Yep, here's a screenshot of my settings. Jackson

Thanks Wabe, I generally import 3DS objects at 1:1 scale (same as Vue's plants, etc). Lights and camera are always at that scale for me (the model is of a house extension and I'd zoomed in close in the screen shot). As so often with Vue, I saved, closed and reopened the file and the problem was fixed. It's still a pain though. Thanks again, Jackson

Thanks everyone, I uninstalled and reinstalled Vue and guess what? It works again! This is the 2nd time I've had to do this though, so I guess it's a quick fix. Hopefully having set the virtual memory to 3Mb will prevent it from happening again. JC- you could be on to something with the heat issue. I'm running Vue on a P4 3.2GHz HP 7000 laptop and it runs VERY hot. I typically keep it lifted at the back while working, but if I'm rendering overnight I leave the vents overhanging the edge of the desk. I downloaded Registry Mechanic, so we'll see if that helps stabilise things. Thanks again, Jackson p.s. attached is latest rendering, medium radiosity quality settings.

Thanks so much for your time, patience and wisdom guys, I ran the Windows Memory Diagnostic and there were no problems there. I set the swap file as advised, 3OOOMb initial and max and restarted. I defragged a couple of days ago, even though the analysis said I didn't need to. I have 49% free spage on my HD. I run Norton and Spybot every Friday, although whether they can catch everything is dubious. Alas, the problems with Vue persist. :( Surveyman- when you said "check to see how you specified the directory structure on installation" do you mean where the Vue program files are located? They're in C: Program Files. I guess I'll have to try reinstalling Vue again to see if that will (at least temporarily) get things running again. Many thanks, Jackson

Thanks guys, Surveyman- I'll print off your advice and attempt to run through all those possibilities on reinstall, however I'm not really savvy on either front so must admit to being a daunted by your advice. How would I specify the directory structure on installation? If Vue worked fine for weeks, then started crashing all the time, could that be blamed on directory structure? Where and how do I access the settings for my swap file? I will look into partitioning my harddrive, but it's a big step for a guy like me. Oh and yep, I meant 1.27Gb RAM! Manowar- How would I check for bad RAM? Many thanks for your help, Jackson

Thanks for the quick response guys!

It's such a relief to know I'm not the only one experiencing these problems and especially to get some solutions. I'll try upping the quality on radiosity renders as soon as I get time and the wireframe workaround works a treat!

Another Q (sorry)- how to line up and space lights accurately?

I'm on a PC, 3.2GHz, 1.2Gb RAM, nVidia GeForce FX Go5700.

Jackson