Well, actually I don't normally get the prompt even without collapsing materials - thank goodness.

Your workaround doesn't work for me. I do comics, and I need the same characters over and over again in successive panels with new poses but the same materials. I do not want to have to re-texture everything after every pose change. I had to do that with Bryce, and it was the prospect of avoiding that labour that was one of the reasons I switched to Vue.

But it is a constant struggle to stop Vue collapsing materials and fouling up the update. Grrr!