Infinite connection when trying to log into the game again

Summary

Hello. I’d like to report a critical error that prevents reconnecting to a game on custom islands or starting a new game.

Based on my observations and surveys of other players, this error affects all or almost all players, regardless of platform or other factors. During testing, the error was detected on four different islands out of four tested.

After exiting the game or if the game crashes, attempting to join a group and then rejoin the same game will remain in the “Connecting…” status (the splash screen will say “Connecting…”). The only option is to force-close the game.

The same thing happens when playing outside of a group. If you leave the game on your own or if the game crashes and start a new game and are unlucky enough to be matched into the previous game, the game will remain in the “Connecting…” status. The only option to start the game is to change the region or wait (sometimes for several hours) for a new game to appear in the same region, if you don’t change.

Please select what you are reporting on:

Unreal Editor for Fortnite

What Type of Bug are you experiencing?

Other

Steps to Reproduce

  1. Start a game. New players will be able to join directly in the island settings. The island (or region) should not have a large online player base. A list of islands where I’ve reproduced the error is at the end.

  2. Identify the current game somehow (for example, by the number of players and player names). Exit the game back to the lobby.

  3. Start the game again.

(And of course, it’s much easier to reproduce this error when playing with two players. Just start a group game, and the second player returns to the lobby and rejoins the game.)

Expected Result

(see “Observed Result”)

Observed Result

Option 1: A permanent “Connecting…” screen (if you’re in the same game)
Option 2: There’s no error if you’re in a different game (check this using the game identification tool in step 2) and restart the process to reproduce the error.

Platform(s)

Any.

Additional Notes

LIST OF ISLANDS WHERE THE BUG WAS REPRODUCED:
Island 7112-8777-0902, Oceania region, 778 players online (worldwide)
Island 0345-7750-3123, Europe region, 156 players online (worldwide)
Island 2713-4344-2199, Europe region, 2 players online (worldwide), group play
Island 9862-4661-6699, Middle East region, 419 players online (worldwide)

Additional information: The player experiencing the error appears in the player list but does not appear on the map. The error itself appeared about a week ago after one of the game updates.

hi @Dharatee ,

There is a thread with over 40 votes. Please follow this as this was the original thread on this problem

Player stuck in CONNECTING.. when trying to rejoin a Private Playtest match (39.11) - General / Issues and Bug Reporting - Epic Developer Community Forums

Simply PC Fortnite 39.11 crashes on many PCs running Windows 11.

Many Devs have proved its not our hardware/PC its Fortnite servers.

On console like Nintendo Switch 1 (NS1) you open any creator island with no one playing the game runs.

You dont need to play game

On the NS1 press the plus (+) top right, then RB to the last icon.

Select “leave to Lobby” select Yes.

Island closes return to lobby. Check the game still has no users

Select the game again Click play

You will see

Connecting for 10 minutes and will time out with a “Network Error” and a server error message beneath saying could not connect to server.

The only way found was to restart NS1, and open Fortnite 39.11

If you stop Fortnite and restart this wont work still get the error.

Some indie devs say this will work ok if more than two people are still in the game.

UEFN will live launch a project to NS1 , Android phone, Xbox One

but will crash on PC!

If your Privacy is set to Private you can re-join, but obviously you cannot see other players!

This problem affects on island working properly in 39. 10 and earlier