Fortnite UPDATE: Battle Royale patch and server downtime for PS4 and Xbox One

Fortnite update 1.8.1 is being released today by Epic Games, who have confirmed a hefty list of changes coming to PS4 and Xbox One.

The new patch will be deployed to fix things in both Battle Royale and Save The World modes, which were hit by some major server outages over the weekend.

Epic Games have since apologised for this, telling fans: “We’re sorry for the trouble this weekend. 

“The Battle Bus had 811K concurrent players on Sunday. We’re working hard to keep it in the air.”

As always, the new Fortnite update will mean the game going offline on all platforms, with Fortnite server maintenance set to kick off around 8am, UK time.

In fact, the new Fortnite update will be focused on optimising new features introduced with the Fortnitemares event and making sure players have a smooth and stable experience. 

Here are two standout changes Epic Games wants you to know about:

Voice Chat Improvements: “Take control over your communication with the option to mute individual players, located in the “Audio” tab of the settings screen.”

Quest Drops: “There are times when you may feel like you are the unluckiest player in Fortnite as you just can’t get that last quest item. Well, it’s your lucky day … we’ve increased quest item drop rates.”

FORTNITE PATCH NOTES:

GENERAL

  • Added the option to uncap framerate on PS4 and PS4 Pro. 
  • This option is in the ”Game” tab of the options menu.  When checked, this option will allow intermediate framerates. 

WARNING: This will maximize framerate but lead to inconsistent performance and higher input lag.

  • Fixed several localization issues.

BATTLE ROYALE

GAMEPLAY

  • Slurp Juice can now spawn as Floor Loot in addition to in chests.
  • Fixed an issue that allowed players to consume Slurp Juice while running.
  • Fixed the effect of Slurp Juice persisting from the pre-game phase to the Battle Bus phase.
  • Fixed an issue which caused other players’ gliders to appear sideways.
  • Supply Drop balloons now take damage when shot from below.
  • Fixed an issue which caused revives to be interrupted if another DBNO player is near.
  • Adjusted the camera while holding the Pumpkin Rocket Launcher.
  • The camera angle previously interfered with players’ crosshairs.
  • Improved stability of the matchmaking system.

PERFORMANCE

  • Improved point light shadow rendering performance on consoles and PC.
  • This was particularly noticeable in Greasy Grove on Xbox One.
  • Various optimizations to player character animation for improved performance.
  • Fixed various hitches during gameplay due to assets being synchronously loaded at runtime.
  • Fixed server network lag occurring if a player attempted to rejoin a match after timing out or being kicked.