Updating Linked Resources in Affinity Photo 2 causes crash or rotated image

[Granddaddy]

I am attempting to make a collage using linked resources in Affinity Photo 2. 

I have successfully made collages with embedded resources in Affinity Photo 1 so I have experience with the procedures for creating collages. This is my first attempt to make a collage using Affinity Photo 2 and my first attempt at using Linked Resources for that purpose.

I experienced two problems:

1.) With Preferences set to automatically update linked resources, any change in a linked resource caused Affinity Photo 2 to vanish. I submitted a crash report.
https://forum.affinity.serif.com/index.php?/topic/176652-affinity-photo-2-crashes-when-linked-document-updated-externally/

Update 12/16/2022: Item 1.) was resolved by turning off hardware acceleration. See the above link.

 

2.) When editing a collage with Preferences set to NOT automatically update linked resources (box unchecked), Affinity Photo 2 changes the orientation of the linked resource to match that of the collage containing the linked resource.
https://forum.affinity.serif.com/index.php?/topic/176653-affinity-photo-2-rotates-linked-resource-following-external-edit-of-the-linked-image-file/

Can someone who has successfully created an Affinity Photo 2 document with linked images offer any advice?

Update 12/16/2022: Item 2.) can be worked around by being aware of the Exif Orientation tag in the linked resource and how it is affected by the external image editor. See the above link.

Orientation is far more complicated than I ever imagined, as is often the case. I still think it is a bug in APhoto2, which fails to update the orientation when the linked resource experiences a change in the Orientation tag. APhoto1 exhibits different buggy behavior relative to Orientation tags. In neither case are they deadly, just confusing to me until I gained understanding and worked around them.

My sincere thanks to @SrPx for investigating these problems, suggesting causes, and leading me to understanding and to solutions.

[Granddaddy]

These issues are now resolved for me as there are workarounds. Thanks to @SrPx for his interest and work and encouragement.