A new update is live in Fortnite battle royale. Payers have the chance to check out some new features in the game, changes to the experience, improvements, and more. It isn’t a large update, but a crucial one that could prove useful to some players.

Update 11.40 Introduces Sidegrading and Other Features

Fortnite update 11.40 is available this week surprisingly since we had a downloadable update recently following the Star Wars collaboration and Winterfest holiday event. It makes sense when looking at the patch notes.

Players should not come into this newest update expecting a ton of map changes or new weapons, vehicles, and the like. It is solely an integral update that improves various aspects while introducing some gameplay features we haven’t seen before.

The smaller update introduces the new sidegrading gameplay feature, mobile improvements, and much more. Let’s go ahead and jump in to look at what this sidegrading business is all about.

What Fortnite Sidegrading Is All About

If you take a look at the patch notes on the Epic Games official blog, most of it seems rather simple and easy to grasp. But there is one new feature many wondered about, and that is the new Fortnite sidegrading option in battle royale matches.

Epic Games has come with a new way of upgrading a weapon in the game that we haven’t seen before. Instead of simply upgrading the weapon to become more powerful, it is more like customizing it to become something slightly different than it was before.

Introducing Weapon Sidegrading!

Use Upgrade Stations to convert your AR to a Heavy AR. Check it out now. pic.twitter.com/v0XAzyb7Ji

— Fortnite (@FortniteGame) January 15, 2020

In a way, think of it as a job name change at a company that moves you horizontally on the corporate ladder rather than vertically like in a traditional promotion. To accompany the new sidegrading gameplay feature, a vaulted weapon has made a comeback in battle royale.

Players can find the heavy assault rifle once again or use the new Fortnite sidegrading feature. In the non-competitive playlists, players can sidegrade, in addition to upgrading at the various upgrade machines on the map.

Fortnite sidegrading allows you to take a normal assault rifle, insert some materials into the upgrade machine, and turn it into a heavy assault rifle. For some players, this might be an actual upgrade. However, it is a sidegrade not meant for making the rarity of it go up like usual.

How to Use Sidegrading in Matches

To make the Fortnite sidegrading feature work, there are a few things you need to do. First, locate an upgrade machine on the map. While there are quite a few on the Chapter 2 island, we recommend some locations.

You can find at least one upgrade machine at every single named location except Misty Meadows and Steamy Stacks; except the latter of which has one relatively nearby. As such, stay away from those spots if you want to do some sidegrading.

Holly Hedges, Weeping Woods and Slurpy Swamp is where we like to go for upgrading. Dirty Docks is another good option. It has a few at or within a short distance of the location.

When arriving at the upgrade station, be sure to have the assault rifle or weapon you wish to sidegrade equipped. You need some materials to do this likely. We recommend picking up at least a few hundred of all three material types on the way there, especially if you want to upgrade the rarity as well.

Other Additions and Bug Fixes in Update 11.40

Beyond the addition of Fortnite sidegrading, the latest update also features other changes. Material costs associated with the upgrade machines are reduced from now on. So, it won’t cost as much to upgrade items from each tier to the next.

In the Battle Lab section, there is the flint-knock pistol (both common and uncommon variants), shockwave grenade, and the impulse grenade available for use there. For those who play on the iPad Pro that came out in 2018, the game now supports 120 frames per second.

For everyone else on the iOS platform, the thumbsticks on supported iOS controllers can now be clicked. So, for example, if using a PS4 controller, click down on the thumbsticks and use the L3 and R3 buttons.

Beyond that, there are several bug fixes expected with any new update. In the recent Star Wars event, achievements suddenly disappeared. Now, they show up in the legacy career section again.

There is a fix for the issue where the F key on PC would not enable the proper movement after direction remapped to it. Players stuck in the edit mode after editing fast also fixed.

If you fall into a hideout, it no longer causes the bolt-action sniper rifle’s crosshairs to glitch and disappears. For the recent Remedy vs. Toxin challenges, bus stops now track progress for visiting them.

If you have and equip the sweet Spectrum Contrail as your trail, it changes colors while in motion like it is supposed to. For mobile players on both Android and iOS, there are more improvements regarding the frame rate drops and hitching issues.

Speaking of mobile players, those stuck in a loop on the select fire mode screen fixed. Finally, console players no longer have to deal with being unable to progress through the gifting process because of not having two-factor authentication enabled.