Fortnite Update 9.0 Patch Notes Preview: Season 9 changes ahead of next server downtime

Usually, when Epic puts out a new Season for Fortnite, we see some pretty significant changes.

Sometimes there are simply cosmetic – little tweaks to UI, or minor bug squashes here and there to make the overall experience that little bit smoother – but sometimes they’re more far-ranging.

We expect Season 9’s patch notes to be fairly extensive: there are a few issues with weapon balance we imagine will be addressed in time for the new Battle Pass dropping (nerf to the Drum Gun, anyone?) and we also suspect there’s going to be quite a few alterations to the map, too. 

It’s pretty much confirmed Epic is going to rebuild something on the site of where Tilted Towers used to stand in the coming season – the teasers throughout the week have all but confirmed that – but what else will Epic change in the coming weeks?

We’ve scoured the internet and the Epic comms channels in search of the early patch notes ahead of Fortnite 9.0 dropping – you can see what we’ve found so far below.

Map Changes

We can’t be 100% certain, but it looks like we’re going to see a few map changes across the board for Season 9.

We saw the volcano eruption level Tilted Towers and other point of interest when it launched at the weekend, and now we’re seeing the Fortnite Twitter account strongly suggest that Tilted Towers is going to make a comeback in one way or another. 

You can read our in-depth dive into the ramifications Season 9 has for Tilted Towers in Fortnite at the link, but the summary is: expect some big changes to come to the Fortnite map.

There have even been suggestions we’re going to see a whole new map for the game… but we’re keeping our skeptical hats fairly in place for now.

Audio issues

Epic has been talking for a little while about what changes will be coming to the audio side of things in the latest version of Fortnite.

Earlier this week, the development team posted on Reddit that there are some pretty wide-ranging fixes in progress behind-the-scenes that will improve audio in-game. 

Here’s what Epic posted on Reddit on May 6:

‘Hello all,

We hope you all enjoy the release of Season 9, it was a blast for us to work on. Thanks for all the Fortnite audio quality feedback in the recent 8.5 release thread, it’s much appreciated. As always, please feel free to point out areas of audio improvement and bugs to us in the thread; we’ll be reading and investigating what the community shares and report what we’re working on. Here’s an overview of the Season 9 audio improvements and roadmap:’

Release 9.0 Audio fixes and updates:

• Switch audio dropout issues fixed.
• Better tactical audio when inside player-built structures:Explosion audio improvements- shorter, higher dynamic range sounds that will make explosion audio clearer and punchier.
  • Enemy Pickaxe impact within ~one building tile radius has new, louder sound.
  • Wallbreak by enemy close/behind player much clearer/louder.

  Release 9.0 open audio issues:

  • Fix for PC audio device swap issues; we are planning to have this for the 9.1 release.

  What we’re working on for the upcoming season:

  • Fix for footstep sounds on the edge of structures gives audio as if you’re walking on the ground.
  • Better hear the approach of enemy players outside player-built structures.
  • Better audio tells for jump/landing:Improvements to issues of sounds dropping outside of player FOV.
    • Jump tell audio added (so bunny-hopping isn’t as noiseless).
    • Clearer landing sound detection.
  • Improvement of close versus distant player gliding sounds, to help clarify distance of gliding enemies.
  • Longer sounds properly playing during Replays.
  • Improved differentiation of teammate verus enemy audio.
  • Internal testing of binaural/HRTF solution that will be a great help to headphone players, as well as other spatialization improvements.

  Expect these changes – and more – to drop in version 9.00 and beyond.

  Confirmed Fixes

  Thanks to the Fortnite Trello Board, we know that there are a few confirmed fixes coming in the next update (or maybe just after).

  Here’s the full list as what’s ‘Fixed in Future Release’ on the Trello board for Battle Royale:

  • Structures sometimes don’t place consistently when turbo building at high rates
  • Some situations where the Chug Jug will complete its animation but not grant HP + Shield
  • Completed Ruin challenges appearing as locked
  • Player entering the Pawn Shop basement in Titled Tower will be instantly eliminated
  • Players load in lobby as the same cosmetic (Switch)
  • Weapon Icon is not displaying in inventory hot bar (mobile)
  • Players unable to change controller dead zone settings after the v8.40 update (mobile)
  • Mini Map on HUD may appear off the screen in large team LTM modes (mobile)

  • Fortnite

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