How to stop automatic gig file renumbering

I have several sets each containing an hours worth of songs. I tried combining them into one big alphabetical set list but they didn’t retain their program change numbers with each song taking on a number consistent with the order it was loaded. This is no good for my iPad which retains each original pc number, and is used to make the program changes. Is there I way to load the gig files so that their pc numbers remain as is?

Not really, but you can try and see if one of the automatic renumbering options helps at all.