Group Cues

A Group Cue bundles child cues into a single unit that fires as one cue. Groups are how you build scene changes where sound, video, images, and external control must happen together — and how you keep long cue lists readable.

Creating a group

• Add first, group after — select the cues you want (click, or Cmd/Ctrl+A for all), then choose Group from the context menu. CueForge wraps them in a new group.
• Group first, add after — click the Add button and choose Group Cue (or press Alt+G), then add children: with the group selected, the Add menu shows Add inside Group.

A group’s child-add behaviour setting controls what happens after you add a child: Normal (stay on the group), Add & Continue (move on), or Add & Edit (open the new cue’s editor).

Tip: Name groups like scenes, not like equipment lists. “Scene 3 — Full Change” reads better in Show Mode than “Audio + Video + OSC”.

Sequential vs Scene

The Group Mode setting decides how children run. New Group Cues default to Scene — change it in the inspector’s Group Mode if you want Sequential:

• Sequential — children run one after another, according to each child’s continuation setting. A child set to Manual waits for GO before the next child starts; Auto-Continue chains straight through.
• Scene — children start together and the group completes when all children have completed. A Scene group is the way to fire music, video, and a lighting message with a single GO.

Working with children

• Move a cue in — select it and press Tab to indent it under the group above, or drag it onto the group.
• Move a cue out — press Shift+Tab to outdent it below the group, or drag it out.
• Ungroup — select the group and choose Ungroup from the context menu. Children move up into the list; they are not deleted.
• Collapse / expand — click the disclosure triangle. Collapsed groups show a summary; the Collapsed setting controls the default.

Group completion and stopping

A group completes when its children are done: when the last child finishes in Sequential mode, or when all children finish in Scene mode. Stopping cascades — STOP and PANIC stop the group and every running child. A Stop Cue targeting a group stops the whole group.

Warning: An empty group never completes. Preflight flags empty groups before you enter Show Mode.

Working in a filtered list

When the cue list is filtered by search, copying, duplicating, and deleting stay available, but drag-to-reorder is disabled — CueForge cannot safely retarget drops while the list is filtered. Clear the search to rearrange. (While filtered, the Delete / Backspace keys are disabled too — use the toolbar or context-menu Delete.)

Live operation

In Show Mode a group appears as a single cue: the Now Running card shows the group name with child progress. Use ← / → to collapse and expand groups in the cue list without leaving the keyboard — handy when you need to see what is inside a scene mid-show.

Common mistakes

• Nesting too deeply — groups can contain groups, but deep nesting makes mid-show diagnosis harder.
• Forgetting child order in Sequential mode — children run top to bottom; verify the order before showtime.
• A Manual child mid-sequence — a Sequential group pauses at any child set to Manual continuation. That may be what you want (an operator beat), or a surprise.
• Empty groups — they never complete and block preflight.