C Specification

A logical device is created as a connection to a physical device. To create a logical device, call:

// Provided by VK_VERSION_1_0
VkResult vkCreateDevice(
    VkPhysicalDevice                            physicalDevice,
    const VkDeviceCreateInfo*                   pCreateInfo,
    const VkAllocationCallbacks*                pAllocator,
    VkDevice*                                   pDevice);

Parameters

  • physicalDevice must be one of the device handles returned from a call to vkEnumeratePhysicalDevices (see Physical Device Enumeration).

  • pCreateInfo is a pointer to a VkDeviceCreateInfo structure containing information about how to create the device.

  • pAllocator controls host memory allocation as described in the Memory Allocation chapter.

  • pDevice is a pointer to a handle in which the created VkDevice is returned.

Description

vkCreateDevice verifies that extensions and features requested in the ppEnabledExtensionNames and pEnabledFeatures members of pCreateInfo, respectively, are supported by the implementation. If any requested extension is not supported, vkCreateDevice must return VK_ERROR_EXTENSION_NOT_PRESENT. If any requested feature is not supported, vkCreateDevice must return VK_ERROR_FEATURE_NOT_PRESENT. Support for extensions can be checked before creating a device by querying vkEnumerateDeviceExtensionProperties. Support for features can similarly be checked by querying vkGetPhysicalDeviceFeatures.

After verifying and enabling the extensions the VkDevice object is created and returned to the application.

Multiple logical devices can be created from the same physical device. Logical device creation may fail due to lack of device-specific resources (in addition to other errors). If that occurs, vkCreateDevice will return VK_ERROR_TOO_MANY_OBJECTS.

Valid Usage
Valid Usage (Implicit)

  • VUID-vkCreateDevice-physicalDevice-parameter
    physicalDevice must be a valid VkPhysicalDevice handle

  • VUID-vkCreateDevice-pCreateInfo-parameter
    pCreateInfo must be a valid pointer to a valid VkDeviceCreateInfo structure

  • VUID-vkCreateDevice-pAllocator-parameter
    If pAllocator is not NULL, pAllocator must be a valid pointer to a valid VkAllocationCallbacks structure

  • VUID-vkCreateDevice-pDevice-parameter
    pDevice must be a valid pointer to a VkDevice handle

Return Codes
On success, this command returns

  • VK_SUCCESS

On failure, this command returns

  • VK_ERROR_OUT_OF_HOST_MEMORY

  • VK_ERROR_OUT_OF_DEVICE_MEMORY

  • VK_ERROR_INITIALIZATION_FAILED

  • VK_ERROR_EXTENSION_NOT_PRESENT

  • VK_ERROR_FEATURE_NOT_PRESENT

  • VK_ERROR_TOO_MANY_OBJECTS

  • VK_ERROR_DEVICE_LOST

See Also

VK_VERSION_1_0, VkAllocationCallbacks, VkDevice, VkDeviceCreateInfo, VkPhysicalDevice

Document Notes

For more information, see the Vulkan Specification

This page is extracted from the Vulkan Specification. Fixes and changes should be made to the Specification, not directly.

Copyright

Copyright 2014-2024 The Khronos Group Inc.

SPDX-License-Identifier: CC-BY-4.0