Summary
Issue Report: Engine Failure to Handle Sudden Player Disconnections/Leaving.
The core problem lies in the game engine’s inability to correctly manage players who abruptly leave the session, whether due to a disconnection or by using the in-game “Leave” button.
Observed Symptoms:
Lingering Assets: When a player leaves suddenly, their character model remains visible in the game world, appearing as an active participant.
Inaccurate Player Count: The player counter (typically near the minimap) still registers the absent player as present.
“Bugged” Round Transitions: The game struggles to advance from the round-end screen to the start of a new round, resulting in a 10–15 second freeze or hang.
Reproducibility:
This issue is primarily observed during sudden disconnections.
It sometimes occurs even when players use the standard “Leave” button in the menu, but this is inconsistent and difficult to reproduce accurately.
Suspected Root Cause:
The issue likely stems from a flaw in how the engine’s core logic handles player session state changes (leaves/disconnections), failing to properly invalidate and remove leftover data or entities.
Please select what you are reporting on:
Unreal Editor for Fortnite
What Type of Bug are you experiencing?
Character
Steps to Reproduce
The bug involves disconnection/sudden leaving .
- Have 3 players ( one on mobile preferably)
- Disconnect the mobile player but do not kill him
- Observe that he is still in the game
- Kill the other PC player , the mobile player still present .
- Kill mobile player and proceeded to load the next round ( here the game freezes for up to 15 seconds between round end and round start)
I will link the videos demonstrating how this happens and also a video where the transitioning between the round end to round start happens correctly( in this case i only used a non-leaving pc player to demonstrate how fast round transitioning should occur as a reference point)
Expected Result
The player should be immediately removed from the game but he is still present and affects the time it takes to transition from round end and round start and also he is still counted in the player counter icon.
Observed Result
The player should be immediately removed from the game but he is still present and affects the time it takes to transition from round end and round start.
Platform(s)
UEFN laptop
Video
Here is the video showing the bug : Watch Bug | Streamable
Here is the video with a non-leaving player showcasing the correct round end to round start transitioning(no freezing of the game) :Watch CorrectRoundTransitioning | Streamable
Additional Notes
I think the player leaving/joining mechanisms need a solid revamp The primary recommendation is a complete revamp of the player joining/leaving mechanisms within the Unreal Editor for Fortnite (UEFN) engine.
Rationale for Overhaul:
Instability: The current built-in round system is prone to bugs (like those previously reported concerning disconnections) and general instability.
Creator Avoidance: Due to these issues, experienced creators cannot rely on the default system.
Widespread Workarounds: This has forced the majority of top map creators to develop and implement complex, custom-coded round systems to ensure map stability and functionality.
Goal: Provide a robust, stable, and reliable built-in system that removes the dependency on custom workarounds and allows creators to utilize UEFN’s native tools effectively.