Bumping this thread because I'm having a similar problem. A single frame renders perfectly (in the render window), but batch render produces images with no raytrace shadows or final gather. I like the sound of this idea: a handy little script to write is one that renders the current frame into the render view window saves that image, then renders the next one. But have no idea how to go about implementing it. Is such a script something even a non-programmer like me could write, or would I have to spend months in MEL school?