You’ve heard so much about Fortnite and you’ve seen it played by friends and other players on the web. Intrigued by this game, you decided to download it too, since it’s free. Starting it on your computer, however, you realized that you had some lag problems (ie slowdowns), without being able to understand if they were caused by the PC or by the Internet connection. So how can you solve this problem? Don’t worry, I’ll analyze the matter in a few moments.
In today’s guide, in fact, I will explain how not to lag Fortnite on PC while playing an online game with other players. The advice I will give you concerns, for example, updating the drivers on your computer and some precautions that can help you solve the lag related to the Epic Games title.
How do you say? Can’t wait to get started? So let’s not get lost in more chatter and sit down comfortably in front of your computer. Within a few minutes, you will be aware of the main problems that can arise during Fortnite game sessions. Are you ready? Let’s start immediately. All I have to do is wish you a good read and, above all, have fun!
Index
- Check the system requirements
- Update your video card drivers
- Check your internet connection
- Check the ping
- Take the router door
- Change game settings
- Repair game files
- Cloud play
- Other useful tips to keep Fortnite from lagging
Check the system requirements
Since you’re looking for guidance on how not to lag Fortnite on PC , I think it’s right to start with the question of requirements .
In fact, clearly, to run a game on the computer properly, it is necessary to satisfy what is indicated by the developers, so as to be sure that the cause of the problems is not an underperforming PC. Below you can therefore find what are usually the minimum and recommended requirements of the Epic Games title.
Minimum requirements
- Operating system: Windows 7/8/10/11 64-bit.
- Processore: Intel Core i3-3225 3,3 GHz.
- Memory: 4GB of RAM.
Recommended requirements
- Operating system: Windows 10/11 64-bit.
- Processore: Intel Core i5-7300U 3,5 GHz, AMD Ryzen 3 3300U o equivalente.
- Memory: 8GB in RAM.
- Scheda video: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960, AMD Radeon R9 280 o GPU DX11 equivalente.
- VRAM: 2 GB.
In short, there is no reference to a game that requires who knows what gaming computer to be able to start properly, but if you are experiencing problems it is clearly good to check that the hardware of your PC is not involved .
In any case, to stay updated on the required requirements, which may change over time , you can refer to the official Epic Games portal . I also remind you that there is a well-known service that is always updated that allows you to check the compatibility of titles with your computer, or Can You RUN It .
For the rest, I remind you that Fortnite is no longer updated for Mac : a situation that has arisen due to some disputes between Epic Games and Apple. In that case, the advice can therefore only be to play the title through another platform or at most to follow what I have indicated in the chapter dedicated to cloud gaming of this guide.
Net of this, if the problem is with your computer, you might think about taking a look at my tutorial on which PC to buy to play , while if your computer meets at least the minimum requirements , the indications that I will provide you in the continuation of the tutorial will come back to you useful in trying to improve the situation.
Update your video card drivers
Fortnite, as well as all the latest generation games, requires a computer that is not too obsolete to run smoothly. However, if you have a performing computer but with outdated video drivers , you risk running into problems that can affect the fluidity of the games played.
In this regard, what I advise you to do is update the drivers on your PC , an operation that can solve different types of problems related to the drop in FPS . To do this, the advice I can give you is to consult my guide on how to update video card drivers and the generic one on how to update all PC drivers .
However, you should know that, for example, if you have an NVIDIA video card , you can easily go through the appropriate GeForce Experience program . Once the latter has started and you have possibly logged in to your account (you can, for example, also continue with your Google profile ), just click on the DRIVER item , located at the top left, then selecting the DOWNLOAD button (which will appear if updates are available) and following the instructions that appear on the screen.
Check your internet connection
Net of issues related to PC hardware and software , another aspect that could compromise your Fortnite games is related to the Internet connection . More precisely, to the latency : if the latter is too high, you may notice delays when you execute commands or jerks that take you back . If these are the lag problems you’re running into, I suggest you look into the information below.
Check the ping
When you have lag problems , it may be due to a poor connection quality with the Fortnite server. This problem can also potentially be caused by the game servers (you can check its status from the Epic Games official website ): in that case, if there is any problem with the systems, there is nothing you can do about it: you will have to wait for everything to be resolved by the Fortnite developers themselves. However, if it’s not an issue of that type, it could be your internet connection .
The latter could in fact be of poor quality , presenting a high ping . What I recommend you do is first close all background programs on your computer (especially those that use the Internet connection), as well as turn off all unnecessary devices that access your home network. At this point, run a connection test using one of the many services used for this purpose, such as Ookla’s SpeedTest.net or Fast.com .
After running the test, check the value that is reported in correspondence with the wording Ping (or Latency ). If the value is between 0 and 100 , you have an Internet connection optimized for gaming. If the values are higher than this range, however, there may be some lag , which becomes increasingly serious with values higher than 200 .
You can try to solve ping problems by contacting your subscribed Internet service provider or by downloading packet transfer optimization tools, such as TCP Optimizer .
If you want to learn more about these topics , I suggest you read my guide on how to lower the ping , in which I explained how to contact Customer Service and how to optimize data transfer between the computer and the modem.
Take the router door
Apart from the ping check , another piece of advice I can give you regarding the Internet connection is to check the router settings , perhaps enabling the QoS ( Quality of Service ) function.
Indeed, the latter has the purpose of automatically managing incoming and outgoing connections , giving priority to the resources that need it most. Fortnite, being an online game, can benefit from this feature, as the router can guarantee this type of activity a high priority, minimizing the latency during data exchange. There is no specific procedure to indicate to you, as the operations to enable this tool may be different on each router. Also, not all routers have this feature that you can tap into to improve the quality of your Fortnite gaming experience.
In general, usually access the router panel (if you don’t know how to do it, you can refer to my tutorial on how to access the router ) and look for the QoS entry , among those you see on the screen. After finding it, select it and activate it , enabling some specific ports for Fortnite , such as ports 80 TCP , 443 TCP , 5222 UDP/TCP , 9000-9100 UDP , 5000-5300 TCP and 15000-15200 UDP . For specific instructions related to various router models , I recommend reading my tutorials onhow to configure a Netgear router , how to configure a TP-Link router , how to configure a D-Link router , how to configure a TIM/Telecom router , how to configure an Infostrada router and how to configure a Fastweb router .
In addition to this, you can try changing the DNS to those of Google or other providers, such as Cloudflare or OpenDNS . In this case, I suggest you read my dedicated guide on how to change DNS .
Change game settings
One thing to keep in mind on PC is the fact that game settings can have a major impact on the performance you get.
I can therefore only advise you to take a look at the parameters set automatically by Fortnite , which may not actually be ideal for your specific configuration. In this regard, start the game and go to the Epic Games title settings . At this point, you will immediately access the VIDEO tab , which is exactly the one that can do the most for you.
The main options that you can consider in this context are the RESOLUTION and FRAME RATE LIMIT . If you want some advice, in the first case you may want to keep everything as it is (but you may also want to go down, so as to understand if these are acceptable compromises), while for the second it is good to choose a value of 60 FPS or lower (so to avoid any oscillations due to the UNLIMITED setting).
For the rest, you may want to delve into the other options available, for example, in the Graphics quality section , which can affect the actual performance encountered in the game. The settings in this context also depend on the video card you have available, so I can be precise up to a certain point, but trying to play , for example, with NVIDIA DLSS and 3D RESOLUTION could give you good satisfaction. In short, you may want to carry out all the necessary tests and see how they affect your gaming experience (of course, remember to apply the changes using the appropriate button located at the bottom right).
For the rest, I also advise you to press the gear icon, present at the top, to access the MATCH tab . Contrary to what one might think, in fact, the latter is important for your gaming experience. To be clear, here is, for example, the MATCHMAKING REGION option , accompanied by some indications relating to the closest servers and the ping offered by the latter (less ms is better).
Generally this option automatically detects the best server , but you may have set, even by mistake, a server that is not the best for your situation. Always remember to apply the changes once you’re done. For the rest, clearly it will be enough for you to enter the game to see the effect. Either way, for more on the whole thing, you might want to refer to my tutorials on the best Fornite settings , as well as how to switch servers in Fortnite .
Repair game files
Another solution you can rely on, to at least check that there are no problems with installing the game itself, is to use the tools available on the Epic Games launcher .
Make sure the game is closed and then start Epic Games Launcher , via its quick launch icon. Once this is done, press on the Library item , located on the left, then look for the Fortnite box and press on the icon of the three dots relating to the latter.
After that, all you have to do is select the Manage item , then press the VERIFY button , so as to start the procedure and get feedback. In short, Epic Games itself allows you to verify that it is not a problem related to the game files.
Cloud play
In the event that your PC just can’t run Fortnite properly, perhaps due to the fact that it is not exactly well set in terms of specifications , you still have a possible string to your bow. Indeed, if the results of the Internet connection tests that I explained to you above indicate that you have a performing connection (but your problem with Fortnite is therefore related to the PC hardware), you may want to consider cloud gaming .
What is it about? In other words, the game is not run on the hardware of your computer, but on a performing external server , which then sends the video stream to your computer, obviously via an Internet connection. If you have a good Internet connection, you can therefore actually play Fortnite without too many problems, even on computers that usually would not allow you to do so.
Incidentally, Fortnite is one of the few games that doesn’t require a subscription to play through Xbox Cloud Gaming . In fact, you just need to log into your Microsoft account , then start Fortnite using the service. For more details on this possibility, you may want to refer to my guide on how Xbox Game Pass works (subscription which includes the Cloud Gaming service, although, as already mentioned, in the case of Fortnite, no subscription is required), as well as to Official Xbox Guidelines .
Other useful tips to keep Fortnite from lagging
If the advice I gave you in the previous chapters weren’t enough, I suggest you carry out procedures on your computer to try to speed it up . In this regard, I invite you to consult some of my guides dedicated to this topic: for example, those on how to speed up your PC and programs to speed up your PC .
If you encounter problems in Fortnite that cannot be solved using the solutions indicated in this guide of mine, I advise you to contact Technical Support by reaching the dedicated section on the official website. You may also want to check out my tutorial on contacting Epic Games .
