IRC chat has been down for several days now. Chat has had similar problems off and on for weeks. So the chat problems are more or less a known issue, but it's not clear why they keep happening.
I'm using V28 on Windows 11, and everything is running normally. (Except for the chat problems.)
If Foldit crashes, it may generate some trace information at the end of log.txt (c:\Foldit\log.txt or the equivalent). If so, please drag log.txt from Windows Explorer, and drop it in the "add a post" box here. If there's a debug.txt, drag and drop it as well. (This is the only way to attach files in the new system.)
I don't think there's a way to get back version 27, unless you have a saved backup.
To help debug, try installing Foldit again in a new location. You can use any recent Foldit-win_x64.exe or do a fresh download.
Rename your existing desktop shortcut from "Foldit" to "Foldit1" or something similar before doing the new install.
When the installer starts, use c:\Foldit2 instead of c:\Foldit. See if the c:\Foldit2 version runs any better than your existing installation. There's no need to delete c:\Foldit to do this test.
After the new install, the Foldit desktop shortcut will probably run c:\Foldit2\foldit.exe. You can rename the shortcut to "Foldit2" or similar to keep things consistent.
Some of the problems you describe can happen if you run more that one Foldit at a time. If you only have c:\Foldit, but you are running two or more copies or instances of Foldit, there is room for trouble.
Using the tracks feature lets you keep your Foldit clients separated a little better, as long as you use a different track name in each client. By default, each Foldit would be using the track named "default", so each Foldit would be overwriting the recent best and credit poses, and also any quicksaves. Changing the track name puts the various "auto and quick save" files in a different directory, which eliminates at least some problems.
My setup has multiple separate Foldit directories. So I have c:\Foldit\Foldit1, c:\Foldit\Foldit2, c:\Foldit\Foldit3, and so on. I normally run only one Foldit client from each directory. I sometimes start a second Foldit in the same directory, but only to save a score without interrupting a recipe.
I have separate desktop shortcuts, Foldit1, Foldit2, Foldit3, and so on. Each shortcut even has a custom icon.
It takes work to set this up, but it helps keep things straight and may avoid problems.
You only need to install Foldit once to get started. Then you can copy the Foldit directory as many times as needed.
For example, you can rename c:\Foldit to c:\Foldit1. Then create a new c:\Foldit directory. Use Windows Explorer to move c:\Foldit1 to the new c:\Foldit. Then you can copy c:\Foldit\Foldit1 to c:\Foldit. You'll get "c:\Foldit\Foldit 1 - copy" , which can then be renamed to c:\Foldit\Foldit2. This process can be repeated as many times as you like.
Similarly, you can copy and rename your Foldit desktop shortcut. Adjust the shortcuts as need by right-clicking, then selecting "Properties" from the context menu. Change the "Target" and "Start in" properties to match the location of each new Foldit directory. You can also select a different icon using the "Change Icon…" button in the Properties dialog.
Hope this helps…I did video long ago on how to set up multiple clients, and I think there may even be some icon files available on the wiki. I'll have to do some research to find those items.
