Well the file format and plugin compatibilty are supposedly the same, The standard version of 3dsmax is more for game development. Maybe it is the addition modules in 3dsmax design that is giving you grief.
sooo now i tried both, design and normal....no difference whatsoever...don't know what else to do now...this is sooo bugging me right now...
Is your material editor in slate mode? Try compact mode. I just did a fresh install and ran into this problem, it crashes when in slate mode, but is fine in compact mode.
