diff --git a/platform/platform-impl/src/com/intellij/openapi/vfs/newvfs/impl/VirtualDirectoryImpl.java b/platform/platform-impl/src/com/intellij/openapi/vfs/newvfs/impl/VirtualDirectoryImpl.java
index 8f4bf404f1db..8357e84f5ecc 100644
--- a/platform/platform-impl/src/com/intellij/openapi/vfs/newvfs/impl/VirtualDirectoryImpl.java
+++ b/platform/platform-impl/src/com/intellij/openapi/vfs/newvfs/impl/VirtualDirectoryImpl.java
@@ -324,13 +324,17 @@ public class VirtualDirectoryImpl extends VirtualFileSystemEntry {
     if (!isValid()) {
       throw new InvalidVirtualFileAccessException(this);
     }
-    NewVirtualFileSystem delegate = getFileSystem();
-    final boolean caseSensitive = delegate.isCaseSensitive();
     if (allChildrenLoaded()) {
-      assertConsistency(caseSensitive, "");
       return getArraySafely();
     }
 
+    return loadAllChildren();
+  }
+
+  @NotNull
+  private VirtualFile[] loadAllChildren() {
+    NewVirtualFileSystem delegate = getFileSystem();
+    boolean caseSensitive = delegate.isCaseSensitive();
     synchronized (myData) {
       final boolean wasChildrenLoaded = ourPersistence.areChildrenLoaded(this);
       final FSRecords.NameId[] childrenIds = ourPersistence.listAll(this);