diff --git a/jobs/process/TrainSliderProcess.py b/jobs/process/TrainSliderProcess.py
index 97a072ae..73d7daf4 100644
--- a/jobs/process/TrainSliderProcess.py
+++ b/jobs/process/TrainSliderProcess.py
@@ -36,6 +36,12 @@ class TrainSliderProcess(BaseSDTrainProcess):
         # keep track of prompt chunk size
         self.prompt_chunk_size = 1
 
+        # check if we have more targets than steps
+        # this can happen because of permutation son shuffling
+        if len(self.slider_config.targets) > self.train_config.steps:
+            # trim targets
+            self.slider_config.targets = self.slider_config.targets[:self.train_config.steps]
+
     def before_model_load(self):
         pass
 
@@ -87,7 +93,8 @@ class TrainSliderProcess(BaseSDTrainProcess):
             prompts_to_cache = list(dict.fromkeys(prompts_to_cache))
 
             # trim to max steps if max steps is lower than prompt count
-            prompts_to_cache = prompts_to_cache[:self.train_config.steps]
+            # todo, this can break if we have more targets than steps, should be fixed, by reducing permuations, but could stil happen with low steps
+            # prompts_to_cache = prompts_to_cache[:self.train_config.steps]
 
             # encode them
             cache = encode_prompts_to_cache(
diff --git a/toolkit/prompt_utils.py b/toolkit/prompt_utils.py
index d7e9da1f..813c3bad 100644
--- a/toolkit/prompt_utils.py
+++ b/toolkit/prompt_utils.py
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ from typing import Optional, TYPE_CHECKING, List
 import torch
 from safetensors.torch import load_file, save_file
 from tqdm import tqdm
+import random
 
 from toolkit.stable_diffusion_model import PromptEmbeds
 from toolkit.train_tools import get_torch_dtype
@@ -248,7 +249,7 @@ def get_permutations(s):
     return [', '.join(permutation) for permutation in permutations]
 
 
-def get_slider_target_permutations(target: 'SliderTargetConfig') -> List['SliderTargetConfig']:
+def get_slider_target_permutations(target: 'SliderTargetConfig', max_permutations=8) -> List['SliderTargetConfig']:
     from toolkit.config_modules import SliderTargetConfig
     pos_permutations = get_permutations(target.positive)
     neg_permutations = get_permutations(target.negative)
@@ -265,6 +266,12 @@ def get_slider_target_permutations(target: 'SliderTargetConfig') -> List['Slider
             )
         )
 
+    # shuffle the list
+    random.shuffle(permutations)
+
+    if len(permutations) > max_permutations:
+        permutations = permutations[:max_permutations]
+
     return permutations