloading the referenced file. The xref material you're talking about is basically also just a reference to a material in the referenced file, so…
I thought I already tried that, but I will check again. Also, I deleted the xref materials that existed on the objects at some point. So maybe 3dsmax got a bit confused :-)
I haven't used xrefs in a while but, as I'm sure you know already, the idea is to reference an external file, the purpose being that in a pipeline the scene being xrefed is locked off so as not to disrupt it in other parts of the pipe. So your materials would be applied/saved in the original file and referenced to the new…