Go. Fold. Kill Coronavirus. Join the Homecoming Folding@home Team Today!

[1gecko]

weeellll, if you guys are taking suggestions 😉:

* make a script that looks at the contribution data regularly to see not just the VOLUME/NUMBER of points that people contribute, but also how *consistently* they are contributing and have rewards for both groups - that way the people with the less 'beefy' systems who can't generate the sheer numbers are still recognized for their consistant/constant efforts.  Maybe split the rewards 5 and 5 from each list for your "Top 10" (though no duplicates - if someone is already in from one list, take the next down from the other).

 

* not sure how much this would be possible, but hey - should be mentioned: Badges! (not sure at what level they should be awarded if even possible)... probably at least two:

     for those above a certain point level: "I fought the Coronavirus and all I got was this lousy Badge" badge

     for those who hit the "Top 10": "Coronavirus Destroyer" badge (or 'Coronavirus Champion'... something similar)

as much as most of us love our badges, this would be a wonderful reward (and inducement).

 

* and for a method of 'delivery' so a GM doesn't have to do them personally / manually - the in game email system - you already have their global, so it should be RELATIVELY simple to automate for the game to 'send' them their rewards (and they claim them on the character they wish).

Edited March 31, 2020 by 1gecko
clarification and addition

[Darthwxman]

7 hours ago, Jimmy said:

It is actually something we've considered. Right now the account matching and issuing of prizes has to all be done manually so we didn't want to have too many individual prizes. If we figure out a way to automate it in the future then we likely will have consistent rewards for reaching certain thresholds each month.

I thought that might be a limiting factor. Unfortunately I have no idea how such a process could be automated. 

[Slithershot]

Heroes and villains, we're reaching new heights. The homecoming team is now ranked 435 out of 246580 teams. That's not all. For the month of March by itself.... the homecoming team is ranked 141. 

 

Everyone give yourselves a brief pat on the back, and an elbow bump (Gotta keep safe from the Rona! 😁) to your nearest member.... and let's shoot for an even higher number next month. Cause that's what heroes do! (or if you're a villain world domination and such!)

[1gecko]

4 hours ago, Darthwxman said:

I thought that might be a limiting factor. Unfortunately I have no idea how such a process could be automated. 

I was thinking on this - not sure the html equivalent, but we used to call it a 'screen scrape' - grabs the selectable text on a (portion or total) screen or incoming data stream.  As long as you know the format the text is displayed (which in this case is known), it is a relatively simple script to parse through and copy the names you want, append the appropriate data fields each (like preceeding '@' for the in-game email system and then the reward data code to be given) and save to the appropriate file format that could then be uploaded into the game email.  If they go by the current plan, it only has to be run once a month and then the GM only has to do two things: 1) run the program to gather & format the data, and 2) go into the game and import the data file (assuming there IS such a function - I would think there would be or that it could be built).

 

If you used the earlier suggestion about 'constant contributors' being part of the award group instead of just the MOST contributors, it gets a bit more complicated - but not much.  The actual 'process' could run on any desktop - set it up to run automatically however often you want/need for it to compile the data; every time it ran it would check the changes vs. last time per contributor and tally the difference X some modifier for the number of days since last change. Then whenever you are ready to award prizes, you would just take the top 5 from both data files and upload the 'final' data version to the email system and you are done.

 

*IDEALLY* you would do this with a database back-end that compiled all your gathered data for easy use, browsing, and printing for later - and then have a function to "Output Reward File" in the appropriate format for the in-game email system (not sure how the game tracks emails - might even be possible to just 'append' it to the email data folder if the emails are different files).

Of course, the hangup would be choosing the costume part of the reward!  Probably be preferable to have the recipient just send a site email to the GM with the desired costume once the awards are announced and then the GM could manually select/imput the data into the email upload file.

 

[Jackanapesink]

So, a quick question:

I seem to be folding along, and it's been kind of fun watching the progress, which projects I'm working on, etc.  So I went to check on my Homecoming standings, and I'm at N/A?

Is there something I'm missing there?  Not worried about the competition aspect, as I know I won't be able to compete with the power machines, but I'm simply curious...

[Jackanapesink]

42 minutes ago, 1gecko said:

I was thinking on this - not sure the html equivalent, but we used to call it a 'screen scrape' - grabs the selectable text on a (portion or total) screen or incoming data stream.  As long as you know the format the text is displayed (which in this case is known), it is a relatively simple script to parse through and copy the names you want, append the appropriate data fields each (like preceeding '@' for the in-game email system and then the reward data code to be given) and save to the appropriate file format that could then be uploaded into the game email.  If they go by the current plan, it only has to be run once a month and then the GM only has to do two things: 1) run the program to gather & format the data, and 2) go into the game and import the data file (assuming there IS such a function - I would think there would be or that it could be built).

 

True, the standings are posted in table format, and that's easy to go in and scrape that to a database.  From that point, you can use whatever php script you've got in mind to award prizes.  The added bonus, is you would have the monthly standings in your database to play with for whatever reason you like!

[Psyblade]

 

Hey all.  Been a while since I logged in.  Just saw two days ago that there is a folding team set up for the CoH community.  Just started folding for the team yesterday.  I have been folding in some way for 20 years not.  (Geez, makes me feel old.)  I am gonna miss out on the top 10 this month by just a few hours.  Oh well.

 

Edit: Folding under the name HC_Psyblade.

Edited April 1, 2020 by ps2man32

[SerialBeggar]

Hey guys.  I just saw this topic here, so ...

I've been Folding for a few of days now.  My issue is that it seems to be crashing my system a couple of times a day (I'm on the computer all day).  Of course, the only thing new to my system is the Folding software.  The crashes happen whether it's set in High or Medium power.  

 

One moment, everything is fine and then suddenly my monitor goes black with no signal.  My LED keyboard goes dark with no response (ie it's not in sleep mode).  My system's fans are still running, but the short press on the power button has no response (ie it's not in sleep mode).  I have to do a long press for a forced shut down.

 

A couple of times, I was playing COH at the time.  But mostly, it was while I was just browsing with nothing else running, aside from youtube on a second browser.

 

Any thoughts on why I'm crashing?

[Snarf]

37 minutes ago, SerialBeggar said:

Hey guys.  I just saw this topic here, so ...

I've been Folding for a few of days now.  My issue is that it seems to be crashing my system a couple of times a day (I'm on the computer all day).  Of course, the only thing new to my system is the Folding software.  The crashes happen whether it's set in High or Medium power.  

 

One moment, everything is fine and then suddenly my monitor goes black with no signal.  My LED keyboard goes dark with no response (ie it's not in sleep mode).  My system's fans are still running, but the short press on the power button has no response (ie it's not in sleep mode).  I have to do a long press for a forced shut down.

 

A couple of times, I was playing COH at the time.  But mostly, it was while I was just browsing with nothing else running, aside from youtube on a second browser.

 

Any thoughts on why I'm crashing?

Sadly could be a zillion things, computers being the little bastards that they are.

 

First thing to check might be Event Viewer (assuming Windows) to see if the OS captured something about the problem.  But that is rarely the case.

 

One possible culprit is heat.  Pushing the CPUs and GPUs to the max generates a lot of it. I use HWMonitor (can just google that) to monitor fan speeds and internal temperatures when I suspect a problem of that nature.

[Darthwxman]

4 hours ago, ps2man32 said:

 

Hey all.  Been a while since I logged in.  Just saw two days ago that there is a folding team set up for the CoH community.  Just started folding for the team yesterday.  I have been folding in some way for 20 years not.  (Geez, makes me feel old.)  I am gonna miss out on the top 10 this month by just a few hours.  Oh well.

 

Edit: Folding under the name HC_Psyblade.

Well... unless you are folding with a Ryzen 3950x/2800ti graphics card system or 2, I don't think you would have caught them even if you started a week ago. I started 3 days late, but couldn't do half of what the number 10 guy did, even with 2 mid range systems folding 24/7. 

 

Edit.... Never mind... I see where you ended up. If you did that in 2 days, you will easily be number 1 next month... Just how many systems are you folding on? lol 

Edited April 1, 2020 by Darthwxman

[Tahliah]

This is fantastic!  I love to see the COH/X community pulling together as always, and the game account rewards are nice, but I think just knowing you're doing a good thing for a good cause is plenty.  Yay!

[DrachenJaeger]

Out of curiosity, is the intended cutoff midnight on the last day of the month, or is it one month from the starting date? Asking for myself, who's probably going to be knocked out of the top ten in the next 12 hours, and for a few others who are wanting to slow their pace a bit and get back to playing.

[ElectronMaiden]

Count me in. Thank you for giving us another opportunity to come together as a community. This is what makes this game so great.

[Psyblade]

14 hours ago, Darthwxman said:

Well... unless you are folding with a Ryzen 3950x/2800ti graphics card system or 2, I don't think you would have caught them even if you started a week ago. I started 3 days late, but couldn't do half of what the number 10 guy did, even with 2 mid range systems folding 24/7. 

 

Edit.... Never mind... I see where you ended up. If you did that in 2 days, you will easily be number 1 next month... Just how many systems are you folding on? lol 

 

I am folding on three computers.  Only Graphics cards.  However, between those three computers there are a 2080 TI, a 1080, 7 1070 TIs, 2 1070s and one 1060.  All but the 2080 TI are setup in rigs to mine so they do not fold well.  At all.  They are horribly gimped.  I need to install linux on the two mining rigs If i really want them to fold well.  I am thinking of upgrading one of the rigs to allow it to mine better.  a celeron feeds 6 cards to mine cyrpto just fine.  Folding, that is a different story.  

[Psyblade]

14 hours ago, Snarf said:

Sadly could be a zillion things, computers being the little bastards that they are.

 

First thing to check might be Event Viewer (assuming Windows) to see if the OS captured something about the problem.  But that is rarely the case.

 

One possible culprit is heat.  Pushing the CPUs and GPUs to the max generates a lot of it. I use HWMonitor (can just google that) to monitor fan speeds and internal temperatures when I suspect a problem of that nature.

I agree with Snarf.  Heat is the most likely suspect.  The other likely possibility is if the computer is overclocked at all, it can crash while folding if it isn't a stable overclock.  Folding is really hard on computer equipment and can highlight any weaknesses of a system.  

 

Let us know what your temperature readings are.  We can provide more help from there.

[Snowdaze]

11 minutes ago, ps2man32 said:

 

I am folding on three computers.  Only Graphics cards.  However, between those three computers there are a 2080 TI, a 1080, 7 1070 TIs, 2 1070s and one 1060.  All but the 2080 TI are setup in rigs to mine so they do not fold well.  At all.  They are horribly gimped.  I need to install linux on the two mining rigs If i really want them to fold well.  I am thinking of upgrading one of the rigs to allow it to mine better.  a celeron feeds 6 cards to mine cyrpto just fine.  Folding, that is a different story.  

you still have more power there then anyone else that I have queried currently folding for homecoming

[Darthwxman]

7 minutes ago, ps2man32 said:

am folding on three computers.  Only Graphics cards.  However, between those three computers there are a 2080 TI, a 1080, 7 1070 TIs, 2 1070s and one 1060.  All but the 2080 TI are setup in rigs to mine so they do not fold well.  At all.  They are horribly gimped.  I need to install linux on the two mining rigs If i really want them to fold well.  I am thinking of upgrading one of the rigs to allow it to mine better.  a celeron feeds 6 cards to mine cyrpto just fine.  Folding, that is a different story.  

Dang, 12 graphics cards. I just have a Vega 56 and and 1060m. Does folding work better on Linux? I was thinking of turning my old i5/amd 7870 into a linux box to run folding on but wasn't sure if the juice would be worth the squeeze. 

[Snowdaze]

Just now, Darthwxman said:

Dang, 12 graphics cards. I just have a Vega 56 and and 1060m. Does folding work better on Linux? I was thinking of turning my old i5/amd 7870 into a linux box to run folding on but wasn't sure if the juice would be worth the squeeze. 

probably only marginally, because if you are running linux without the GUI and nothing else running it it, it doesn't use a bunch of resources just for giggles like windows

[Darthwxman]

1 hour ago, Snowdaze said:

probably only marginally, because if you are running linux without the GUI and nothing else running it it, it doesn't use a bunch of resources just for giggles like windows

Right now it's sitting in a box with no OS at all, lol.

 

I guess what I'm really curious about is if linux boxes are assigned more work. Right now my systems sit idle most of the time because "No WUs available for this configuration".  

[honoraryorange]

When will march be closed out? @Jimmy @GM Miss? 😄

[Snowdaze]

@honoraryorange

[Psyblade]

5 hours ago, Darthwxman said:

Right now it's sitting in a box with no OS at all, lol.

 

I guess what I'm really curious about is if linux boxes are assigned more work. Right now my systems sit idle most of the time because "No WUs available for this configuration".  

I am not sure for an older card like a 7870, but current Nvidia cards will get a 20%-30% boost in Linux vs Windows (assuming no downtime).  I ran them in Linux previously, and got close to double what they are now.  When folding, you really want one thread/core per graphics card and to be on at least PCIE x4.  Not counting my 2080 TI, my folding performance on the other cards is somewhere around 25%-35% of what it could be.    

[SerialBeggar]

9 hours ago, ps2man32 said:

I agree with Snarf.  Heat is the most likely suspect.  The other likely possibility is if the computer is overclocked at all, it can crash while folding if it isn't a stable overclock.  Folding is really hard on computer equipment and can highlight any weaknesses of a system.  

 

Let us know what your temperature readings are.  We can provide more help from there.

Alright.  Thanks guys.  I'll monitor the heat and see about dusting out the interior.

[Xandyr]

Will the winners be posted here?

[SerialBeggar]

On 4/1/2020 at 4:32 PM, ps2man32 said:

Let us know what your temperature readings are.  We can provide more help from there.

Well...  After the latest crash, the HWMonitor program recorded the max temperature on my CPU was 201F and GPU was 168F.  I was playing COH at the same time Folding was running both CPU & GPU at the medium setting.

 

On a lark, I decided to get a mirror and flashlight to take a peek around the back at my CPU's water cooler radiator fan to see if it was clogged with dust.  Nope, it still looked clean, but the fan wasn't spinning !!!  I guess that's the problem.  I think the pump still works because I have noticed over the past few months, the water cooler would make some gurgling sounds every now and then.  I wonder how long it's been dead.  I've set up an external fan to blow on the radiator for now.

Edited April 3, 2020 by SerialBeggar