A little more focus after spending about 30 minutes trying to recreate the problem:
Every time it crashes, I have used the choose color dialog (CCD) to set diffuse, or ambient or specular or emission. If I use the sliders, it does not seem to cause a crash. Sometimes, if I have used the CCD and THEN adjust the sliders or set/ignore vertex color or adjust shininess or opacity, I can usually successfully save the material. Not true in every case, but in most.
So the crash seems to be associated with using the choose color dialog.
However, I can assign a vertex color in the 3d window by using the CCD. Then, choosing the object|vertex attributes|color to material command I can successfully create a material with a color. Editing the material and using the CCD to change the color (and making no other adjustments) results in Wings crashing.
Every time it crashes, I have used the choose color dialog (CCD) to set diffuse, or ambient or specular or emission. If I use the sliders, it does not seem to cause a crash. Sometimes, if I have used the CCD and THEN adjust the sliders or set/ignore vertex color or adjust shininess or opacity, I can usually successfully save the material. Not true in every case, but in most.
So the crash seems to be associated with using the choose color dialog.
However, I can assign a vertex color in the 3d window by using the CCD. Then, choosing the object|vertex attributes|color to material command I can successfully create a material with a color. Editing the material and using the CCD to change the color (and making no other adjustments) results in Wings crashing.