Can T Download Fortnite Mac

by Cody Perez in Fortnite | Sep, 18th 2020

If you have Fortnite on your iPhone, iPad, or Mac, you can still play the game, but you won’t progress beyond Season 3 — Season 4 just launched earlier this year, bringing new Marvel content. Epic confirms Fortnite’s new season won’t be on iPhone, iPad, or Mac Why Epic can’t afford to lose the Unreal Engine in its legal fight with Apple View all 42 stories.

The latest battle in the ongoing war between Epic Games and Apple over Fortnite and everything Apple is doing has happened. This particular battle favors Apple, which means that the Fortnite Save the World Mac version is the latest casualty in a fight that began over the App Store.

Fortnite Save the World Mac Version Is Getting Shut Down

Though this wasn’t the original part of the fight, the Fortnite Save the World Mac version has become the latest portion of the battle royale game’s various platforms to suffer. Players who have been playing that version of the game will no longer play it starting next week.

Epic Games announced this in a blog post tweeted out this week, noting that the end date for the Fortnite Save the World Mac version will be on Wednesday, Sept. 23. On that day, players on the MacOS version of the popular battle royale game will not be able to play it.

It is currently uncertain whether this will affect the battle royale portion of the game, but we can likely get some details from what we know about this situation and why it is happening. Essentially, this decision comes down to the ongoing legal war between Apple and Epic Games.

It all began earlier this summer with Epic Games wanting to lower V-Bucks’ prices for players on mobile platforms by allowing them to purchase directly from the company instead of Apple and Google, which was allegedly not approved at all by either company.

So, when Apple retaliated against this breach of terms that Epic had done by not getting approval for this feature, it removed Fortnite from the App Store, and it didn’t take long for Google to do the same. Fortunately for Android players, there are many ways to keep playing the game on those devices.

However, the App Store’s removal meant nearly impossible to play Fortnite on an iOS device like iPhone or iPad without our help. The war has been raging legally for a bit now. Another measure Apple has taken against Epic Games in the meantime has been to prevent the publisher from signing games and patches for distribution on Mac.

Since Apple is in control of the Mac platform and the iOS one, it can block Epic Games on there, too, from making games and patches available to players on that platform even if it wasn’t originally part of the issue. This means that games are in limbo on that platform.

At a glance, it would seem like players could keep playing the Fortnite Save the World Mac version without any problems as they wouldn’t have access to the latest patches and seasons that the other Fortnite players on the platforms of PC and consoles can have.

Save the World Is Ending Because of the New Patch

However, the problem is with the new patch next week, known as the 14.20 release. This will be the latest patch version to drop as part of Fortnite battle royale Season 4, and it will not be able to be published on the Mac platform.

Though it would seem like that wouldn’t be a problem then, it seems that there is a game-breaking issue of some sort that will happen for players on the Fortnite Save the World Mac version with the current 13.40 patch. Since they can’t update, the new 14.20 patch will reportedly cause some major bugs for players on that older version.

It will reportedly cause a very poor experience for players on that platform, so it seems that Epic Games has gone ahead and decided to make the game unplayable in that state on that platform. The bugs aren’t mentioned directly in the announcement post, but they must be pretty substantial to go to this last resort decision immediately.

Possibly, the experience that players would have online in Save the World on Mac would be far and away too poor actually to be worth playing, hence this decision. As for what is causing these bugs, it could do with the fact that the game is always online.

Because of that factor, it could be a server issue being caused by the new patch that causes issues for an older version of the game like the 13.40 patch that Mac players are currently stuck with since Epic Games hasn’t been able to update that platform since last month.

Though this is a mostly negative experience for Mac fans of Fortnite, there are some slight bright sides to this whole experience. For starters, there is the fact that Epic Games is generous enough to give a full refund to all players who purchased any Save the World Founder’s or Starter Packs (including any upgrades).

This will only affect the players who purchased the above items from Sept. 17, 2019 and Sept. 17, 2020 on the Mac version of the game. Since this PvE experience isn’t even available on the iOS version of the battle royale game, that isn’t an issue there at all.

In addition to the refunds for the bundles and packs for Save the World, any Mac players who used their V-Bucks on the special llamas in that mode during the same time frame of a year will have those V-Bucks refunded back to them. And as of yesterday, Sept. 17, Save the World Starter Packs are no longer available for Mac purchases.

It saves those players who would like to check out the Save the World portion for some reason right now from purchasing it for nothing. Players should keep in mind that it may take up until Oct. 2 to receive the necessary refunds in their bank account.

This Could Eventually Happen to Battle Royale on Mac

It brings up the question of what will happen to Fortnite battle royale, Creative mode, and so on on the Mac version of the game? This blog post announcement doesn’t bring up those game modes and only focuses on the Save the World portion of the game that is in the same game but separate.

It could meean battle royale, Creative mode, Party Royale, and so on will continue to work on the Mac version of Fortnite and likely the iOS version on iPhone and iPad as long as you don’t delete the game from your device since you possibly can’t redownload it anymore.

It seems that players will be able to play those game modes for the time being — just not Save the World — on both platforms. But it is ultimately inevitable that if this is a problem now for players who try to play Save the World, it will eventually be an issue for battle royale players, too.

It could be when the Season 5 patch drops or some other random update for the game, but it is inevitable that something in the server backend or the update will likely cause an issue for older versions of the game that are still stuck back in Season 3 of Chapter 2.

You Can Keep Playing the Same Account on Other Systems

This will undoubtedly happen, but there are ways to prevent this by following some steps to keep playing Fortnite on Mac (or iOS) without an issue. First and foremost, Epic Games itself made it clear that you can keep playing Save the World on other platforms with no problem.

There is no action needed for the player to receive any refunds. They will retain any V-Bucks, items, etc. that they purchased on their account even if refunded. So, they could very easily play Save the World on a different platform.

Thanks to cross-progression, Save the World is still available on PS4, Xbox One, and PC, where Mac players can continue there just as they were playing on the Mac version before. But there is a problem with this as a Mac user might not have a PC or game console to play on. Save the World isn’t available on Android.

But you do not need to run out and buy a new PC or console as Save the World (and battle royale when it gets shut down) will continue to be playable on Mac in a couple of ways. Now that game streaming is becoming a bigger deal in the industry; there are many options available to you.

Game Streaming Solutions for Mac Fortnite Users Explained

There are a few streaming platforms that will allow you to stream games on your Mac from the PC version of it and have the latest patches/season. You could use Nvidia GeForce, a platform directly from Nvidia that allows you to turn your Mac into a PC-streaming platform that includes Fortnite and other games.

Of course, you have to own the game already, but that isn’t necessarily a problem with Fortnite that is free-to-play except for Save the World (but you likely already own it if you’re reading this). The problem with GeForce is that, while you can play it for free, you will only be able to play for a limited time before getting sent back to the queue unless you pay for the subscription.

This might not be a problem if you only do a match or two a day, but it could be annoying for those who like to play for long periods or are Fortnite streamers. Another potential option is Rainway, a free service and includes Fortnite on there.

We haven’t had the chance to try it out ourselves, so we can’t testify to how the Rainway service works for Mac users. But the benefit is that it is free, and free is free when it comes to a situation like this where you want to keep playing the same free game without spending extra cash.

An additional benefit is that Rainway does have an app on iOS, so if you are fully embedded in the Apple ecosystem and have an iPhone or iPad as well, you will also be able to keep playing Fortnite on there through it. But there is yet another option that is available to both iOS and MacOS.

If you are willing to splurge a little bit and don’t care too much about spending some money on another monthly subscription, we highly recommend Shadow streaming over GeForce and the other paid options that are out there.

In Shadow’s case, you aren’t just picking a game that you already own and streaming it through its special UI. You are just playing on a PC; that’s it. Through this service, you stream an actual Windows desktop computer for a relatively low price and can do anything on there that you would on a normal PC.

You can download the Epic Games Store to play Fortnite, but you can also do work (like this particular author), download games on all other PC platforms, etc. It does cost a monthly subscription, but this author has found that it is cheaper this way than buying a new gaming laptop every few years as I’ve done for the last decade. Shadow works on both iOS and Mac.

Have you noticed that Fortnite just seems to run like hot flaming garbage on Mac? You definitely aren’t alone, as the Apple crowd is the odd man out with this battle royale experience.

Obviously, Mac is not ideal for Fortnite or most of the games. However, there are ways that you can certainly make the experience better.

To run Fornite better on Mac, make sure you install a clean version of the game. When you play, close down all unnecessary apps and settings. Finally, to make it even smoother experience, boot your Mac in Windows and allocated additional memory to run the games.

Related:Best laptop for Fortnite

8 Tips To Run Fortnite Better On Mac

Close Background Applications

This is great advice whether you are running Fortnite on Windows, mobile, or Mac to ensure you’ve got the most memory and CPU cycles available for the game.

Shut down all other applications on your machine before running Fortnite, from chat programs like Discord to any other apps that may be running in the background.

Note that the Epic Games Launcher must actually be kept open at all times, as Fortnite can’t open as a standalone program without that app running in the background.

Turn Off Windowed Mode

Running games in Windowed mode tends to reduce performance and really only works well for simple 2D games, as full screen mode allocates more resources to the program.

If Fortnite has been running in Windowed mode, head back to the Video tab in the Settings menu. Click the arrows on the “Window Mode” option until you hit Fullscreen.

Reduce Audio Quality

While graphics quality plays a major role in overall performance, the sound quality can also lower your frame rate.

You can turn down the audio quality by navigating the Audio tab in the Settings menu, but that’s really a last ditch effort that may cause more problems than it’s worth.

The problem is that lower audio quality hobbles you somewhat and gives the advantage to other players since listening for footsteps is a big part of the overall strategy in Fortnite’s battle royale mode.

Other Fortnite Mac Issues

Believe it or not, many Fortnite Mac players continue to report terrible frame rates even after going through the troubleshooting steps above.

An unlucky few also manage to get stuck in the loading screen or just get a message that says “busy.” If you’re in that camp, we’ve got a few more workarounds to try out before giving up.

Reinstall Fortnite

For the infinite loading problem in particular, players have reported success by uninstalling and then reinstalling both the Epic Games Launcher and Fortnite. It’s a long process, but worth a shot if it fixes the issue.

Allocate More Memory To Fortnite

Some versions of the Mac OS give the option to manually allocate additional memory to a program like Fortnite. To do this, close Fortnite and the Epic Games Launcher, then highlight the Epic Games Launcher icon.

In the File menu, go to Get Info and then select Memory. From there, you can type your maximum amount of RAM in the Preferred Size field and then re-launch Fortnite.

.Fortnite’s game engine accepts certain command lines that let you take more advantage of hardware like your CPU …

Change Command Line Arguments

Fortnite’s game engine accepts certain command lines that let you take more advantage of hardware like your CPU. To go about this process, first fuily close out both Fortnite and the Epic Games Launcher.

Choose the gear symbol by the launch option for the Epic Games Launcher and then navigate to Settings. In the Additional Command Line Arguments box, type the phrase “-useallavaliblecores” (without the quotation marks).

From there, close the box, then re-open the Epic Games Launcher and try running Fortnite again to force the program to use all CPU cores at once.

Dual Boot To Windows

If all of the above troubleshooting failed for you, there is another option you might not have considered — install Windows 10 on your Mac.

This is a big, drastic step that obviously won’t work well on older Mac models that don’t have the specs to fully take advantage of Windows 10, but is an option worth trying when all else fails.

Apple has a full, step-by-step rundown on how to partition your hard drive, create a Windows boot image, and setup a dual boot system using the Boot Camp Assistant. You can find the full support page right here.

After Windows is installed, just restart your Mac and you can choose whether to boot to Windows or to the MacOS.

Can You Download Fortnite On Macos

Once you’ve Windows up and running, head back to the Epic Games website and download the Windows version of the launcher.

Want to just switch to a Windows machine altogether? Fortnite’s system requirements on Windows aren’t that high, so you can get a relatively cheap secondary laptop to run the game.

In particular, we recommend you look at any of our budget gaming laptop choices here.

Try Fortnite On Another Platform

Still can’t get the game to run at a decent frame rate no matter what you try? Don’t forget that Fortnite is also available on Android and iOS devices, so it may just be easier to download the mobile version instead.

While there are in-game purchase options, Fortnite is also completely free to download and play on the Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, or PS4 for any console owners out there. If Mac isn’t your only available option, we strongly recommend playing on another platform.

How To Download & Install Fortnite On Mac

With the exception of consoles and iOS mobile devices, Epic Games directly handles the Fortnite download and installation process through their website.

Make absolutely sure to only go through the official Epic Games site here to download the installer! There are unscrupulous sites that try to look like the official Fortnite page but are littered with malware ads.

After downloading the installer, make sure your Mac actually meets the minimum system requirements to run Fortnite:

Intel Iris Pro 5200 or better
Core i3 2.4 Ghz CPU
4GB of RAM
Mac OSX Sierra (10.12.6+)

Source: Dotesports

Beyond those hardware requirements, it’s important to note that Fortnite is only supported on Mac computers capable of utilizing the Metal API.

The general rule of thumb is that MacBooks released in 2015 or MacBook Air or Pro models released in 2012 or later should run the Metal API. Not sure if your Mac supports that particular graphics technology? You can find out for sure via Apple’s support page here.

Best Settings For Fortnite On Mac

Even if you meet the minimum requirements, you may still not get a satisfying gameplay experience.

Sound may lag, making you think gunshots are coming from a different direction, or you may be very noticeable visual stutters — which is a death sentence in a fast paced battle royale game. Download mojave on unsupported mac.

If you have either of those problems, your best bet is set the overall graphics quality to “Low” by accessing the Settings screen and then choosing the Video tab.

You may find that reduces the graphics to a level that aren’t really worth playing, however. In that case, you can manually change each of these settings to Low one by one until you hit a stable frame rate:

View Distance
Shadows
Anti-Aliasing
Textures
Effects
Post Processing

For the best overall Fortnite performance settings, be sure to also set these two options to “OFF” in the Video tab:

Vsync
Motion Blur

.you still get significant lag even after reducing all the main graphics options, there are a few other tweaks to get better performance on a Mac.

Unfortunately, you may still get significant lag even after reducing all the main graphics options, but don’t worry — there are a few other tweaks to get better performance on a Mac.

how to increase fps in fortnite On Mac

While Fortnite was obviously originally intended for Windows and console environments, Mac users aren’t left totally in the lurch. With a little effort, you can get maximum FPS by utilizing any of these methods:

Double-check that you meet minimum system requirements
Close all background apps
Anti-Aliasing
Switch from Windowed to Fullscreen mode
Turn down graphic settings
Turn down audio settings
Reinstall Fortnite entirely
Allocate more memory to Fortnite
Dual boot to Windows