CRITIAL- Nintendo Switch Crashing (or not) in exact same island depending if its an editor_session/private_code/public_code

General Issues and Bug Reporting
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Summary

This post will describe all the weird general behaviors of this issue, as well as some workarounds used to get the Switch into the project, at the end of this post I’m sure it will be clear that this is an issue on Epic’s side.

Nintendo Switch and low end android devices are crashing every time they join our UEFN session.
But if at ANY time I make a private code version of the island, I’m able to join with the Nintendo Switch and Android with NO ISSUES AT ALL.
This project is almost completed but we are afraid of publishing because of this issue - some similar reports here on the forums say it can also crash on Public Listed Island Codes

How this happened in my project; unsuccessful attempts to debug:

I’ve been working on a UEFN project with multiple people for almost a year now, regularly having a Nintendo Switch join my editor session via the friends list “JOIN GAME” to test features. The last time I was able to do this was on the 12th of September 2024, a couple days after that I tried to join and I was met with the crash “The software was closed because an error occurred”
I have used revision control to go back to many versions prior to these dates and we still have the crash. So this issue is very likely due to a Fortnite update

Since then I’ve done multiple inconclusive debugs, the last one reinforces that it is something out of my reach:

  • deleting every asset type from the content drawer and replacing them with a simple version, ex: every static mesh replaced with a cube, materials etc
    Switch was able to get into the editor session, I reverted all changes to keep working, a day later did the exact same thing and the switch crashed

  • delete 90% of devices, most custom building prop BP world actors, and every verse device
    Switch got into the session, I began dragging the deleted BP’s back into the world and doing a push every 4 or so assets. Manually closing the game in the switch and joining back once the push concludes
    Had some crashes, removed suspected assets, did a couple pushes /opened another project with the switch to clear things up - was able to continue testing
    After a few more of these asset additions, I met a crash again but I could not get rid of it. I deleted every asset from that push, even previous ones that were working but nothing solved the crash.
    Every time I deleted an asset I also changed the color of a material that was in the world and did a push, this was an attempt to make sure whatever caused the crash was deleted

  • revert changes, delete the same stuff from above, start a session, Nintendo Switch gets in, I rollback to the full project that has every actor/device/asset, do a push, and it works!
    It works, and I can do anything I want in the project, push as many changes as I want and it NEVER crashes. However, if I go back to the lobby and try to join the UEFN session again, It crashes.
    No changes at all were made between leaving and joining the session again

These tests were done over the course of many days
What causes this crash seems to be something when the Switch changes from the loading screen to the game. Because I see the loading bar getting filled, and even see the Switch player spawned on my computer screen, its when it finishes loading that it crashes

But again, none of this makes sense because I can make a private code at any time and the switch gets in with no issues.
And also the fact that I can do as many pushes and changes as I want once the switch is in. This also happens in lower end Android devices

Please select what you are reporting on:

Unreal Editor for Fortnite

What Type of Bug are you experiencing?

Stability

Steps to Reproduce

What causes the crash is unknown since we do not have access to the device’s logs, but all the weird behaviors are well described above

Expected Result

All devices should be able to successfully join the island, regardless of session type

Observed Result

Nintendo Switch and Lower end Android devices crash when joining UEFN session, and possibly a Public Listed Island Code

Platform(s)

windows, nintendo switch, lower end android devices

Additional Notes

This is an urgent issue because it prevents us and others from publishing islands due to fear of having crashes in a Public Listed Island Code. Other forum reports state that it has happened to them

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hi @MIguelFaro ,

There were a lot of Nintendo problems a while ago.
This thread probably sums this up.
Nintendo Switch PLayers / Mobile: Crash Game / Fortnite Closes when trying to play on a public published map / Fortnite Creative )

Recently there has been a problem with Public versions crashing and after a lot of investigation.

This was due to Xbox One not updating and having to be first uninstalled then reloaded.

The problem is that the MS Store on using the Fortnite update function does NOT deliver updated code.

Just now on Nintendo. Turned on and tried to use version UEFN 31.40 connecting to Nintendo and crashed just like you described.
Checking the version Nintendo was using is 31.20

Rather surprised to find that my finger had hit a default selected box “Decline”, so the update was not done, leaving FN at 31.20.

Powered off and started again, and got messages about adding SD memory cards.
Finally got the complete reload into Nintendo and this all works properly.

Like many times before CONSOLES DONT UPDATE, you need to uninstall/delete and reinstall from the relevant supplier store

The private code does not match the Public Servers. private code can be any version and Nintendo has extended functions to allow the local running of earlier versions of FN games.

There is no way to check in UEFN of FN Creative for the correct matching versions because this is only needed and relevant for development.

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Hi @Jimbohalo10, thanks for your reply

I have the game updated on every device. I also have a microSD with 80GB available on the Switch. But just to be sure I uninstalled Fortnite and Installed it again on the Switch, but I still have the exact same issue.

I am able to join editor sessions from any other projects with the Switch, always have been able to do so. The crash only happens in this one big project, started happening about a month ago. Its a big project but not in size, it uses less than 40 out of the 100 memory bar limit

The similar reports I mentioned at the start of the post were the ones from @Wertandrew and @BubbleBunz you just linked. I believe I am having the same issue as them.
I decided to focus more on describing the weird behaviors instead of the project in hopes that Epic can more easily understand what is going on, since none of us seem to know how to replicate this in a new project.

BubbleBunz told me in DMs that he also had crashes in the exact same island depending on session type - sometimes it crashed when joining the editor only, after some tweaks it worked in the editor but crashed in private and public codes, which is terrible.

I had no idea Nintendo had those extended functions to allow earlier versions, and I see this is bad timing due to the recent updates exceeding the Switch’s default storage, but these things seem to have no connection to the issue. The crashes started to happen to me a few days after the 12th of September, but started even earlier to the people mentioned above.

This has to be a sneaky bug on Epic’s side, because as described in the last bullet point from the first post, once the Switch is in the editor session I can revert back to the main version with all the assets and do as many pushes as I want, but if at any moment I go back to the lobby and join the session again, it crashes.

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The status of FORT-807946 incident has been moved from ‘Ready for QA’ to ‘Closed’. Resolution Reason: ‘Duplicate’

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Major Breakthrough:

Wertandrew told me in DM’s that “verse scripts that do a lot with editables at construction time” could be causing the crashes.

I had previously deleted all the verse devices and still had crashes, but regardless did the following:

  • launched full project session to see if the Switch would crash once it joined, it did
  • deleted all placed verse devices (did this before a lot of times), changed a mat color, push, join, crash
  • deleted the verse CODE FILES through UEFN, launch session, join with the switch, and it works!
    How is this a thing? There were no verse devices placed, this is nearly impossible to debug

I then repeated the same incremental asset addition I did in the first part of the post, for all the non-already placed creative-prop assets, the ones that were set to spawn with the verse device.
I was able to add all of them and had no crashes at all! Each push I went back to lobby and joined again 2x, to guarantee there weren’t any false positives.

Just now I got back into the project, added all the code back through File Explorer, placed the verse game manager in the world, didn’t add anything in the editables or change any values, launched session, when switch joins it crashes.

Then I deleted everything verse related and the switch is now able to join the session again

How in the world can verse be the one causing the crash? There were no verse errors, nothing in the output log
How would anyone be able to figure this out?

I will now try to figure out how to make the code “lighter” like Wertandrew suggested
But again, this doesn’t make any sense.

The issue is not fixed, I would be very grateful if someone from Epic could give me any insight on how to fix this verse issue

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