When you start the program for the first time, it creates its folders and opens with an empty cue list. This page explains the loading screen, where the program keeps your files, how to set the language, and what the program remembers after a restart. Come back to it when you want to know where a file is stored, or why a computer uses the wrong language.
Starting
Always start the program from its own shortcut, on the desktop, in the Start menu or on the taskbar. Do not start it from a file in the program folder, because the program then starts with only part of its interface.
The program first shows a splash screen, and then a dark loading screen with the name of the program and one line that shows the progress:
| Line | What is happening |
|---|---|
| Starting up… | The program is loading. |
| Loading modules… | The modules are starting. |
| Building the interface… | The window is being built. |
| Starting playouts… | The previews and outputs are starting. |
The loading screen stays until the window is ready. On a computer that has just been switched on, a few seconds is normal.
If the start takes much longer than usual, a module is almost always waiting for something, such as a network drive or a service that does not respond. The line on the loading screen shows at which stage the program is waiting.
The folders in Documents
At the first start, the program creates its own folders:
DocumentsUltimate Playout
Lists <- your cue lists (.playout)
Exports <- what you export: groups, bundles, selections
Songs <- empty in a base installationThese are ordinary folders, so you can back them up, put them on a network share or copy them to another computer. A cue list from one installation opens on another installation, as long as the media in the list is also available there.
Open and Save both start in Lists, so in daily use you do not need to browse to another folder.
The program always creates the
Songsfolder. It stays empty unless a module writes to it.
Choosing your language
The program is available in English, Dutch, German, Norwegian and Spanish. It starts in the language that you chose in the setup, and you can change the language later:
- Choose Settings → General… in the menu bar.
- Go to Language.
- Choose your language and press OK.
Each page of the settings opens in a window of its own. General, Cue list, Outputs and Performance are in the Settings menu, the settings of each module are in the Modules menu, and Info opens with Help → About this program….
Restart the program after you change the language. Most of the window changes at once, but a few texts are built only when the program starts, and they keep the old language until the next start.
The language is a setting of the computer and not of a cue list, so the language does not change when you open a list that someone else made.
What the program remembers
The program keeps the following between sessions:
- The layout of the window, such as the width of the cue list and of the item pane, for each playout.
- Whether the item pane was open.
- Your settings, including the outputs, the number of playouts, the colours and the names.
- The last cue list, if Reload last list on startup is switched on under General. With this setting on, the program opens with your last list; with the setting off, it opens with an empty list.
The program stores all of this in its configuration folder, not in your Documents folder. On a shared computer, every user of that computer therefore has the same settings. That is what you want on a control-room computer with changing volunteers. If users need personal settings, use separate computers or separate Windows installations.
When the program is ready
When the program is ready, you see an empty cue list, one monitor panel with a black preview, and a toolbar. This is normal after a first start, because nothing is on air, nothing is armed and no output is running yet.
If your window lacks buttons that your colleagues have, nothing is wrong. Those buttons belong to modules that are not installed or not switched on, which you can check under Modules → Manage modules….