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Removing GroundZero

Since add-on 0.3.4. Tested on our test island (5 November 2026): removing the season device, GroundZero's tags from your devices, the SDK, season, icon and the add-on itself, and installing again afterwards. Not tested yet: publishing afterwards.

Open the panel, go to Account, and press Remove GroundZero…. You see what will be removed before anything changes.

Why not delete the files yourself​

The order matters. If the season's Verse files go while its device is still in your level, the device breaks and can't be identified any more. Your own Verse that uses GroundZero (using { GroundZero }) stops compiling once the SDK is gone. The panel handles both.

What it does​

  1. Checks your own Verse first. If one of your files uses GroundZero, it lists them and stops. Remove or change those files, then try again. Nothing is changed until then.
  2. Shows what will go: GroundZero devices in your level (the season device, and any GroundZero samples you placed), how many of your devices carry GroundZero's tag component, and the GroundZero files.
  3. Backs up every file it removes to Documents\GroundZero\Removed\<your island>\<date and time>, with a REMOVED.txt listing the devices it took out of your level. Devices can't be restored from there; place them again if you reinstall.
  4. Removes, in this order: GroundZero devices from your level; GroundZero's tag component from your devices (your own tags and settings stay); the season files; GroundZero's sample screens; the Quest SDK (Content\GroundZero); the quest icon.
  5. Builds Verse and tells you the result.

Players see the change once you publish an island update.

Players' saved progress​

If your island was ever published, keep "Keep players' saved-data definitions" ticked (it's on by default). Fortnite may refuse to publish an island update that drops saved data it published before, so the panel leaves a small file, Content\GroundZero\gz_saved_data.verse, with only those definitions. Nothing in it runs, and players see nothing.

Untick it only if the island was never published. Then nothing of GroundZero is left.

Not checked with a published island yet. That the island still publishes with the kept file is based on how Fortnite treats saved data; we'll confirm it on a published test island.

Removing the add-on too​

Tick "Also remove the GroundZero add-on" to take the panel out of the project as well: Content\Python\groundzero, GroundZero's init_unreal.py (or only GroundZero's two lines, if you added them to your own), and the island's local scan data (Saved\GroundZero). All of it goes into the same backup folder. Close the project afterwards; the panel is gone the next time it opens.

Without that tick, the panel stays, and Install SDK puts GroundZero back. To remove the panel later, press Remove GroundZero… again and tick the box: it works even when nothing else of GroundZero is left.

What stays on your PC​

Your GroundZero sign-in, season packs and downloaded updates are kept for all your islands, not this one, so Remove doesn't touch them. Sign out in the Account tab, and delete Documents\GroundZero if you don't want them.