I am working with Poser 4.03 - yes, I know it's stoneaged ;) it must be a problem with the scene file. I tried and created a fresh new scene and loaded a couple of Vickies - no problem. even with the same characters. now I am using a workoround for said scene: I created and posed my second character separately in a fresh scene - exported it as obj-file and re-imported it again. a bit longwinded, but this approach works. better than fiddeling hours and hours with poser's unknown secret technical obscurities. maybe the poser tech pros have an idea ... thanks for your kind help, acadia :)