Fortnite crashing or freezing on PC? “The application has hung” error, crashes after a PC update: Epic’s official fixes (November 2026)

Video: “Fortnite Treasure Hunters | Gameplay Trailer”, official Fortnite YouTube channel (Epic Games), published October 30, 2026 (30 s). It is the trailer of the current mini-season, not a troubleshooting video: the fixes below come from Epic Games’ official help center. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rFHOT4Mb_yI

Fortnite closes to the desktop, freezes, or shows “The application has hung and will now close” on your PC? Here are the fixes published by Epic Games in its official help center, in a sensible order, as read on November 11, 2026, during the Treasure Hunters mini-season (launched November 1, 2026). TricknFix did not test these steps itself: they are Epic’s instructions, not a guarantee.

1. Update your graphics driver

• Epic says outdated graphics drivers can cause crashes, lag and other performance issues. Download the latest driver straight from Intel, AMD or NVIDIA (for NVIDIA’s manual search, choose “Game Ready Driver”).

• Not sure which graphics card you have? Epic recommends running DxDiag (Windows key + R, type dxdiag, Enter) and reading the Name field on the Display tab.

2. Verify Fortnite’s game files

• Open the Epic Games Launcher, find Fortnite in your Library, click the three dots on the game line, select Manage, then Verify, and wait for validation to complete. Epic says damaged files are repaired and your saved data is not affected.

• Epic gives the same fix for the “Corrupted data was found in game files” error, which can also come from a wrong date and time on your PC or low disk space.

3. “The application has hung and will now close”

• According to Epic, this error may occur when launching Fortnite on PC with a controller connected. Unplug the controller and try again; if the error remains, update your graphics driver, verify the game files and install the latest Windows updates, including security patches.

4. Crashes right after a PC or Windows update

• Epic’s fix is to reset your graphics settings file: press the Windows key, type %localappdata% and press Enter, then open FortniteGame, Saved, Config, WindowsClient. Right-click the GameUserSettings file, select Delete, then launch Fortnite. Your in-game graphics settings will go back to default.

• Before that, Epic asks you to check that your PC meets Fortnite’s minimum system requirements.

5. Rule out a peripheral

• Epic says peripherals can conflict with Fortnite and cause crashes. Disconnect non-essential devices (controllers, joysticks, headsets, webcams, USB drives) before launching the game. If the crashes stop, contact that device’s manufacturer.

6. Still crashing: collect logs for Epic Support

• Right after a crash, open %localappdata%\FortniteGame\Saved\Logs\ and attach the FortniteGame, FortniteLauncher and FortniteGame-backup-[date] files to your support ticket, with your DxDiag (dxdiag.txt) and msinfo reports. Epic asks you not to send them as ZIP or RAR archives.

Sources (read November 11, 2026)

• Epic Games Help, How do I update graphics card drivers?: https://www.epicgames.com/help/en-US/fortnite-battle-royale-c-202300000001636/technical-support-c-202300000001719/how-do-i-update-graphics-card-drivers-a202300000017450

• Epic Games Help, How do I verify the integrity of Fortnite game files?: https://www.epicgames.com/help/en-US/c-Category_Fortnite/c-Fortnite_TechnicalSupport/how-do-i-verify-the-integrity-of-fortnite-game-files-a000085768

• Epic Games Help, “The application has hung and will now close” error when playing Fortnite on PC: https://www.epicgames.com/help/en-US/c-Category_Fortnite/c-Fortnite_TechnicalSupport/the-application-has-hung-and-will-now-close-error-when-playing-fortnite-on-pc-a000089312

• Epic Games Help, How to fix Fortnite crashes after a PC update?: https://www.epicgames.com/help/en-US/c-Category_Fortnite/c-Fortnite_TechnicalSupport/how-to-fix-fortnite-crashes-after-a-pc-update-a000092515

• Epic Games Help, How to ensure no peripheral device is causing Fortnite to crash on PC: https://www.epicgames.com/help/en-US/c-Category_TechnicalSupport/c-Tech_PC/how-to-ensure-no-peripheral-device-is-causing-fortnite-to-crash-on-pc-a000089270

• Epic Games Help, “Corrupted data was found in game files” error: https://www.epicgames.com/help/en-US/c-Category_Fortnite/c-Fortnite_TechnicalSupport/why-do-i-get-the-error-corrupted-data-was-found-in-game-files-when-starting-fortnite-a000085735

• Epic Games Help, How do I gather logs for Fortnite?: https://www.epicgames.com/help/en-US/c-Category_Fortnite/c-Fortnite_TechnicalSupport/how-do-i-gather-logs-for-fortnite-a000084841