In addition, if your game files are not loaded properly or they are corrupted. Fortnite won’t be able to verify and initiate your game session resulting in getting stuck on Fortnite connecting screen. We have many solutions down below to ensure that your game files are loaded properly. Let’s start troubleshooting this issue.
1. Disable your Antivirus (Temporarily)
Antivirus programs can often interfere with the Fortnite process running on your PC which preventing game files to load. Such scenarios often occur due to a false positive or security policy of the antivirus program. BitDefender has been notoriously known to cause this issue with Fortnite. Regardless of the security program on your computer, go ahead and disable it temporarily and see if the problem persists. In case the problem goes away after you disable the security program, you can add Fortnite to the whitelist in the antivirus to prevent the issue from occurring in the future.
2. Run Epic Games Launcher as Admin
If the Fortnite process does not have the required permissions to run in your PC, it will face issues, which include getting stuck on the Connecting screen. To resolve this, you will need to run the Epic Games Launcher with administrative privileges. Follow the instructions below to do this:
3. Update Graphics Drivers
The graphics drivers on your system can be another culprit for the connecting issue with Fortnite. This happens when the game textures do not load in time, which can often be caused when your video drivers are obsolete. This can often cause various compatibility issues with the game. If this case is applicable, updating the video drivers on your PC is the right course of action. To do this, you will need to uninstall the current graphics drivers and perform a fresh installation of the latest version available. To uninstall the drivers, we will be using the Display Driver Uninstaller utility. If you have an AMD graphics card, you can also go with the AMD Uninstall Utility to remove the drivers. Follow the instructions below to reinstall your video drivers:
4. Disable Cosmetic Streaming
Skins are a major part of Fortnite, which are referred to as cosmetics in the game. Due to the large amount of cosmetics in Fortnite, the game allows you to stream the cosmetics in-game. This means you download the cosmetics that are in your lobby as you play. This saves additional disk storage on your PC as you do not need all of the cosmetics present on your drive prematurely. However, the cosmetic streaming option can, in some instances, prevent you from joining the game. This can happen when the game is unable to download the cosmetics in your lobby, thus preventing you from joining the game altogether. To mitigate this, you will need to disable cosmetic streaming in the game options. This will download an additional 24 gigs of game data on your PC containing all of the cosmetics. Follow the instructions below to do this:
5. Use DirectX11
The latest versions of Fortnite leverage DirectX 12 to enhance game optimizations. However, if you’re utilizing an older graphics card, you may not see significant performance improvements, and this advanced technology could even lead to connectivity issues. In such cases, switching back to DirectX 11 might resolve the problem. To configure Fortnite to use DirectX 11, please follow these steps:
6. Perform a Clean Boot
Background applications can sometimes interfere with Fortnite, leading to connectivity problems. When this happens, you can verify the issue by performing a clean boot. If the problem goes away in Clean Boot, this indicates an interference from a background application. In such an instance, you can find the culprit by turning on the services one at a time. Follow the instructions below to perform a clean boot:
7. Reinstall Fortnite
Finally, if the above methods do not circumvent the issue on your system, you will need to reinstall Fortnite. In some situations, the problem can be associated with the game files on your device which prevent the game from connecting you to the server. Reinstalling the game should isolate all of these issues and you will be able to play Fortnite without any further problems. To do this, follow the instructions below: You should be able to get rid of the connecting screen issue in Fortnite with these methods. In case the problem still persists, we recommend reaching out to the support team for Fortnite. The customer support team will be able to further help you in isolating the problem.
