Epic pulls a feature from Fortnite that was supposed to improve graphics. The problem was that it unintentionally made the graphics worse.
What is it about? Epic Games has now disabled a graphics option that was introduced with the latest update. The option allowed players to turn high-resolution textures (Hi-rez textures) on or off.
The new option was introduced in the Update 14.10 on September 10. This was to give players the choice to either make their gameplay look nicer or achieve better performance with the option turned off.
This caused confusion: After the release, the option could be toggled on or off on every platform. Fans were confused because some saw no change at all. Fortnite quickly clarified this on Twitter:
- Hi-rez textures were initially available on all platforms, BUT
- the textures only worked on PS4 and Android mobile devices
- On other platforms, it had no effect
Hi-rez textures cause issues and will be removed for now
Textures suddenly look worse: After the initial confusion, the “Fortnite Status” Twitter account stated on September 10 that there was a problem on the PS4. When the texture option is turned off, some textures look worse than intended. They want to address the issue.
Feature is being removed completely: About four days after the release of the update with the new feature, “Fortnite Status” commented on the issue again on Twitter. They write:
“We have disabled this option, which was supposed to appear only for Android (and not yet at that time), in the Android settings. We are now working on optimizations. It will return for Android in a future patch. This option will also be disabled on all other platforms.
Why is it useful? On smartphones or tablets equipped with weaker hardware, being able to disable high-resolution textures can be beneficial. This could yield more FPS from the game if you can compromise on visuals. So if you’re currently experiencing performance issues with Fortnite Mobile, you should look forward to the future release of the feature.
Elsewhere, Fortnite wants to enhance the graphics even further. Fortnite will soon get better graphics, but only on one platform.
