I would think if you have a map in the input for Self-illumination color, it should show that in the 3ds Max viewport with the map color, not the color swatch.
Example: I have an image of a candle flame in the Self-illumination color swatch. I show map in the viewport and it is just bright white (or what ever the swatch color is).
Can we please have it respect the map color for this?
This is currently a limitation to do with 3ds max itself and it may be fixed in a future version.
Just set your self-illumination color to black to see the texture on the object properly. Unfortunately, it will not be self-illuminated in the viewport.
The same trick works for CoronaLightMtl - black color in the color swatch allows you to preview the texture on the object
Related:
Good Luck
Just make the self-illumination swatch black and it will display your bitmap.