There is not much to recommend here as a clear solution.
3DS Max is a very complicated software with several values Unfortunately there are several exceptions (situations which leads to an unexpected result and what to do is left undefined.) in 3ds Max, which can ends up crashing.
It is most definitely related to the object that causes the crash upon clicking. It might be a modifier in the stack. (List of applied modifiers) It can be related to an instanced part of that objects. I'm just guessing. It can be totally unrelated, too. The best approach here is to Isolate the selection, convert it to base object (Editable Mesh, Editable Poly etc.) then save under a different name. Open and see if it happens again.
Closing the session and opening it is important because the start of the chain of actions might already have started and base object conversion may still lead to the exception, even a deeper undefined point in the maze. 😄
Let me give you an example: I remember once grouping a large number of objects, they were linked and grouped, too. They were instances as well. God knows what modifiers existed - I don't remember. I decided to delete one part of the name of the first object - unintentionally some object in the middle was selected and did not click the name box , deleted the object.
Instantly noticed what I did and clicked Undo.
Many users might have experienced this more than once. The undo operation was just like doing the thing one-by-one. BUT, placing some other unnecessary operation between each object- Like checking the entire hierarhy of objects one-by-one until reaches the deleted object but at each object, it was repeatedly selecting and deselecting the entire hierarchy. Who knows may be linking and unlinking each one by one until entire hierarchy is done.
It is supposed to just instantaneously undo. In my experience, after this type of bizarre behaviours, program usually crashes. It used to happen so much that, when it happens, as a second nature, I feel warned about the crash I never directly click render. Save first.
It prepares the undefined value, the spark comes from the render command.
25% of 3dsmax work is creative effort, 75% of it is porblem solving. You need to check for yourself.
You can also send the file for us to check. It is also possible that this can be result of a computer problem.
There are times a scene crashes on one system and works fine on another. It is also recommendable if you have a spare computer.
