Massive Fortnite game update adds new features, characters, weapons, and more

Brad Stephenson

Fortnite video game on Xbox One

The popular free-to-play Xbox One video game, Fortnite, has just received an update that added a huge amount of content to the title.

The big changes in this Version 3.5 update are the addition of a new Replay mode for capturing gameplay, the Port-a-Fort item which can construct a building almost immediately, a new 50v50 Limited Time Mode, four new cyberpunk heroes, and a variety of neon-colored weapons. Here’s the full, incredibly detailed, release notes.

General

  • Wood, Stone, and Metal resources will now always be the first items in the inventory list (e.g. instead of Traps).
  • Purchased V-Bucks are now shared between Xbox One, PC and Mobile.

Login Queue Improvements:

  • During wait periods, login will now remember your place in line if you quit out of the game and return.
  • Mobile devices will not enter the login queue more than once per login attempt.
  • Two-Factor Authentication challenges will not put you back into the login queue.

Bug Fixes

  • Adjusted the Login screen layout to better support varying screen sizes and safe zones.
  • Fixed a rare crash that occurred during logout.
  • Fixed PS4 players leaving their party after a match where they are playing with players on other platforms.
  • Fixed Survivor and Hero squads being locked after switching to Save the World from Battle Royale.
  • On PC, fixed PS4 controllers showing Xbox buttons, even after the controller type was changed in the settings.
  • Fixed rare cases in which character parts would stretch unnaturally.
  • (Example) Ears of the Rabbit Raider outfit.
  • Fixed the inability to rotate elements in the Battle Royale Locker after buying a Llama in Save the World.

Known Issues

  • Wanting to track the top community issues? Head over to our snazzy new Fortnite | Community Issues Trello board here.
  • Back To Top
  • Battle Royale
  • Replay System
  • Save your matches and watch them from any angle!
  • Speed up or slow down the action.
  • Help tell your story better with player outlines and name plates.

Several Camera Modes to choose from:

  • Third Person
  • Follows and orbits around the selected player.
  • 3 different follow modes; Off, Auto, Lazy.
  • Drone Follow
  • Drone style camera that always keeps the selected player in frame.
  • Drone Attach
  • Drone style camera that is loosely attached to the selected player.
  • Drone Free
  • Drone style camera that is free to fly around the island.

Gameplay

  • This camera shows what the selected player saw during gameplay.
  • Adjust cinematic camera settings Exposure, Aperture, Focal Length, Focus Distance. Currently available on PC and console only.

Weapons + Items

  • Port-a-Fort added.
  • Epic rarity.
  • Drops in stacks of 1. Can stack up to 5 in inventory.
  • When the Port-a-Fort is thrown, a pre-made fort is constructed instantly at the impact point.
  • The Port-a-Fort is made out of metal and is three stories tall.
  • The bottom floor is 1×1 with a door for entry. Tires inside allow for easy access to the roof.
  • Decreased Guided Missile maximum turn rate by 75%.
  • Reduced Guided Missile movement speed by 15%.
  • Added a short equip time to many weapons (particularly, those with a slower rate of fire).
  • This will reduce the effectiveness of quickly switching between weapons for high burst-damage.
  • Removed the reloading animation on the Pump Shotgun.

Weapons affected are:

  • Rocket Launcher
  • Hand Cannon
  • Revolver
  • Tactical Shotgun
  • Pump Shotgun
  • Heavy Shotgun
  • Bolt-Action Sniper Rifle
  • Hunting Rifle
  • Crossbow
  • Adjusted item availability in Vending Machines.
  • Reduced chance of Chug Jug by 50%.
  • Increased chance of Medium Ammo weapons in Rare Vending Machine by 100%.
  • Reduced chance of Explosive Ammo weapons in Rare Vending Machine by 50%.
  • Reduced chance of Explosive Ammo weapons in Epic Vending Machine by 25%.
  • Increased chance of Heavy Ammo weapons in Epic Vending Machine by 25%.
  • Reduced chance of Explosive Ammo weapons in Legendary Vending Machine by 25%.
  • Increased chance of Heavy Ammo weapons in Legendary Vending Machine by 25%.
  • Reduced drop rate of Remote Explosives in floor loot by roughly 33%.
  • Updated Medium Ammo inventory icon to make it more easily identifiable.

Bug Fixes

  • Fixed weapons floating in the air under certain network conditions after quickly switching between items.

Guided Missile weapon fixes:

  • Eliminating a downed player with a Guided Missile no longer reports as a self elimination.
  • Picking up an item at the same time as firing a Guided Missile will no longer cause the picked up item to disappear.
  • Firing a Guided Missile prior to the victory screen displaying will no longer prevent the player from returning to the lobby.
  • Players will now correctly spectate the player that eliminated them instead of spectating their own active missile.
  • While spectating a player that fires a missile, you will now follow the missile instead of the player.
  • Fixed an issue that caused the player to spectate a floating Guided Missile weapon on the starting island if they were eliminated by a missile during the match.
  • Fixed an issue preventing the player from firing a guided missile while riding a guided missile.
  • Fixed an issue causing the player’s name plate to display over the guided missile while controlling it.
  • Fixed an issue where the Rare Scoped Assault Rifle was incorrectly giving an Epic version in Vending Machines.
  • Fixed an issue causing the Loot Llama to be empty in Limited Time Modes.

Gameplay

  • Limited Time Mode: 50V50 v2
  • Two teams of 50 fight to the finish!
  • Due to this being a “large squad” mode, Profile Stats will not be tracked. Daily & Weekly challenges will still work, with the exception of the Squad-based challenges (‘Place Top 6 in Squads’, etc.).

Storm & Map

  • Each team has a bus, approaching the island from opposite directions. On the map, the friendly bus has a blue outline, enemy has red.
  • Final storm circle visible on minimap at start.
  • Players have 10 minutes to loot the map as the storm closes in on the circle, then 5 minutes to fight, and another 5 minutes as the storm shrinks to the end.
  • Supply drops come in batches of 3-6, fall every two minutes, and only land in the final storm circle.
  • Added dotted line to map, which indicates the “battle lines” between the two teams. Crossing the line will make running into enemies more likely.

Loot

  • Farming resources increased 75% over default.
  • Increased floor loot spawn likelihood by 15%.
  • Floor Loot spawns double ammo.
  • Ammo boxes spawn triple ammo.
  • Chests spawn double ammo & consumables.
  • Supply drops spawn double ammo, and an extra consumable, resource drop and trap.
  • Bug Fixes + Mode Improvements
  • Fixed a bug that created uneven teams where one side could have more than 50 players.
  • Downed players lose health more quickly than normal (10 health per tick).
  • New ‘Builder Pro’ controller configuration
  • This configuration is similar to “Combat Pro”, but optimized for fast placement of building pieces.
  • Wall, floor, stairs, and roof have designated buttons on controllers.
  • The first button press will switch to the mapped building piece, then every press after will place that piece.
  • To switch between materials or traps, press the Left D-Pad button.
  • New Squad Comms wheel
  • This allows you to communicate quickly without voice.
  • The following callouts are currently available:
  • Enemy Spotted, Need Meds, Need Shields, Need Materials, Need Weapon (context-sensitive), and Need Ammo (context-sensitive).
  • Defaults to ‘V’ key, Right D-Pad on controller, or in the Emote menu on Mobile.
  • The Loot Llama can now be opened through destruction as well as an interaction.
  • Added a blue tint to friendly traps to help distinguish them from enemy traps.

Bug Fixes

  • Fixed an issue preventing players from editing their own structures.

Supply Drop fixes:

  • Fixed an issue preventing players from opening supply drops in rare cases.
  • Fixed an issue causing supply drops to jitter as they fall if a player destroys the object that it landed on.
  • Fixed an issue causing supply drop loot to spawn in the air after the drop had been shot down.
  • Fixed an issue causing players to be pushed under the map if they stood under a falling supply drop.
  • Fixed an issue causing players to launch out of the map after landing on a supply drop.
  • Fixed an issue where building would be blocked for 3 seconds at a time under poor network conditions.
  • Fixed an issue causing controllers to vibrate during the skydiving phase when vending machines loaded into the world.
  • Fixed an issue that would hide structure health bars when the player aimed their weapon.
  • Fixed toggling aim down sights not returning to its previous state after reloading.
  • Fixed an issue where poor network conditions could prevent buildings from streaming in.
  • Fixed an issue where you could not select the same Banner Icon and color combination in Battle Royale that you have in Save the World.

Audio

  • Added unique equip/reload sounds for the following weapons (all others remain the same):
  • Epic/Legendary Assault Rifle
  • Heavy Shotgun
  • Pump Shotgun
  • Bolt-Action Sniper
  • Hunting Rifle
  • Added more variation to the Tactical SMG fire sound.
  • Added more variation to the medium-range Epic/Legendary Assault Rifle fire sound.

Bug Fixes

  • Remove the second “insert magazine” sound during the grenade launcher reload animation.

UI

Bug Fixes

  • Fixed the controller button label for Toggle Map not shown after being eliminated.
  • Fixed a bug in the Locker that made skydive previews appear without the correct animation.
  • Fixed text on the minimap that was too small.
  • Fixed the map marker not retaining its location when zooming in and out.
  • Fixed an issue with map markers not pinning at your cursor when placing them while zoomed in.
  • The controller analog stick can now be used to scroll the map while zoomed in.
  • Fixed an issue causing the eliminated player count displaying as zero when spectating a Guided Missile.

Art + Animation

  • Tweaked the object pop in animation so objects ease in rather than pop in.

Bug Fixes

  • Fixed inconsistent Battle Bus position changes that could occur every few seconds.
  • Fixed the Rock Paper Scissors emote so that it replicates properly in the lobby.
  • Fixed the Rainbow Smash and Candy Axe harvesting tools not always activating.
  • Fixed the Guided Missile firing animation so that it plays properly while spectating the player that is firing the weapon.
  • Reduced the size of Mushrooms that were too large.

Performance

  • Major optimizations + improvements made to console load times and CPU performance.
  • We’ve made some data layout optimizations in order to improve load times and performance. Load times reduced by 25-30 seconds as a result of these changes on Xbox One and around 10 seconds on PS4. On both platforms, we expect to see fewer issues with geometry or cosmetics failing to load in time, and FPS drops during skydiving. The Xbox One download will be larger than normal in this release as a result of these optimizations. We’re working to minimize the impact of this type of optimization in future releases. – Developer Comment
  • Reduced download and patch size for players who just have access to Battle Royale (PC only).
  • Fixed various issues causing the game to freeze up/hitch while loading assets, especially on console. These assets are now preloaded before the game starts.
  • Optimized servers to reduce network lag when firing weapons and taking damage.

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Fortnite
Fortnite
Developer: Epic Games Inc.
Price: Free