Summary
My UEFN has been experiencing severe performance issues related to shader compilation. When I make a change to a material, it often causes a large number of shaders to reload/recompile. During this process, the entire editor becomes extremely unresponsive.
The whole level freezes or becomes extremely difficult to navigate while the shaders are compiling. The editor itself becomes heavily lagged, and FPS can drop significantly.
sometimes the level does not even display the material change until shader compilation has completely finished. Once compilation finishes and the material finally updates, UEFN appears to trigger another round of shader compilation because of that update, causing the editor to freeze and compile again.
Another issue occurs when dragging props from the Content Drawer into the level. After dragging out a prop, there can be around a 2-second delay before the prop is actually placed, during which the editor feels completely frozen.
What makes this especially concerning is that this is not happening only in large or complex projects. I experience the same behavior even in relatively small projects and blank projects. FPS can still drop noticeably just from placing an object into an otherwise empty level.
I have also asked other UEFN users about this and have found that multiple people are experiencing the same or very similar issues, so this does not appear to be isolated to my setup.
I have tried lowering the editor/quality settings, but this does not seem to make a meaningful difference. The performance problems still occur on low settings.
Please select what you are reporting on:
Unreal Editor for Fortnite
What Type of Bug are you experiencing?
Stability
Steps to Reproduce
- Open a UEFN project, including a relatively empty/blank project.
Make a change to a material.
Observe the shader recompilation/reloading.
Try navigating around the level while compilation is occurring. - Drag a prop from the Content Drawer into the level.
Observe the delay/freezing when placing the prop.
Repeat in a relatively empty project and observe the FPS drops when placing objects.
Expected Result
Shader compilation should have minimal impact on editor responsiveness, and placing assets from the Content Drawer should happen without causing the entire editor to freeze or noticeably drop in FPS.
Observed Result
Changing a material causes a large number of shaders to reload/recompile.
The entire level becomes extremely laggy during compilation.
The editor can become almost impossible to navigate while shaders are compiling.
Placing props from the Content Drawer can cause the editor to freeze for approximately 2 seconds.
FPS drops can occur even in blank or very small projects when placing objects.
Lowering quality/settings does not resolve the issue.
Multiple other UEFN users appear to be experiencing the same behavior.
Platform(s)
PC
Additional Notes
I was hoping this issue would be improved or fixed in future UEFN updates, but after updating UEFN again today, the problem appears to have become even worse.
i really hope this gets fixed soon. With how often the editor freezes and how much time is spent waiting for shaders to compile, it is becoming almost impossible to work efficiently on a project. It is also taking away a lot of the enjoyment of working in UEFN, because even small changes can lead to long periods of waiting, freezing, and frustration.