vkCreateInstance - Create a new Vulkan instance

Description

createInstance verifies that the requested layers exist. If not, createInstance will return ERROR_LAYER_NOT_PRESENT. Next createInstance verifies that the requested extensions are supported (e.g. in the implementation or in any enabled instance layer) and if any requested extension is not supported, createInstance must return ERROR_EXTENSION_NOT_PRESENT. After verifying and enabling the instance layers and extensions the Instance object is created and returned to the application. If a requested extension is only supported by a layer, both the layer and the extension need to be specified at createInstance time for the creation to succeed.

Valid Usage

• All required extensions for each extension in the InstanceCreateInfo::ppEnabledExtensionNames list must also be present in that list

Valid Usage (Implicit)

• pCreateInfo must be a valid pointer to a valid InstanceCreateInfo structure

• If pAllocator is not NULL, pAllocator must be a valid pointer to a valid AllocationCallbacks structure
• pInstance must be a valid pointer to a Instance handle

Return Codes

Success

• SUCCESS

Failure

• ERROR_EXTENSION_NOT_PRESENT
• ERROR_INCOMPATIBLE_DRIVER
• ERROR_INITIALIZATION_FAILED
• ERROR_LAYER_NOT_PRESENT
• ERROR_OUT_OF_DEVICE_MEMORY
• ERROR_OUT_OF_HOST_MEMORY
• ERROR_UNKNOWN
• ERROR_VALIDATION_FAILED

See Also

VK_VERSION_1_0, AllocationCallbacks, Instance, InstanceCreateInfo

A convenience wrapper to make a compatible pair of calls to createInstance and destroyInstance

To ensure that destroyInstance is always called: pass bracket (or the allocate function from your favourite resource management library) as the last argument. To just extract the pair pass (,) as the last argument.

vkDestroyInstance - Destroy an instance of Vulkan

Description

Prior to destroying an instance, an application is responsible for destroying/freeing any Vulkan objects with explicit vkDestroy* or vkFree* commands that were created using that instance, or any PhysicalDevice object retrieved from it, as the first parameter of the corresponding vkCreate* or vkAllocate* command.

Valid Usage

• All child objects that were created with instance or with a PhysicalDevice retrieved from it, and that can be destroyed or freed, must have been destroyed or freed prior to destroying instance

• If AllocationCallbacks were provided when instance was created, a compatible set of callbacks must be provided here
• If no AllocationCallbacks were provided when instance was created, pAllocator must be NULL

Valid Usage (Implicit)

• If instance is not NULL, instance must be a valid Instance handle

• If pAllocator is not NULL, pAllocator must be a valid pointer to a valid AllocationCallbacks structure

Host Synchronization

• Host access to instance must be externally synchronized

• Host access to all PhysicalDevice objects enumerated from instance must be externally synchronized

See Also

VK_VERSION_1_0, AllocationCallbacks, Instance

vkEnumeratePhysicalDevices - Enumerates the physical devices accessible to a Vulkan instance

Description

If pPhysicalDevices is NULL, then the number of physical devices available is returned in pPhysicalDeviceCount. Otherwise, pPhysicalDeviceCount must point to a variable set by the application to the number of elements in the pPhysicalDevices array, and on return the variable is overwritten with the number of handles actually written to pPhysicalDevices. If pPhysicalDeviceCount is less than the number of physical devices available, at most pPhysicalDeviceCount structures will be written, and INCOMPLETE will be returned instead of SUCCESS, to indicate that not all the available physical devices were returned.

Valid Usage (Implicit)

• instance must be a valid Instance handle

• pPhysicalDeviceCount must be a valid pointer to a uint32_t value
• If the value referenced by pPhysicalDeviceCount is not 0, and pPhysicalDevices is not NULL, pPhysicalDevices must be a valid pointer to an array of pPhysicalDeviceCount PhysicalDevice handles

Return Codes

Success

• INCOMPLETE
• SUCCESS

Failure

• ERROR_INITIALIZATION_FAILED
• ERROR_OUT_OF_DEVICE_MEMORY
• ERROR_OUT_OF_HOST_MEMORY
• ERROR_UNKNOWN
• ERROR_VALIDATION_FAILED

See Also

VK_VERSION_1_0, Instance, PhysicalDevice

vkGetDeviceProcAddr - Return a function pointer for a command

Description

The table below defines the various use cases for getDeviceProcAddr and expected return value (“fp” is “function pointer”) for each case. A valid returned function pointer (“fp”) must not be NULL.

The returned function pointer is of type PFN_vkVoidFunction, and must be cast to the type of the command being queried before use. The function pointer must only be called with a dispatchable object (the first parameter) that is device or a child of device.

getDeviceProcAddr behavior

1

"*" means any representable value for the parameter (including valid values, invalid values, and NULL).

2

Device-level commands which are part of the core version specified by ApplicationInfo::apiVersion when creating the instance will always return a valid function pointer. If the maintenance5 feature is enabled, core commands beyond that version which are supported by the implementation will return NULL, otherwise the implementation may either return NULL or a function pointer. If a function pointer is returned, it must not be called.

3

In this function, device-level excludes all physical-device-level commands.

4

The returned function pointer must only be called with a dispatchable object (the first parameter) that is device or a child of device e.g. Device, Queue, or CommandBuffer.

Valid Usage (Implicit)

See Also

PFN_vkVoidFunction, VK_VERSION_1_0, Device

vkGetInstanceProcAddr - Return a function pointer for a command

Description

getInstanceProcAddr itself is obtained in a platform- and loader- specific manner. Typically, the loader library will export this command as a function symbol, so applications can link against the loader library, or load it dynamically and look up the symbol using platform-specific APIs.

The table below defines the various use cases for getInstanceProcAddr and expected return value (“fp” is “function pointer”) for each case. A valid returned function pointer (“fp”) must not be NULL.

The returned function pointer is of type PFN_vkVoidFunction, and must be cast to the type of the command being queried before use.

getInstanceProcAddr behavior

1

"*" means any representable value for the parameter (including valid values, invalid values, and NULL).

2

The global commands are: enumerateInstanceVersion, enumerateInstanceExtensionProperties, enumerateInstanceLayerProperties, and createInstance. Dispatchable commands are all other commands which are not global.

3

The returned function pointer must only be called with a dispatchable object (the first parameter) that is instance or a child of instance, e.g. Instance, PhysicalDevice, Device, Queue, or CommandBuffer.

4

An “available device extension” is a device extension supported by any physical device enumerated by instance.

5

Starting with Vulkan 1.2, getInstanceProcAddr can resolve itself with a NULL instance pointer.

Valid Usage (Implicit)

• If instance is not NULL, instance must be a valid Instance handle

• pName must be a null-terminated UTF-8 string

See Also

PFN_vkVoidFunction, VK_VERSION_1_0, Instance

vkGetPhysicalDeviceProperties - Returns properties of a physical device

Valid Usage (Implicit)

See Also

VK_VERSION_1_0, PhysicalDevice, PhysicalDeviceProperties

vkGetPhysicalDeviceQueueFamilyProperties - Reports properties of the queues of the specified physical device

Description

If pQueueFamilyProperties is NULL, then the number of queue families available is returned in pQueueFamilyPropertyCount. Implementations must support at least one queue family. Otherwise, pQueueFamilyPropertyCount must point to a variable set by the application to the number of elements in the pQueueFamilyProperties array, and on return the variable is overwritten with the number of structures actually written to pQueueFamilyProperties. If pQueueFamilyPropertyCount is less than the number of queue families available, at most pQueueFamilyPropertyCount structures will be written.

Valid Usage (Implicit)

• physicalDevice must be a valid PhysicalDevice handle

• pQueueFamilyPropertyCount must be a valid pointer to a uint32_t value
• If the value referenced by pQueueFamilyPropertyCount is not 0, and pQueueFamilyProperties is not NULL, pQueueFamilyProperties must be a valid pointer to an array of pQueueFamilyPropertyCount QueueFamilyProperties structures

See Also

VK_VERSION_1_0, PhysicalDevice, QueueFamilyProperties

vkGetPhysicalDeviceMemoryProperties - Reports memory information for the specified physical device

Valid Usage (Implicit)

See Also

VK_VERSION_1_0, PhysicalDevice, PhysicalDeviceMemoryProperties

vkGetPhysicalDeviceFeatures - Reports capabilities of a physical device

Valid Usage (Implicit)

See Also

VK_VERSION_1_0, PhysicalDevice, PhysicalDeviceFeatures

vkGetPhysicalDeviceFormatProperties - Lists physical device’s format capabilities

Valid Usage

• If Vulkan 1.3 is not supported, the maintenance5 feature is not supported, and the ycbcr2plane444Formats feature is not supported, format must not be FORMAT_G8_B8R8_2PLANE_444_UNORM, FORMAT_G10X6_B10X6R10X6_2PLANE_444_UNORM_3PACK16, FORMAT_G12X4_B12X4R12X4_2PLANE_444_UNORM_3PACK16, or FORMAT_G16_B16R16_2PLANE_444_UNORM

Valid Usage (Implicit)

• physicalDevice must be a valid PhysicalDevice handle

• format must be a valid Format value
• pFormatProperties must be a valid pointer to a FormatProperties structure

See Also

VK_VERSION_1_0, Format, FormatProperties, PhysicalDevice

vkGetPhysicalDeviceImageFormatProperties - Lists physical device’s image format capabilities

Description

The format, type, tiling, usage, and flags parameters correspond to parameters that would be consumed by createImage (as members of ImageCreateInfo).

If format is not a supported image format, or if the combination of format, type, tiling, usage, and flags is not supported for images, then getPhysicalDeviceImageFormatProperties returns ERROR_FORMAT_NOT_SUPPORTED.

The limitations on an image format that are reported by getPhysicalDeviceImageFormatProperties have the following property: if usage1 and usage2 of type ImageUsageFlags are such that the bits set in usage1 are a subset of the bits set in usage2, and flags1 and flags2 of type ImageCreateFlags are such that the bits set in flags1 are a subset of the bits set in flags2, then the limitations for usage1 and flags1 must be no more strict than the limitations for usage2 and flags2, for all values of format, type, and tiling.

If the hostImageCopy feature is supported, and:

Then the result of calls to getPhysicalDeviceImageFormatProperties with identical parameters except for the inclusion of IMAGE_USAGE_HOST_TRANSFER_BIT in usage must be identical.

Return Codes

Success

• SUCCESS

Failure

• ERROR_FORMAT_NOT_SUPPORTED
• ERROR_OUT_OF_DEVICE_MEMORY
• ERROR_OUT_OF_HOST_MEMORY
• ERROR_UNKNOWN
• ERROR_VALIDATION_FAILED

See Also

VK_VERSION_1_0, Format, ImageCreateFlags, ImageFormatProperties, ImageTiling, ImageType, ImageUsageFlags, PhysicalDevice

VkPhysicalDeviceProperties - Structure specifying physical device properties

Description

The value of apiVersion may be different than the version returned by enumerateInstanceVersion; either higher or lower. In such cases, the application must not use functionality that exceeds the version of Vulkan associated with a given object. The pApiVersion parameter returned by enumerateInstanceVersion is the version associated with a Instance and its children, except for a PhysicalDevice and its children. PhysicalDeviceProperties::apiVersion is the version associated with a PhysicalDevice and its children.

The encoding of driverVersion is implementation-defined. It may not use the same encoding as apiVersion. Applications should follow information from the vendor on how to extract the version information from driverVersion.

On implementations that claim support for the Roadmap 2022 profile, the major and minor version expressed by apiVersion must be at least Vulkan 1.3.

The vendorID and deviceID fields are provided to allow applications to adapt to device characteristics that are not adequately exposed by other Vulkan queries.

These may include performance profiles, hardware errata, or other characteristics.

The vendor identified by vendorID is the entity responsible for the most salient characteristics of the underlying implementation of the PhysicalDevice being queried.

For example, in the case of a discrete GPU implementation, this should be the GPU chipset vendor. In the case of a hardware accelerator integrated into a system-on-chip (SoC), this should be the supplier of the silicon IP used to create the accelerator.

If the vendor has a PCI vendor ID, the low 16 bits of vendorID must contain that PCI vendor ID, and the remaining bits must be zero. Otherwise, the value returned must be a valid Khronos vendor ID, obtained as described in the Vulkan Documentation and Extensions: Procedures and Conventions document in the section “Registering a Vendor ID with Khronos”. Khronos vendor IDs are allocated starting at 0x10000, to distinguish them from the PCI vendor ID namespace. Khronos vendor IDs are symbolically defined in the VendorId type.

The vendor is also responsible for the value returned in deviceID. If the implementation is driven primarily by a PCI device with a PCI device ID, the low 16 bits of deviceID must contain that PCI device ID, and the remaining bits must be zero. Otherwise, the choice of what values to return may be dictated by operating system or platform policies - but should uniquely identify both the device version and any major configuration options (for example, core count in the case of multicore devices).

The same device ID should be used for all physical implementations of that device version and configuration. For example, all uses of a specific silicon IP GPU version and configuration should use the same device ID, even if those uses occur in different SoCs.

See Also

VK_VERSION_1_0, PhysicalDeviceLimits, PhysicalDeviceProperties2, PhysicalDeviceSparseProperties, PhysicalDeviceType, getPhysicalDeviceProperties

VkApplicationInfo - Structure specifying application information

Description

Vulkan 1.0 implementations were required to return ERROR_INCOMPATIBLE_DRIVER if apiVersion was larger than 1.0. Implementations that support Vulkan 1.1 or later must not return ERROR_INCOMPATIBLE_DRIVER for any value of apiVersion .

Because Vulkan 1.0 implementations may fail with ERROR_INCOMPATIBLE_DRIVER, applications should determine the version of Vulkan available before calling createInstance. If the getInstanceProcAddr returns NULL for enumerateInstanceVersion, it is a Vulkan 1.0 implementation. Otherwise, the application can call enumerateInstanceVersion to determine the version of Vulkan.

As long as the instance supports at least Vulkan 1.1, an application can use different versions of Vulkan with an instance than it does with a device or physical device.

The Khronos validation layers will treat apiVersion as the highest API version the application targets, and will validate API usage against the minimum of that version and the implementation version (instance or device, depending on context). If an application tries to use functionality from a greater version than this, a validation error will be triggered.

For example, if the instance supports Vulkan 1.1 and three physical devices support Vulkan 1.0, Vulkan 1.1, and Vulkan 1.2, respectively, and if the application sets apiVersion to 1.2, the application can use the following versions of Vulkan:

• Vulkan 1.0 can be used with the instance and with all physical devices.
• Vulkan 1.1 can be used with the instance and with the physical devices that support Vulkan 1.1 and Vulkan 1.2.
• Vulkan 1.2 can be used with the physical device that supports Vulkan 1.2.

If we modify the above example so that the application sets apiVersion to 1.1, then the application must not use Vulkan 1.2 functionality on the physical device that supports Vulkan 1.2.

Providing a NULL InstanceCreateInfo::pApplicationInfo or providing an apiVersion of 0 is equivalent to providing an apiVersion of VK_MAKE_API_VERSION(0,1,0,0).

Valid Usage

• If apiVersion is not 0, then it must be greater than or equal to API_VERSION_1_0

Valid Usage (Implicit)

• sType must be STRUCTURE_TYPE_APPLICATION_INFO

• pNext must be NULL
• If pApplicationName is not NULL, pApplicationName must be a null-terminated UTF-8 string
• If pEngineName is not NULL, pEngineName must be a null-terminated UTF-8 string

See Also

VK_VERSION_1_0, InstanceCreateInfo, StructureType

VkInstanceCreateInfo - Structure specifying parameters of a newly created instance

Description

To capture events that occur while creating or destroying an instance, an application can link a DebugReportCallbackCreateInfoEXT structure or a DebugUtilsMessengerCreateInfoEXT structure to the pNext chain of the InstanceCreateInfo structure passed to createInstance. This callback is only valid for the duration of the createInstance and the destroyInstance call. Use createDebugReportCallbackEXT or createDebugUtilsMessengerEXT to create persistent callback objects.

An application can add additional drivers by including the DirectDriverLoadingListLUNARG structure in the pNext chain of the InstanceCreateInfo structure passed to createInstance.

DirectDriverLoadingListLUNARG allows applications to ship drivers with themselves. Only drivers that are designed to work with it should be used, such as drivers that implement Vulkan in software or that implement Vulkan by translating it to a different API. Any driver that requires installation should not be used, such as hardware drivers.

Valid Usage

• If the pNext chain of InstanceCreateInfo includes a DebugReportCallbackCreateInfoEXT structure, the list of enabled extensions in ppEnabledExtensionNames must contain VK_EXT_debug_report

• If the pNext chain of InstanceCreateInfo includes a DebugUtilsMessengerCreateInfoEXT structure, the list of enabled extensions in ppEnabledExtensionNames must contain VK_EXT_debug_utils
• If the pNext chain includes a ExportMetalObjectCreateInfoEXT structure, its exportObjectType member must be either EXPORT_METAL_OBJECT_TYPE_METAL_DEVICE_BIT_EXT or EXPORT_METAL_OBJECT_TYPE_METAL_COMMAND_QUEUE_BIT_EXT
• If flags has the INSTANCE_CREATE_ENUMERATE_PORTABILITY_BIT_KHR bit set, the list of enabled extensions in ppEnabledExtensionNames must contain VK_KHR_portability_enumeration
• If the pNext chain of InstanceCreateInfo includes a DirectDriverLoadingListLUNARG structure, the list of enabled extensions in ppEnabledExtensionNames must contain VK_LUNARG_direct_driver_loading
• If the pNext chain of InstanceCreateInfo includes a LayerSettingsCreateInfoEXT structure, the list of enabled extensions in ppEnabledExtensionNames must contain VK_EXT_layer_settings
• If the pNext chain of InstanceCreateInfo includes a ValidationFeaturesEXT structure, the list of enabled extensions in ppEnabledExtensionNames must contain VK_EXT_validation_features
• If the pNext chain of InstanceCreateInfo includes a ValidationFlagsEXT structure, the list of enabled extensions in ppEnabledExtensionNames must contain VK_EXT_validation_flags

Valid Usage (Implicit)

• sType must be STRUCTURE_TYPE_INSTANCE_CREATE_INFO

• Each pNext member of any structure (including this one) in the pNext chain must be either NULL or a pointer to a valid instance of DebugReportCallbackCreateInfoEXT, DebugUtilsMessengerCreateInfoEXT, DirectDriverLoadingListLUNARG, ExportMetalObjectCreateInfoEXT, LayerSettingsCreateInfoEXT, ValidationFeaturesEXT, or ValidationFlagsEXT
• The sType value of each structure in the pNext chain must be unique, with the exception of structures of type DebugUtilsMessengerCreateInfoEXT, ExportMetalObjectCreateInfoEXT, or LayerSettingsCreateInfoEXT
• flags must be a valid combination of InstanceCreateFlagBits values
• If pApplicationInfo is not NULL, pApplicationInfo must be a valid pointer to a valid ApplicationInfo structure
• If enabledLayerCount is not 0, ppEnabledLayerNames must be a valid pointer to an array of enabledLayerCount null-terminated UTF-8 strings
• If enabledExtensionCount is not 0, ppEnabledExtensionNames must be a valid pointer to an array of enabledExtensionCount null-terminated UTF-8 strings

See Also

VK_VERSION_1_0, ApplicationInfo, InstanceCreateFlags, StructureType, createInstance

VkQueueFamilyProperties - Structure providing information about a queue family

Description

The value returned in minImageTransferGranularity has a unit of compressed texel blocks for images having a block-compressed format, and a unit of texels otherwise.

Possible values of minImageTransferGranularity are:

• (0,0,0) specifies that only whole mip levels must be transferred using the image transfer operations on the corresponding queues. In this case, the following restrictions apply to all offset and extent parameters of image transfer operations:

  • The x, y, and z members of a Offset3D parameter must always be zero.
  • The width, height, and depth members of a Extent3D parameter must always match the width, height, and depth of the image subresource corresponding to the parameter, respectively.

• (Ax, Ay, Az) where Ax, Ay, and Az are all integer powers of two. In this case the following restrictions apply to all image transfer operations:

  • x, y, and z of a Offset3D parameter must be integer multiples of Ax, Ay, and Az, respectively.
  • width of a Extent3D parameter must be an integer multiple of Ax, or else x + width must equal the width of the image subresource corresponding to the parameter.
  • height of a Extent3D parameter must be an integer multiple of Ay, or else y + height must equal the height of the image subresource corresponding to the parameter.
  • depth of a Extent3D parameter must be an integer multiple of Az, or else z + depth must equal the depth of the image subresource corresponding to the parameter.
  • If the format of the image corresponding to the parameters is one of the block-compressed formats then for the purposes of the above calculations the granularity must be scaled up by the compressed texel block dimensions.

Queues supporting graphics and/or compute operations must report (1,1,1) in minImageTransferGranularity, meaning that there are no additional restrictions on the granularity of image transfer operations for these queues. Other queues supporting image transfer operations are only required to support whole mip level transfers, thus minImageTransferGranularity for queues belonging to such queue families may be (0,0,0).

The Device Memory section describes memory properties queried from the physical device.

For physical device feature queries see the Features chapter.

See Also

VK_VERSION_1_0, Extent3D, QueueFamilyProperties2, QueueFlags, getPhysicalDeviceQueueFamilyProperties

VkPhysicalDeviceMemoryProperties - Structure specifying physical device memory properties

Description

The PhysicalDeviceMemoryProperties structure describes a number of memory heaps as well as a number of memory types that can be used to access memory allocated in those heaps. Each heap describes a memory resource of a particular size, and each memory type describes a set of memory properties (e.g. host cached vs. uncached) that can be used with a given memory heap. Allocations using a particular memory type will consume resources from the heap indicated by that memory type’s heap index. More than one memory type may share each heap, and the heaps and memory types provide a mechanism to advertise an accurate size of the physical memory resources while allowing the memory to be used with a variety of different properties.

The number of memory heaps is given by memoryHeapCount and is less than or equal to MAX_MEMORY_HEAPS. Each heap is described by an element of the memoryHeaps array as a MemoryHeap structure. The number of memory types available across all memory heaps is given by memoryTypeCount and is less than or equal to MAX_MEMORY_TYPES. Each memory type is described by an element of the memoryTypes array as a MemoryType structure.

At least one heap must include MEMORY_HEAP_DEVICE_LOCAL_BIT in MemoryHeap::flags. If there are multiple heaps that all have similar performance characteristics, they may all include MEMORY_HEAP_DEVICE_LOCAL_BIT. In a unified memory architecture (UMA) system there is often only a single memory heap which is considered to be equally “local” to the host and to the device, and such an implementation must advertise the heap as device-local.

Memory contents within a tile memory heap, denoted by MEMORY_HEAP_TILE_MEMORY_BIT_QCOM, are only visible across the command buffers executed in a single command buffer submission batch within a queueSubmit or queueSubmit2 call. If the PhysicalDeviceTileMemoryHeapPropertiesQCOM::queueSubmitBoundary property is set, the visibility is extended across all batches in the submit call. Memory contents are discarded and made undefined after the respective submission batch or submit call. Tile memory may have different performance characteristics than non tile memory. Tile memory can be used simultaneously by command buffers in other queues without invalidating each others contents. Collectively, these rules define the tile memory scope.

Tile memory heaps work differently than most heaps as it is allowing addressing on device cache memory. Therefore, the heap’s address space is aliased across the different queues, with each queue retaining its individual copy of the heap. The implementation takes care of any required saving and restoring of the tile memory contents.

Effectively, this means that the same address in the heap in different queues have simultaneously different defined contents and the contents has a lifespan scoped to the submit or batch for that specific queues.

Each memory type returned by getPhysicalDeviceMemoryProperties must have its propertyFlags set to one of the following values:

• 0
• MEMORY_PROPERTY_HOST_VISIBLE_BIT | MEMORY_PROPERTY_HOST_COHERENT_BIT
• MEMORY_PROPERTY_HOST_VISIBLE_BIT | MEMORY_PROPERTY_HOST_CACHED_BIT
• MEMORY_PROPERTY_HOST_VISIBLE_BIT | MEMORY_PROPERTY_HOST_CACHED_BIT | MEMORY_PROPERTY_HOST_COHERENT_BIT
• MEMORY_PROPERTY_DEVICE_LOCAL_BIT
• MEMORY_PROPERTY_DEVICE_LOCAL_BIT | MEMORY_PROPERTY_HOST_VISIBLE_BIT | MEMORY_PROPERTY_HOST_COHERENT_BIT
• MEMORY_PROPERTY_DEVICE_LOCAL_BIT | MEMORY_PROPERTY_HOST_VISIBLE_BIT | MEMORY_PROPERTY_HOST_CACHED_BIT
• MEMORY_PROPERTY_DEVICE_LOCAL_BIT | MEMORY_PROPERTY_HOST_VISIBLE_BIT | MEMORY_PROPERTY_HOST_CACHED_BIT | MEMORY_PROPERTY_HOST_COHERENT_BIT
• MEMORY_PROPERTY_DEVICE_LOCAL_BIT | MEMORY_PROPERTY_LAZILY_ALLOCATED_BIT
• MEMORY_PROPERTY_PROTECTED_BIT
• MEMORY_PROPERTY_PROTECTED_BIT | MEMORY_PROPERTY_DEVICE_LOCAL_BIT
• MEMORY_PROPERTY_HOST_VISIBLE_BIT | MEMORY_PROPERTY_HOST_COHERENT_BIT | MEMORY_PROPERTY_DEVICE_COHERENT_BIT_AMD
• MEMORY_PROPERTY_HOST_VISIBLE_BIT | MEMORY_PROPERTY_HOST_CACHED_BIT | MEMORY_PROPERTY_HOST_COHERENT_BIT | MEMORY_PROPERTY_DEVICE_COHERENT_BIT_AMD
• MEMORY_PROPERTY_DEVICE_LOCAL_BIT | MEMORY_PROPERTY_DEVICE_COHERENT_BIT_AMD
• MEMORY_PROPERTY_DEVICE_LOCAL_BIT | MEMORY_PROPERTY_HOST_VISIBLE_BIT | MEMORY_PROPERTY_HOST_COHERENT_BIT | MEMORY_PROPERTY_DEVICE_COHERENT_BIT_AMD
• MEMORY_PROPERTY_DEVICE_LOCAL_BIT | MEMORY_PROPERTY_HOST_VISIBLE_BIT | MEMORY_PROPERTY_HOST_CACHED_BIT | MEMORY_PROPERTY_HOST_COHERENT_BIT | MEMORY_PROPERTY_DEVICE_COHERENT_BIT_AMD
• MEMORY_PROPERTY_HOST_VISIBLE_BIT | MEMORY_PROPERTY_HOST_COHERENT_BIT | MEMORY_PROPERTY_DEVICE_COHERENT_BIT_AMD | MEMORY_PROPERTY_DEVICE_UNCACHED_BIT_AMD
• MEMORY_PROPERTY_HOST_VISIBLE_BIT | MEMORY_PROPERTY_HOST_CACHED_BIT | MEMORY_PROPERTY_HOST_COHERENT_BIT | MEMORY_PROPERTY_DEVICE_COHERENT_BIT_AMD | MEMORY_PROPERTY_DEVICE_UNCACHED_BIT_AMD
• MEMORY_PROPERTY_DEVICE_LOCAL_BIT | MEMORY_PROPERTY_DEVICE_COHERENT_BIT_AMD | MEMORY_PROPERTY_DEVICE_UNCACHED_BIT_AMD
• MEMORY_PROPERTY_DEVICE_LOCAL_BIT | MEMORY_PROPERTY_HOST_VISIBLE_BIT | MEMORY_PROPERTY_HOST_COHERENT_BIT | MEMORY_PROPERTY_DEVICE_COHERENT_BIT_AMD | MEMORY_PROPERTY_DEVICE_UNCACHED_BIT_AMD
• MEMORY_PROPERTY_DEVICE_LOCAL_BIT | MEMORY_PROPERTY_HOST_VISIBLE_BIT | MEMORY_PROPERTY_HOST_CACHED_BIT | MEMORY_PROPERTY_HOST_COHERENT_BIT | MEMORY_PROPERTY_DEVICE_COHERENT_BIT_AMD | MEMORY_PROPERTY_DEVICE_UNCACHED_BIT_AMD
• MEMORY_PROPERTY_DEVICE_LOCAL_BIT | MEMORY_PROPERTY_RDMA_CAPABLE_BIT_NV

There must be at least one memory type with both the MEMORY_PROPERTY_HOST_VISIBLE_BIT and MEMORY_PROPERTY_HOST_COHERENT_BIT bits set in its propertyFlags. There must be at least one memory type with the MEMORY_PROPERTY_DEVICE_LOCAL_BIT bit set in its propertyFlags. If the deviceCoherentMemory feature is enabled, there must be at least one memory type with the MEMORY_PROPERTY_DEVICE_COHERENT_BIT_AMD bit set in its propertyFlags.

For each pair of elements X and Y returned in memoryTypes, X must be placed at a lower index position than Y if:

• the set of bit flags returned in the propertyFlags member of X is a strict subset of the set of bit flags returned in the propertyFlags member of Y; or
• the propertyFlags members of X and Y are equal, and X belongs to a memory heap with greater performance (as determined in an implementation-specific manner) ; or
• the propertyFlags members of Y includes MEMORY_PROPERTY_DEVICE_COHERENT_BIT_AMD or MEMORY_PROPERTY_DEVICE_UNCACHED_BIT_AMD and X does not

There is no ordering requirement between X and Y elements for the case their propertyFlags members are not in a subset relation. That potentially allows more than one possible way to order the same set of memory types. Notice that the list of all allowed memory property flag combinations is written in a valid order. But if instead MEMORY_PROPERTY_DEVICE_LOCAL_BIT was before MEMORY_PROPERTY_HOST_VISIBLE_BIT | MEMORY_PROPERTY_HOST_COHERENT_BIT, the list would still be in a valid order.

There may be a performance penalty for using device coherent or uncached device memory types, and using these accidentally is undesirable. In order to avoid this, memory types with these properties always appear at the end of the list; but are subject to the same rules otherwise.

This ordering requirement enables applications to use a simple search loop to select the desired memory type along the lines of:

// Find a memory in `memoryTypeBitsRequirement` that includes all of `requiredProperties`
int32_t findProperties(const VkPhysicalDeviceMemoryProperties* pMemoryProperties,
                       uint32_t memoryTypeBitsRequirement,
                       VkMemoryPropertyFlags requiredProperties) {
    const uint32_t memoryCount = pMemoryProperties->memoryTypeCount;
    for (uint32_t memoryIndex = 0; memoryIndex < memoryCount; ++memoryIndex) {
        const uint32_t memoryTypeBits = (1 << memoryIndex);
        const bool isRequiredMemoryType = memoryTypeBitsRequirement & memoryTypeBits;

        const VkMemoryPropertyFlags properties =
            pMemoryProperties->memoryTypes[memoryIndex].propertyFlags;
        const bool hasRequiredProperties =
            (properties & requiredProperties) == requiredProperties;

        if (isRequiredMemoryType && hasRequiredProperties)
            return static_cast<int32_t>(memoryIndex);
    }

    // failed to find memory type
    return -1;
}

// Try to find an optimal memory type, or if it does not exist try fallback memory type
// `device` is the VkDevice
// `image` is the VkImage that requires memory to be bound
// `memoryProperties` properties as returned by vkGetPhysicalDeviceMemoryProperties
// `requiredProperties` are the property flags that must be present
// `optimalProperties` are the property flags that are preferred by the application
VkMemoryRequirements memoryRequirements;
vkGetImageMemoryRequirements(device, image, &memoryRequirements);
int32_t memoryType =
    findProperties(&memoryProperties, memoryRequirements.memoryTypeBits, optimalProperties);
if (memoryType == -1) // not found; try fallback properties
    memoryType =
        findProperties(&memoryProperties, memoryRequirements.memoryTypeBits, requiredProperties);

See Also

VK_VERSION_1_0, MemoryHeap, MemoryType, PhysicalDeviceMemoryProperties2, getPhysicalDeviceMemoryProperties

VkMemoryType - Structure specifying memory type

See Also

VK_VERSION_1_0, MemoryPropertyFlags, PhysicalDeviceMemoryProperties

VkMemoryHeap - Structure specifying a memory heap

See Also

VK_VERSION_1_0, DeviceSize, MemoryHeapFlags, PhysicalDeviceMemoryProperties

VkFormatProperties - Structure specifying image format properties

Description

If no format feature flags are supported, the format itself is not supported, and images of that format cannot be created.

If format is block-compressed, requires sampler Y′CBCR conversion, or is a depth/stencil format then bufferFeatures must not support any features for the format.

If format is not a multi-plane format then linearTilingFeatures and optimalTilingFeatures must not contain FORMAT_FEATURE_DISJOINT_BIT.

See Also

VK_VERSION_1_0, FormatFeatureFlags, FormatProperties2, getPhysicalDeviceFormatProperties

VkImageFormatProperties - Structure specifying an image format properties

Members

• maxExtent are the maximum image dimensions. See the Allowed Extent Values section below for how these values are constrained by type.

• maxMipLevels is the maximum number of mipmap levels. maxMipLevels must be equal to the number of levels in the complete mipmap chain based on the maxExtent.width, maxExtent.height, and maxExtent.depth, except when one of the following conditions is true, in which case it may instead be 1:

  • getPhysicalDeviceImageFormatProperties::tiling was IMAGE_TILING_LINEAR
  • PhysicalDeviceImageFormatInfo2::tiling was IMAGE_TILING_DRM_FORMAT_MODIFIER_EXT
  • the PhysicalDeviceImageFormatInfo2::pNext chain included a PhysicalDeviceExternalImageFormatInfo structure with a handle type included in the handleTypes member for which mipmap image support is not required
  • image format is one of the formats that require a sampler Y′CBCR conversion
  • flags contains IMAGE_CREATE_SUBSAMPLED_BIT_EXT

• maxArrayLayers is the maximum number of array layers. maxArrayLayers must be no less than PhysicalDeviceLimits::maxImageArrayLayers, except when one of the following conditions is true, in which case it may instead be 1:

  • tiling is IMAGE_TILING_LINEAR
  • tiling is IMAGE_TILING_OPTIMAL and type is IMAGE_TYPE_3D
  • format is one of the formats that require a sampler Y′CBCR conversion
• If tiling is IMAGE_TILING_DRM_FORMAT_MODIFIER_EXT, then maxArrayLayers must not be 0.
• sampleCounts is a bitmask of SampleCountFlagBits specifying all the supported sample counts for this image as described below.
• maxResourceSize is an upper bound on the total image size in bytes, inclusive of all image subresources. Implementations may have an address space limit on total size of a resource, which is advertised by this property. maxResourceSize must be at least 231.

Description

There is no mechanism to query the size of an image before creating it, to compare that size against maxResourceSize. If an application attempts to create an image that exceeds this limit, the creation will fail and createImage will return ERROR_OUT_OF_DEVICE_MEMORY. While the advertised limit must be at least 231, it may not be possible to create an image that approaches that size, particularly for IMAGE_TYPE_1D.

If the combination of parameters to getPhysicalDeviceImageFormatProperties is not supported by the implementation for use in createImage, then all members of ImageFormatProperties will be filled with zero.

Filling ImageFormatProperties with zero for unsupported formats is an exception to the usual rule that output structures have undefined contents on error. This exception was unintentional, but is preserved for backwards compatibility.

See Also

VK_VERSION_1_0, DeviceSize, Extent3D, ExternalImageFormatPropertiesNV, ImageFormatProperties2, SampleCountFlags, getPhysicalDeviceImageFormatProperties

VkPhysicalDeviceFeatures - Structure describing the fine-grained features that can be supported by an implementation

Members

This structure describes the following features:

See Also

VK_VERSION_1_0, Bool32, DeviceCreateInfo, PhysicalDeviceFeatures2, getPhysicalDeviceFeatures