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Irc 3010 1548458501 S2 spvincent 23140

A nifty protein design shared by Foldit player spvincent.

Here are some common questions from new players:

Where is the coronavirus puzzle?[]

See the Coronavirus FAQ for information on how to get the coronavirus puzzles from the Intro Puzzles. It's best if you finish the intro puzzles, or things will be pretty confusing. (Actually, they'll be confusing anyway.) The Coronavirus beginner puzzle is a good way to get started even if you're still working on the intro puzzles.

Why is there a red line through my score?[]

A red line means the score is not valid because you're not meeting one or more of the puzzle's objectives.

The objectives appear under the score at the top of the screen. Click on the little triangle to open the list.

Common problems are having an open cutpoint or having objective/condition checking turned off. You must close any cutpoints and turn on condition checking for your score to count.

Also, if you're playing as an evolver, you'll need to improve a solution by two points before you're score counts.

My protein has left the screen, what can I do?[]

Type Q (lowercase q) or use the Home key on Windows.

On symmetry puzzles, the designable chain can end up far from the symmetric chains. To see the symmetric chains, you may have to zoom out by shift + drag upwards on the background (not on the protein). Zooming out makes the protein appear smaller, and should eventually reveal the symmetric chains. (Make sure you have "Show Symmetric Chains" checked under View Options!) Once you can see the symmetric chains, use the Move tool to move the main chain closer. Eventually, you'll be able to zoom in again, by shift + drag downwards on the background.   See Shortcut Keys for more keyboard shortcuts.

How do I turn off the music/sound effects?[]

Under General Options (shortcut: control-t), you can uncheck "sound effects" and "background music", along with other settings.

Is there a color blind mode?[]

Under General Options (shortcut: control-t), there's a color blind mode. See Foldit Accessibility for more.

How do I solve a specific intro/tutorial/campaign puzzle?[]

See Intro Puzzles for detailed help and videos for each intro puzzle. Intro Puzzles/Master List has the same info in table format.

Do I need to be a scientist, to know biology to play Foldit?[]

No, many of the best players are not scientists. This wiki has definitions for many of the science terms you'll encounter in Foldit.

What is a group?[]

Groups let teams of players work to improve each other's solutions, playing as evolvers.

How do I choose which group to jion?[]

Check out the Groups section on the Foldit website, and chat with people in global to determine the group that would be the best fit for you.

Once I've decided on a group, how do I join it?[]

Find the group home page and click Join Team (or contact that group's admin).

Where can I find good solutions?[]

In a group, you can download the best solutions your teammates have shared. Or you can see pictures here on the wiki, that the players have posted, generally when a puzzle expires.

What's a cookbook?[]

See 101 - Cookbook for the functions of the cookbook, which is used to store recipes for use in Foldit.

What's a recipe?[]

Recipes are automated scripts that can be downloaded from the Foldit website. If you're connected to chat and logged into the Foldit website (as the same user), clicking "Add to Cookbook" on a recipe's page magically adds it to the cookbook in the Foldit app.

If you're not connected to chat, you can still download the recipe by recipe ID, a number that appears on the recipe's page.

What are good recipes?[]

Recipes has some suggestions, chat is another place to find out about recipes. Many groups have their own recipes that aren't shared with everyone.

What's a helix/sheet/loop, amino acid, ... ???[]

See Secondary Structure for the breakdown on Sheet, Helix, and Loop. See Amino Acids for the info on the 20 amino acids you'll see in Foldit. Amino Acid Gallery has some nice pictures. In general, the search box at the top of each page here on the wiki has lots of answers.

What's the difference between puzzles with  "<150"  and the others?[]

The "<150" puzzles are beginner puzzles. The "<150" means only players with less than 150 global points can play the puzzle for points. There are several beginner puzzles running at any time, and they normally run for six weeks at a time, unlike the other puzzles, which usually run for only a week.

After a beginner puzzle expires, the same puzzle typically starts up again, with a fresh scoreboard, and runs for another six weeks.

How do I get global points?[]

Global points are awarded when a puzzle ends, based on the ranking in the puzzle. The player with the highest Score in the puzzle gets rank #1, and typically gets 100 global points. A formula determines how many points each player gets, as described in the Foldit FAQ. Typically, the #2 player receives fewer points, but on a popular puzzle, several top player may receive the full 100 points. (Gotta do the math.)

Global points are awarded separately to soloists, evolvers, and groups. A player's or group's total global points determine the global ranking, as seen under Players and Groups on the Foldit web site.

Global points expire after 120 days.

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