Fortnite Castle
Image via Epic Games

All Unreal Engine 5.1 Features in Fortnite Chapter 4 Season 1

There's some great new visuals at play.

The big update is here, Fortnite’s Chapter 4 Season 1 has arrived, and it brought a lot of huge game changes. But some of the biggest is in its visuals. Though, you may be wondering how all of that actually works. Well, today, we’re going to talk about all of the changes that came thanks to the inclusion of Unreal Engine 5.1. So, let’s check out all Unreal Engine 5.1 features in Fortnite Chapter 4 Season 1!

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All Unreal Engine 5.1 Features in Fortnite Chapter 4 Season 1

Fortnite Village
Image via Epic Games
  • Nanite – Provides highly-detailed geometry for buildings and their materials.
  • Lumen – This helps in providing the very best reflections on water and glossy materials.
  • Virtual Shadow Maps – This feature allows for shadowing to be unmatched, creating shadows that are unique to every single thing in-game. Hats, weapons, and animals are just some examples of this.
  • Temporal Super Resolution (TSR) – If you’ve heard of Temporal Anti-Aliasing in Fortnite, Temporal Super Resolution is the upgraded version of that. This allows the game to pump out high-quality, high-framerate visuals.

Related: How to Drive a Dirt Bike in Fortnite Chapter 4 Season 1

PC Video Settings Update

PC has seen a few changes due in part to these Unreal Engine 5.1 updates to video settings.

  • Rendering Mode – This has been moved to the Display section. Its default rendering mode on PC is DirectX 12 if you have a higher-end GPU. Performance has now been renamed Performance – Lower Graphical Fidelity following its move from beta.
  • VSync – It’s been moved to the Display section.
  • Motion Blur – Moved to Graphics section and is off by default. Auto-Set Quality will not turn this setting on anymore.
  • Temporal Super Resolution – This has several main functions to toggle, Recommended (Default) for best results, Performance for strongest framerates, Balanced which favors the resolution, Quality for best image quality, Native for rendering frames best for your display, or Custom for you to choose each slider’s placement.
  • Nanite Virtualized Geometry – This feature is only available with DirectX 12. Will default to on if Quality Presets are set as at least High. Cannot be changed during a match.
  • Global Illumination – This will be set when High or Epic Quality is active. Lumen includes two options; Lumen High and Lumen Epic. Cannot be changed during a match.
  • Reflections – This will be set when High or Epic Quality is active. When Nanite is active, you’ll have two options, Lumens High and Lumens Epic.
  • Hardware Ray Tracing – Its default is off and needs to be turned on by having Nanite enabled and either Global Illuminations or Reflections have to be set at least at Lumen High. Turning off requires a game restart.
  • Auto-Set Quality – Sets Graphics Quality to Low, Medium, High, or Epic and sets options for Reflections and Global Illumination. Sets the Anti-Aliasing & Super Resolution to TSR Low, TSR Medium, TSR High, or TSR Epic, as well as the Temporal Super Resolution to the recommended setting.

Well, those are all of the Unreal Engine 5.1 features that came along with Fortnite’s Chapter 4 Season 1 update! Be sure to check out some of our other helpful guides on the game as well, such as “What Are Capture Points in Fortnite Chapter 4 Season 1? Answered”.

Author
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Nathaniel Litt
Hi! I'm Nathaniel; Star Wars nerd, musician, and active daydreamer. When it comes to gaming, I'll try anything at least once. My mains though are FPS, Action-Adventure, and Puzzle-Platformers.