Yes I'm also surprised you can't render with 256mg. Although my hangs maybe memory related I can still render a lot. I can render vicky2 using Stefyzz Asia texture with clothing in a detailed room with about 20 props some of which have abusively large maps of their own. I'm running Windows ME on a 750mz PIII with 512mg ram. Poser and my swap file are on the same drive. I'd try to render with no maps. If you can't do that I'd say there is some other problem. If you haven't already try reinstalling vicky.