diff --git a/scala/qscript/chartl/batchMergePipeline.q b/scala/qscript/chartl/batchMergePipeline.q
index f78e19a8c..92042c873 100755
--- a/scala/qscript/chartl/batchMergePipeline.q
+++ b/scala/qscript/chartl/batchMergePipeline.q
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ import org.broadinstitute.sting.queue.extensions.gatk.CommandLineGATK
 import org.broadinstitute.sting.queue.pipeline.{ProjectManagement, BamProcessing, VariantCalling}
 import org.broadinstitute.sting.queue.{QException, QScript}
 import collection.JavaConversions._
+import org.broadinstitute.sting.utils.text.XReadLines
 import org.broadinstitute.sting.utils.yaml.YamlUtils
 
 class batchMergePipeline extends QScript {
@@ -22,18 +23,10 @@ class batchMergePipeline extends QScript {
     var vcfs : List[File] = extractFileEntries(vcfList)
     var bams : List[File] = extractFileEntries(bamList)
     var pmLib = new ProjectManagement(stingDir)
-    addAll(pmLib.MergeBatches(vcfs,bams,batchOut,ref,25))
+    addAll(pmLib.MergeBatches(vcfs,bams,batchOut,ref,20))
   }
 
   def extractFileEntries(in: File): List[File] = {
-    var reader : BufferedReader = new BufferedReader(new FileReader(in))
-    var entries : List[File] = Nil
-    var line : String = reader.readLine
-    while ( line != null ) {
-      entries :+= new File(line)
-      line = reader.readLine()
-    }
-
-    return entries
+    return (new XReadLines(in)).readLines.toList.map( new File(_) )
   }
 }
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/scala/src/org/broadinstitute/sting/queue/extensions/gatk/IntervalScatterFunction.scala b/scala/src/org/broadinstitute/sting/queue/extensions/gatk/IntervalScatterFunction.scala
index 78206816a..256aab583 100644
--- a/scala/src/org/broadinstitute/sting/queue/extensions/gatk/IntervalScatterFunction.scala
+++ b/scala/src/org/broadinstitute/sting/queue/extensions/gatk/IntervalScatterFunction.scala
@@ -27,6 +27,7 @@ class IntervalScatterFunction extends ScatterFunction with InProcessFunction {
   def isScatterGatherable(originalFunction: ScatterGatherableFunction) = {
     if (originalFunction.isInstanceOf[CommandLineGATK]) {
       val gatk = originalFunction.asInstanceOf[CommandLineGATK]
+      if ( gatk.BTI != null && gatk.BTIMR == null) throw new IllegalArgumentException("BTI requires BTIMR for use with scatter-gather (recommended: INTERSECTION)")
       gatk.reference_sequence != null
     } else false
   }
diff --git a/scala/src/org/broadinstitute/sting/queue/pipeline/ProjectManagement.scala b/scala/src/org/broadinstitute/sting/queue/pipeline/ProjectManagement.scala
index 008b82515..8592305f4 100755
--- a/scala/src/org/broadinstitute/sting/queue/pipeline/ProjectManagement.scala
+++ b/scala/src/org/broadinstitute/sting/queue/pipeline/ProjectManagement.scala
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@ import org.broadinstitute.sting.utils.yaml.YamlUtils
 import org.broadinstitute.sting.queue.function.CommandLineFunction
 
 class ProjectManagement(stingPath: String) {
+  // TODO -- MAJOR scatter/gather numbers are hard-coded. Really need a function to set it to the right number. These are optimized to get everything on 'hour'
 
   pm =>
 
@@ -28,6 +29,15 @@ class ProjectManagement(stingPath: String) {
     }
   }
 
+  class Vcf2Intervals(in_vcf: File, out_intervals: File) extends CommandLineFunction {
+    @Input(doc="The VCF to convert") var vcf: File = in_vcf
+    @Output(doc="The output bed file") var intervals: File = out_intervals
+
+    def commandLine = {
+      "grep -v \\\\# %s | awk '{print $1\":\"$2}' | uniq > %s".format(vcf.getAbsolutePath,intervals.getAbsolutePath)
+    }
+  }
+
   def MergeBatches( callVCFs: List[File], allBams: List[File], mergedVCF: File, ref: File, size: Int) : List[CommandLineFunction] = {
     var cmds : List[CommandLineFunction] = Nil
     var pfSites : PassFilterAlleles = new PassFilterAlleles(callVCFs,swapExt(mergedVCF,".vcf",".pf.alleles.vcf"))
@@ -35,45 +45,49 @@ class ProjectManagement(stingPath: String) {
     pfSites.ref = ref
 
     cmds :+= pfSites
+
+    var ints : Vcf2Intervals = new Vcf2Intervals(pfSites.out_vcf,swapExt(pfSites.out_vcf,".vcf",".intervals.list"))
+
+    cmds :+= ints
     
-    var calcs: List[UGCalcLikelihoods] = allBams.grouped(size).toList.zipWithIndex.map(u => LikelihoodCalc(u._1,ref,pfSites.out_vcf, new File("batch%d.likelihoods.vcf".format(u._2))))
+    var calcs: List[UGCalcLikelihoods] = allBams.grouped(size).toList.zipWithIndex.map(u => LikelihoodCalc(u._1,ref,ints.intervals,pfSites.out_vcf, new File("batch%d.likelihoods.vcf".format(u._2))))
 
     cmds ++= calcs
 
-    cmds :+= VariantCallMerge(calcs.map( a => a.out), ref, pfSites.out_vcf, mergedVCF)
+    cmds :+= VariantCallMerge(calcs.map( a => a.out), ref, ints.intervals, mergedVCF)
 
     return cmds
     
   }
   
-  def LikelihoodCalc( bams: List[File], ref: File, alleleVCF: File, outVCF: File ) : UGCalcLikelihoods = {
+  def LikelihoodCalc( bams: List[File], ref: File, intervals: File, alleleVCF: File, outVCF: File ) : UGCalcLikelihoods = {
     var calc = new UGCalcLikelihoods
     calc.input_file ++= bams
     calc.reference_sequence = ref
     calc.jarFile = new File(pm.stingDirPath+"dist/GenomeAnalysisTK.jar")
     calc.downsample_to_coverage = Some(300)
     calc.memoryLimit = if ( bams.size < 5 ) Some(2) else if(bams.size<50) Some(4) else Some(6)
-    calc.scatterCount = if (bams.size < 5  ) 1 else if (bams.size < 50) 10 else 50
+    calc.scatterCount = if (bams.size < 5  ) 1 else if (bams.size < 50) 60 else 120
     calc.min_base_quality_score = Some(22)
     calc.min_mapping_quality_score = Some(20)
     calc.genotype = true
     calc.output_all_callable_bases = true
     calc.out = outVCF
     calc.rodBind :+= new RodBind("allele","VCF",alleleVCF)
-    calc.BTI = "allele"
+    calc.intervals :+= intervals
 
     return calc
   }
 
-  def VariantCallMerge( likelihoods: List[File], ref: File, intervalVCF: File, output: File) : UGCallVariants = {
+  def VariantCallMerge( likelihoods: List[File], ref: File, intervals: File, output: File) : UGCallVariants = {
     var call = new UGCallVariants
     call.reference_sequence = ref
     call.jarFile = new File(pm.stingDirPath+"dist/GenomeAnalysisTK.jar")
-    call.rodBind :+= new RodBind("allele","vcf",intervalVCF)
-    call.BTI = "allele"
+    call.intervals :+= intervals
     call.memoryLimit = Some(8)
     call.out = output
     call.rodBind ++= likelihoods.map( a => new RodBind("variant"+a.getName.replace(".vcf",""),"vcf",a) )
+    call.scatterCount = 30
 
     return call
   }