Fortnite Ecosystem v26.00 Update
The Fortnite Team
The v26.00 update brings improvements to the Spatial Memory Thermometer and updates to the HUD Message and Wildlife Spawner devices.This update also introduces the Heist Bag loot container, new weapons like the Rocket Battering Ram, and new Prefabs and Galleries, plus new features in UEFN, Verse, and the Creator Portal.
Remember, you can now find bug fixes for Creative, UEFN, and Verse in our documentation on the Epic Developer Community site.
Upgraded Devices Reminder
Starting in update v26.20, all islands made with Fortnite Creative will transition to upgraded devices automatically, and all new islands will use upgraded devices by default. To make sure your islands still work properly with upgraded devices, you can convert your islands now so you have time to test them.
To manually convert your islands to upgraded devices, go to the Tools tab of My Island and click the Upgrade Devices button. These devices are the ones used by UEFN, and provide improvements over the original devices. Improvements include:
- Direct numerical input
- Color pickers
- Additional features for some other devices
We'd love to hear about any concerns or issues you've had with the upgraded devices. Our goal is to make the conversion as smooth as possible.
Max Used Memory
We've introduced a new Max Used bar on the memory thermometer located at the top of your screen in Create mode. This bar represents the cell on your island that is using the most memory. This helps you see the impact of adding new devices, which affects the memory in all cells and not just the one you are currently in.
Now, no matter where you are on the island when you place a device, the Max Used bar will show the effects of adding that newly placed device. Additional devices you place will affect that highest-memory cell regardless of where the newly placed device is located.
Upgraded HUD Message Device
We've improved the upgraded HUD Message device! Improvements include:
- A full rich-text editor, which you can customize in the following ways:
- Specify the color and opacity of the background.
- Specify animations the message plays when displaying or hiding text. This also applies to custom widgets in UEFN.
- Override the Text Style set for specific HUD Message devices. You can use the old text styles for the HUD Message device, the text styles from the Popup Dialog device, or the new text styles from this update.
- Override the default Text Style by manually setting text color, shadow offset, outline strength, and text size.
- Determine the justification of the text.
- Options for screen anchors and alignment of HUD elements, like the Popup Dialog device has.
- In UEFN, we added a new View Model, Device - Message, so that custom widgets can use data from the device to define their content.
New Option for Upgraded Wildlife Spawner
The Wildlife Spawner device now has an option to disable player dismounting. Setting the Prevent Player Dismounting option to On will prevent the player from using the interact control to dismount, and also prevents players from just jumping off. You can still use functions to dismount players. This option is only available on islands converted to use upgraded devices.
New Weapons
The following weapons have been added to Creative and UEFN:
- Twin Mag Assault Rifle
- Rocket Ram
- Infiltrator Pump Shotgun
- Scoped Burst SMG
New Loot Container: Heist Bag
The Heist Bag has been added to the Chest and Ammo Gallery.
New Prefabs and Galleries for Creative and UEFN
- Added four new Citadel Village Prefabs:
- Citadel Village Building A
- Citadel Village Building B
- Citadel Village Building C
- Citadel Village Building D
- Added six new Citadel Village Galleries:
- Citadel Village Wall Gallery
- Citadel Village Red Roof Gallery
- Citadel Village Blue Roof Gallery
- Citadel Village Yellow Roof Gallery
- Citadel Village Floor & Stairs Gallery
- Citadel Village Prop Gallery
- Remade the Impostors Floor & Wall Gallery so that it can be placed as a building piece, and not just as a prop. Previously, pieces in that Gallery could only be placed as a prop and would not work with regular building pieces.
Foliage and Landscape Modes in UEFN
You can now use Foliage Mode and Landscape Mode in UEFN. Foliage Mode provides a way to quickly create forests and woods on your terrain to make realistic-looking landscapes, while Landscape Mode gives you improved control when creating unique environments. Using these modes together, you can easily add a large forest to your environment and then reshape the landscape quickly while your foliage automatically adjusts to the new landscape.
To access either of these modes, click the Selection Mode dropdown and select Foliage or Landscape.
Expose Assets in UEFN to Verse
You can expose your assets in UEFN to Verse so that you can use them from your Verse code. This is called asset reflection, and you can use it to insert images in your custom UI or change meshes for your custom props in Verse.
In this update, you can now expose the following types of assets to Verse:
- Meshes
- Textures
Asset reflection is enabled by default for all new UEFN projects. To enable asset reflection in projects created before the v26.00 update, you'll have to edit the .uplugin file.
For more details, see Exposing Assets to Verse in UEFN in the official documentation.
Image Support in Verse UI
Widget := texture_block:
DefaultImage := MyTexture
DefaultDesiredSize := vector2{X := 128.0, Y := 128.0}
Verse Code Snippets
Check out these helpful Verse code snippets!
- Generic Shared Waiter for Multiple Events
- Project-wide Logger
- 20 Guards Following Player Using Leash
- Make a Guard Appear to Pick Up and Carry a Prop
- Guard Continuously Navigating to Set Target
Learn to Use Debug Draw
Documentation for the Verse Debug Draw API is now available! Go beyond basic logging and find out how you can draw shapes to help debug your game.
As an example, with Debug Draw you can visualize the attenuation distance of the Audio Player device so you can perfect the audio in your game!
Project Archiving in the Creator Portal
You can now archive projects within the Creator Portal. Archiving is useful to separate your completed islands from the islands you’re working on to help manage your Current Projects page. Archiving a project does not affect the island's publish status or how players find or play your island. To learn more, see Archived Projects in the official documentation.
Attributions for Third-Party Assets
You can now attribute credit for third-party assets you use in your project/island as part of the publishing process. This can be used for artists who sell their assets and creations through Fab or other gaming asset sites. To learn more, see Sourcing Attribution in the official documentation.
Square Tile Upload Now Online!
You can now upload a square thumbnail (1024p x 1024p) for your island to co-exist with your existing tile. Make sure to upload your square thumbnail soon! While it is optional right now, Discover will eventually transition to the new square thumbnail size and it will be required.