In the beginning I was 'fighting' only with the Granny file system, trying to learn how/why everything is as it is. Now I'm fighting two fronts - Granny and SH5/Goblin. Either the devs didn't understand the Granny system or they chose to implement these weird/wacky restrictions/implementations. I don't know which one but it's clearly evident that it's one or the other. Files that crash in Goblin/SH5 open perfectly in Granny Viewer - Granny Viewer is my ultimate test for whether the app corrupted the GR2 file or not. If it passes Granny Viewer then it's just a 'simple' matter of figuring out why Golbin/SH5 doesn't like it
And to what BIGREG said, it's true. SH5/Goblin do not like a mesh material binding that isn't being used. If it's not referenced in the primary topology then you will get a crash. Granny Viewer could care less - here is that weird/wacky thing I was speaking about earlier.