1. virtual memory:

go Computer, right-click for Properties, in the top-left section of the window (under Configuration) take the lowest (Advanced System-something. Don;t know what it's called on your system as my user interface is in Dutch).
Then: tab Advanced in system properties, first button (in performance section). tab Advanced again, the lowest section is about Virtual memory. Then at least on one disk you should have a swap file, with a minimum larger than 0 (see at the bottom) and a max of 150 - 200% of your ram size (8Gb in your case).

2. to me, things look as follows:

one loaded V4/M4 takes 250Mb ram at design, and 500-1000 at rendering. So a FFRender64 at 1.8Gb (quite close to its 2Gb limit in 32-bit windows) does not come as a surprise. Rendering 8 V4's does, however. So please consult my tutorial part 4 on raising your Windows limit to 3Gb.

and: do you use IDL now? have you changed the bucket size (Render Settings / manual)?

I'm still under the impression that it's a memory problem. So it helps too monitor FFrender in the process tab and see when it crashes. 2Gb still is your magic number. The other magic numbers are on the performance tab. At some moment your apps are requesting a peak in resources which cannot be delivered, is my current understanding.

see ya.

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Usually I'm wrong. But to be effective and efficient, I don't need to be correct or accurate.

visit www.aRtBeeWeb.nl (works) or Missing Manuals (tutorials & reviews) - both need an update though