Random FPS drops in Fortnite after recent update

[Xillvion]

Since Fortnite version 31.20, my game has been dropping frames at random, all the time. I could be in a battle with another player and my FPS would drop massively for 1-3 seconds before it's fine again or when I'm just running around the map, the same thing would happen.

It's not the shader compilation that's causing it, because according to Task Manager, the CPU usage doesn't spike during those moments. Rather, it seems like a memory leak is occurring. Trying to alt tab to another application causes the game to freeze and then crash, which never happened before. Other people with powerful specs, running the same rendering mode, don't seem to have this issue.

I tried contacting Epic Games support regarding this but they closed the ticket after seeing my specs, despite meeting way above the minimum requirements.

Let me know if you require a video, I tried recording the problem but it made it less noticeable.

[Xillvion]

I did see in the driver release notes that there's a known issue regarding the alt+tab problem in DirectX 12, but I'm using DirectX 11 Performance Mode.

[Earl_Intel]

Hi Xillvion,

Thank you for posting in the communities!

To better assist you and determine the most appropriate resolution, could you please provide the needed details listed below:

1. Is the game working fine before?
2. Do you encounter this issue on other games?
3. How did the issue start?
4. What are the troubleshooting steps you have taken to try and resolve the issue?

Best regards,

Earl E.

Intel Customer Support Technician.

[Xillvion]

1. Yes
2. No, not at all.
3. I just updated Fortnite and then the issue started occurring.
4. So far, Epic Games support tried resetting my game client settings via the cloud but didn't work, reinstalling Windows 11 24H2 (to get out of the Insider build), updating the Visual C++ Redistributables and then deleting the older version of the redist files that's included with the game, and even went as far as to replace the oneAPI tbb12.dll and tbbmalloc.dll files with the latest one that I downloaded on GitHub here: https://github.com/oneapi-src/oneTBB/releases
   
   All of that and it's still the same issue. I always do a clean installation of the graphics driver.

[Earl_Intel]

Hi Xillvion,

Thank you for sharing this information with us, I wasn't able to find a troubleshooting guide for us to follow for the issue you described. I'll ask my team to take a look at your case and seek recommendations from them.

I will provide an update to this thread as soon as possible

Best regards,

Earl E.

Intel Customer Support Technician

[Xillvion]

I think we should wait for the next major update for Fortnite on November 2 to release first, since they also update the game engine as well.

[Xillvion]

I just tried using the current latest non-WHQL graphics driver 32.0.101.6127, and this is what I got:

Made my display pixelated as well. Not the first time it has happened. I've also had crashes but the crash reporter never showed up, maybe this can be investigated as well?

[Earl_Intel]

Hi Xillvion,

Thank you for patiently waiting, I was able to get an update with my technical team.

To further troubleshoot the issue, try following the articles below:

• How do I Correct a Drop on FPS (Frames Per Second) and High CPU Usage...
• How to Improve FPS in Fortnite - Intel
• Performance Issues with Fortnite* on Intel® Arc™ Graphics
• Frames per Second (FPS) Drop in Fortnite* While on Performance Mode

Additionally, try using the Acer graphics driver since you are using an OEM computer, and OEMs often customize drivers. They should look for VGA, VGA Driver (UMA), Intel version 30.0.101.1404, and download it.

Here’s the link: Product Support - Aspire A515-56 | Acer United States.

Let me know if this helps.

Best regards,

Earl E.

Intel Customer Support Technician.

[Xillvion]

None of the suggested articles work. DirectX 12 mode doesn't work due to it requiring a GPU that supports the ultimate version of DX12, which Iris Xe Graphics currently doesn't have. The OEM driver has missing features and will perform worse than the latest generic drivers.

It's definitely not my system since there's another game I play that uses more memory than Fortnite, yet it doesn't have any performance issues. The FPS drops is very noticeable when you're on the battle bus. This problem only happens on battle royale modes, other game modes within Fortnite don't have this issue.

[Earl_Intel]

Hi Xillvion,

Thanks for sharing these updates with us, I will review the information you provided internally and provide an update on this thread as soon as possible.

Best regards,

Earl E.

Intel Customer Support Technician.

[Earl_Intel]

Hi Xillvion,

To further investigate the issue, kindly try to do the following:

1. Install the latest graphics driver version 32.0.101.6127_101.6044. Ensure a clean installation before installing the latest driver. Then, try playing the game again. If the issue persists, proceed with the next steps.

2. Take a screenshot of the game settings and share it with us so we can replicate the issue.

3. If possible, generate the CapFrameX report so we can analyze the FPS issue. Share this link [https://community.intel.com/t5/Intel-ARC-Graphics/Need-help-Reporting-a-bug-or-issue-with-Arc-GPU-PLEASE-READ-THIS/m-p/1494429#M5057] with the customer for steps under "Performance issues." If the "Configuration" folder is missing in the CapFrameX folder, they can manually create it.

4. Provide the system and applications event viewer logs so we can check the root cause of the crash.

Here are the steps to export system and application event logs:

1. Press the Windows Key.

2. Type 'Event Viewer' and select it.

3. Choose 'View Event Logs.'

4. Select the type of logs you need to export (system and applications).

5. Go to 'Action' and select 'Save All Events As...'

Best regards,

Earl E.

Intel Customer Support Technician.

[Xillvion]

You forgot to edit step 3, since it's saying about telling the user to do that. But anyway, the driver version 32.0.101.6130 still crashes, as seen in the screenshot below:

Here's the link to the dump files for the crashes that occurred from driver version 32.0.101.6127 to 32.0.101.6130, I hope it's anything useful:
https://drive.proton.me/urls/QYC0C63K4M#b8WDCCkNj6LX (Just click the download button)

I will do the CapFrameX report when the next Fortnite update releases, which is actually going back to the chapter 2 map.

[Xillvion]

Fortnite just got an update, but the random FPS drops and the crash on the latest graphics driver is still there.

I do however have captured the game performance with CapFrameX, which you can download the files here: https://drive.proton.me/urls/MB40HVTBKC#dH0Q9uCjy4ZN

My game graphical settings that I used for capturing is:

Window Mode: Windowed Fullscreen
Rendering Mode: Performance
Vsync: Off
Frame Rate Limit: Unlimited
3D Resolution: 80%
View Distance: Epic
Textures and Meshes: Low

[Earl_Intel]

Hi Xillvion,

Thank you for generating CapFrameX report, I will further investigate on this and possible to replicate it here on our end.

I will provide an update on this thread as soon as possible.

Best regards,

Earl E.

Intel Customer Support Technician

[Earl_Intel]

Hi Xillvion,

I have a few more questions to further investigate on this issue.

1) Did you already tried to DDU older Xe driver before installing the latest version?

2)May I know if Fortnite crashing is random, or does it happen 100% of the time and when does it happen exactly?

3) Based on CapframeX that you provided, it appears that performance that you get is around/little better than the performance from this YT video using same processor i5-1135G7/Xe. You're getting 58 to 76 FPS

YT Video, though using older driver (Jan 2024 video upload) gets 48 to 72 fps as I have observed on 1080p Low Performance Mode. For reference, here's the YT video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tB7l13NvQL0

Best regards,

Earl E.

Intel Customer Support Technician.

[Xillvion]

1. I always do that.
2. Both. On the latest driver, it will crash immediately on launch. But the driver i'm currently using, which is 32.0.101.6083, it will randomly crash. Inside the game crash logs, it says an error with igd10um64xe.DLL with three different error codes, 0x00007fff96d47874, 0x00007fff96e6f034 and 0x00007fff971039b0.
3. That's because, the video recorded is on the Chapter 5 map, we're on the Chapter 2 map that was first released in October 2019, with a twist and on a more modern game engine.

I don't know if the performance issues on Iris Xe is still there when I first got the laptop somewhere in 2022, because my previous laptop that had a 10th gen Intel UHD Graphics, it performed slightly better than Iris Xe.

Even so, the issue i'm experiencing is the game just dropping FPS at random, from having above 60 FPS to just drop to 5 FPS for a few seconds. Was it not visible in the CapFrameX files I provided?

Whatever it is, they're now aware of the problems with DirectX 11 and Performance mode, as said here: https://x.com/FortniteStatus/status/1854642906436448636

I hope it's the same issue i'm having. But do continue investigating the game's performance and the crashes.