final format is avi

I suspect you mean DV .avi rather than uncompressed, correct? Even in DV format the output will need about 13GB/hour and Windows 98's file system can only handle files up to 4GB. This is the fault of the file system, not of Vegas. What Vegas will do while rendering is to create a new file for each 4GB of output (approximately 19 minutes). These subsequent files will have the same name as the first file but with 001, 002, 003, etc. appended to the name. This won't make any difference when you print-to-tape as the vidcap program will seamlessly join the output back together while printing.

The only way around this is to upgrade to NTFS instead of FAT, and that requires Windows 2K or XP.

If you're rendering to uncompressed then you can only fit about 2.4 minutes in 4GB and Vegas won't automatically roll over into addtional files.

no, there is a setting to do this, i have done it before. i have rendered projects 1 hour plus, and vegas creates multiple files. there is a setting, i can't remember what or where it is at.

no, there is a setting to do this, i have done it before. i have rendered projects 1 hour plus, and vegas creates multiple files. there is a setting, i can't remember what or where it is at.

I am wondering if you are confusing Vegas with some other application? Also, perhaps you are confusing the capture setting with the render setting? There IS a setting in the Vegas capture applet as to whether you want to split the files when they reach certain sizes.

I render all the time to both NTFS and FAT drives (I keep all my Firewire drives as FAT32 so I can move them to any computer, regardless of O/S). I never have to change any setting; as Chienworks stated, Vegas breaks the files at the 4 GByte boundary when you go to a FAT32 drive.

nope, i don't have this confused with another application. i do it all the time. i had to put in a new hard drive, and re-install all software. when i first started using vegas, this was pointed out and i changed my settings. i did it once and cannot remember what the settings are.

Have you tried rendering a large file since then? I've never had to change any settings anywhere to do this.

I believe under your render settings/custom/video tab, you need to have the "Create an OpenDML" box checked. If I remember right, OpenDML allows you to create files that are limited in size by the format of your drive.....