Scheduled to stay in Early Access until 2018, Fortnite has been a killer multiplayer experience…with a few bumps along the way.
Unfortunately, this week Epic showcased a real downside to charging for Early Access to a game that will one day be entirely F2P — those who laid down cash to get in are dealing with all the bugs and problems, whereas those who pay nothing down the line will get a smoother experience.
Although there have been a few lags and stutters up until now, the major problems seem to have arrived with Fortnite patch 1.03. Below we cover the biggest issues right now and all the known workarounds or fixes for these common errors.
Lots of people have been seeing this annoying message all week
How To Fix “Cannot Download” and “Login Failed” Error for Fortnite Version 1.03
On the PC edition, both of these issues seem to be tied to server problems that are overcome with simple persistence. Keep clicking Retry until you get the option to sign into your Epic account with your user name and password.
For console, players have had good luck resolving this manually by creating an entirely new Epic account, unlinking their PSN or Xbox Gold service from the previous account, and then linking it up with the new Epic account.
How To Fix Purchase Check Failure Error for Fortnite Version 1.03
This one is happening most frequently on the Xbox One edition, and seems to be an issue with the Xbox Live service not interfacing properly with the Epic Games client.
A patch is scheduled to fix this, but for now users have reported about a 75% success rate in either signing out and signing back into Xbox Live, or instead performing a full hard reset on their Xbox One.
If you have your Xbox set to only go into lower power mode instead of restarting when you hit the power button, just tap the Xbox Guide button on the controller, then scroll down to the Settings tab, select Restart, and Yes.
A forum page specifically covering this topic is live and will be updated once the resolution is announced, so check back at this page for the latest info if you still can’t log in.
How To Fix Tactical Bonus Locked Bug for Fortnite Version 1.03
This one doesn’t actually appear to be a bug, but rather just an element of the game that isn’t explained particularly well and has gotten lost in translation as elements of the UI and descriptive text have changed.
Some players have been baffled when they unlock the Hero Squad Tactical Op Slot node in the first skill tree — yet when they pop a Hero into that slot who has a tactical bonus, it still shows as “locked” like in the image below.
Tank Penny’s Firewall tactical bonus is locked even though I have the skill
The issue here is two-fold: most Heroes have to be evolved to the 2-star rating to utilize their tactical bonus, and some tactical bonuses require a specific type of Hero in the main slot. (Check out our full guide to evolution in Fortnite to get your Heroes where they need to be.)
You can still put any Hero you want in the tactical slot and you will get a bonus to F.O.R.T. skills — you just don’t get the tactical bonus ability if you don’t meet those two prerequisites.
Unfortunately, this isn’t spelled out very clearly anywhere in the text. I’ve confirmed this is the cause of the issue by evolving my Rescue Trooper Ramirez to star rating 2, at which point her tactical bonus went from locked to unlocked.
You can actually already tell whether a tactical ability will be available or not by inspecting that Hero on the same screen where you apply experience to level up. As you can see below, the 2-star Ramirez’s tactical bonus has its own icon, while the 1-star Tank Penny’s skill shows the locked icon.
Having any other issues with Fortnite we didn’t cover here? Let us know in the comments section and we’ll look for a solution! When you get the game working, be sure to check out our other Fortnite guides to get the most out of your play time:
- Map Exploration and Resource Gathering Guide
- Fortnite Class Guide
- Beginner’s Guide to Defending Storm Shields
- Fortnite Base Building Layout Guide
- Understanding F.O.R.T. Stats and Using Squads
