Summary
There’s a serious bug affecting a small number of Fortnite UEFN creators where maps uploaded by specific accounts become nearly unplayable, especially on console. This is not a widespread issue, but for those who are affected, it’s completely game-breaking — you cannot publish functional maps, making content creation essentially impossible.
Please select what you are reporting on:
Unreal Editor for Fortnite
What Type of Bug are you experiencing?
Matchmaking
Steps to Reproduce
Open Fortnite on console (Xbox or PlayStation recommended for testing).
Go to “Search” and enter 9342-3671-1515 (one of my maps that is affected by the bug).
Press “Play” and observe the behavior on the test above the play button.
The loading will only show “Preparing”, but no loading bar or progress indication will appear.
Wait around 4–10 minutes — sometimes the “Updating” bar appears very late, and sometimes the map fails to load altogether.
Try the same steps on PC — you’ll notice the map loads normally or with significantly less delay.
Expected Result
After entering the map code and pressing “Play,” the usual loading sequence should begin.
The “Preparing” icon should appear, followed by an update progress bar that shows the loading status of the map.
The map should load within a reasonable amount of time (usually under a minute).
Players should be able to enter the map and begin playing once the loading is complete.
There should be no excessive delay or stuck “Preparing” screen.
Observed Result
After entering the map code and pressing “Play,” the “Preparing” icon appears, but the update progress bar never shows up.
The game will be stuck on the “Preparing” screen for 8–10 minutes or longer, without progressing.
In some cases, the update progress bar might eventually appear, but only after a long wait (usually 4–10 minutes), and it may still fail to load the map properly.
The map will either fail to load entirely, or it will take an impractically long time to load, making it seem broken or unplayable.
Platform(s)
Console (Mostly Affected)
The bug primarily affects console players, specifically when trying to load certain creator maps with specific codes.
PC (Less Affected)
The issue is less common on PC, where the maps tend to load properly. However, there may be rare cases where it occurs on PC as well.
Island Code
9342-3671-1515 OR 0216-2145-1911 (if one loads try the other)
Video
The bug has been captured on video and demonstrates the issue on both PC and console:
Bug on PC: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k7oWfPztlwk
Bug on PlayStation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0NJ4SDHZZy4
Additional Notes
Account-Related Bug:
This issue seems to be tied to specific accounts. If a particular account is affected by this bug, it will impact all maps by certain creators associated with that account.
Console-Specific Impact:
While the issue is more prevalent on console, the loading problem can occur with any map from the affected creators. If you try different maps by the same creator, the bug will persist across their entire library.
Difficulty Reproducing the Bug:
The bug is not easily reproducible in tests, especially on PC. As such, it is difficult to gather enough data to fix the issue since it mainly happens on console platforms. The bug requires more than one attempt to occur—sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t, but it mostly never works. On some attempts, the map might load correctly, but most of the time, it won’t.
Frustrating for Creators:
For creators affected by this bug, it prevents uploading or sharing their maps, making it impossible to share content with others. This can significantly impact creators who are trying to develop and share their work.
Closed Forum Reference:
I previously created a forum post about this issue that was closed because the moderators said they “couldn’t reproduce it.” This decision seems to ignore the literal video evidence that has been provided, and the issue remains unresolved despite the clear demonstration of the bug.
Link to old forum : Game Stuck on “Preparing” When Loading from Lobby – UEFN Issue
Video Evidence Available:
Video evidence of the issue has been recorded and can be provided to demonstrate the bug in action, but so far, it seems to be ignored or overlooked.