Fortnite Ecosystem v29.30

Apr 23, 2024

The Fortnite Team

v29.30 brings three new Patchwork devices, expanding the audio possibilities while making it easier to set up and balance your Patchwork device chains. There’s also an Unreal Revision Control plugin for Visual Studio Code, helping you easily access URC’s capabilities when working with Verse.

Bug fixes for Creative, UEFN, and Verse can be found in our documentation on the Epic Developer Community site.

New Fortnite Patchwork Devices

Three new devices have been added to the Patchwork system:

The Patchwork Filter device changes the character of a sound by allowing only certain audio frequencies through. You can choose from several different filter types and tune the frequency range you want to be heard.
Use the Patchwork Gain device to increase or decrease the volume levels of audio elements in your mix.
Finally, the Patchwork Cable Splitter allows you to connect any single Patchwork cable to multiple devices.

Third Person Controls Update

You now have even more options for creating top-down twin stick games! If you select Twin Stick for the Facing Direction option, a new option called Twin Stick Mouse Aim Mode displays. This can make the mouse behave similarly to a controller's joystick for aiming in Twin Stick mode.

Additional Device Updates

Player Spawner devices have a new Respawn Player option.
Updated the Storm Beacon device to allow the widget to update Storm information.
Added the Damage Type option to the Shooting Range Gallery devices. This option determines whether the target is treated as a player or as an object when calculating the amount of damage a target takes.
The Guard and Wildlife Spawner devices’ Spawn Radius option now have a minimum value of 1m.
The Objective device now has an Offscreen Arrow option.
The Creature Spawner and Creature Placer devices have a new option: Restore Player Shield On Elimination. This determines if additional Shield is awarded when a creature is eliminated.

Updated Frosty Fortress Starter Island

In the Frosty Fortress starter island, we've replaced the old Player and Item Spawner devices with the updated UEFN-compatible versions of the devices.

Modular Variant for Tactical Assault Rifle

A new modular variant of the Tactical Assault Rifle weapon has been added for Fortnite creators, and the existing variant has had its name updated to “Legacy Tactical Assault Rifle.”

Unreal Revision Control Plugin for Visual Studio Code (VS Code)

We’ve released an Unreal Revision Control (URC) plugin for VS Code. This plugin puts the power of URC closer to your fingertips when working in Verse by exposing file-level URC status and revision history. It also adds the ability to diff uncommitted changes, directly within VS Code.

Expose UMG Widgets to Verse

You can now expose UMG widget assets to your Verse code. Then you can use your widget with Verse APIs to add it to a player’s UI, similar to how you previously worked with widgets that were defined all in Verse.

New Profile Macro in Verse

With the new profile macro in Verse, you can instrument your code to measure performance through the UEFN messages window.

code-before

result := profile("User String to Categorize Output"):

    slow-code

code-after

You can use the profile expression in an async context, but you cannot currently call async code from a profile code block.

Changes to Verse Device Location in Content Browser

Previously, Verse-authored devices always appeared in the Content Browser under the Creative Devices folder that you couldn’t modify, even if your Verse device files were defined in other folders.

Now in v29.30, the Content Browser will have Verse-authored devices appear in the same folder where you have its Verse file.

For example, if you have a Verse file that defines a Verse-authored device in the folder /Gameplay/Player/, the Verse-authored device will appear in the Content Browser under /Gameplay/Player/.

New Verse Code Snippets

New in Creator Portal

On April 25, the Deactivate Island Code feature will be released to all creators. You can change a "Listed" or "Unlisted" live island code to "Deactivated" to remove all non-team/playtester access. You can also publish a new island in the Deactivated state so you can get the island link without the island having to actually go live first. You can find more information in Deactivating Islands in Fortnite Creative.
And in case you missed it, these updates to Creator Portal went live in v29.20:
- When selecting an island to be moderated, the Creator Portal now selects the most recent version of the island by default.
- We fixed the links from the SAC Analytics site to redirect to the correct Creator Portal location.
- We've added the Epic Account ID to Creator Page Management, along with a copy option. This makes it easier to copy and share your Account ID when needed!