Left, First max import.
Middle, V-Ray proxy import
Right, Second max import.
If i inspect the mesh with the max importer, i see the exact same structure as i see when i do so with the proxy, and *four* IDs, from 0 to 3.
Something isn’t quite right in how that cache works with Max (leftmost has 5 ids, and is taking the fifth material from nowhere at all.), and as a corollary with us.