Fortnite players say the new Chapter 7 update is causing constant crashes and freezes on PC​

Fortnite’s Chapter 7 “Pacific Break” update rolled out a few days ago with a shiny new Hollywood-inspired map, tsunami surfing, and drivable Reboot Vans. But for a growing number of PC players, the excitement has been cut short by game-breaking crashes, freezes, and memory leaks that are making the game nearly unplayable.​

Reports have been flooding Reddit and X since the update went live. One frustrated player on r/FortNiteBR posted that their game is “basically killing their computer” with random freezes, stutters, and hard crashes. They noted that even friends with brand new PCs are running into the same problems. Reinstalling, verifying game files, changing settings, restarting the PC? Nothing seems to help.​

A common thread running through these complaints points to the game’s new Rift-A-Palooza event as a possible culprit. Multiple users say their game crashes the moment a rift encounter spawns or when someone on their team goes through one.

Others report crashes whenever the storm circle moves. One user said they can’t stay in a match longer than five minutes without their friend’s game crashing.​

The frustration has spilled over to X as well. One user pointed out that Battle Royale crashes when the second circle pops up, while other modes like Delulu and Ballistic are also affected.

Another simply pleaded with Epic to fix the game. Some players say Fortnite crashes the moment they open it on PC.

As for fixes, the community is trying everything. One X user suggested switching to DirectX 12 rendering mode, which worked for them. A few Reddit users backed this up, saying switching from DirectX 11 to either DirectX 12 or Performance Mode helped reduce crashes. However, several others tried the same thing and saw no improvement at all.​

Epic Games has not publicly addressed the widespread crashing issues as of now. The official v39.00 patch notes focus on new features like the Golden Coast map, new weapons, and gameplay tweaks, but make no mention of known stability problems. Until a hotfix drops, many PC players may have to sit this one out or keep experimenting with settings in hopes of finding a combination that works.

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