C Specification

To create an instance object, call:

// Provided by VK_VERSION_1_0
VkResult vkCreateInstance(
    const VkInstanceCreateInfo*                 pCreateInfo,
    const VkAllocationCallbacks*                pAllocator,
    VkInstance*                                 pInstance);

Parameters

  • pCreateInfo is a pointer to a VkInstanceCreateInfo structure controlling creation of the instance.

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

  • pInstance points a VkInstance handle in which the resulting instance is returned.

Description

vkCreateInstance verifies that the requested layers exist. If not, vkCreateInstance will return VK_ERROR_LAYER_NOT_PRESENT. Next vkCreateInstance 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, vkCreateInstance must return VK_ERROR_EXTENSION_NOT_PRESENT. After verifying and enabling the instance layers and extensions the VkInstance 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 vkCreateInstance time for the creation to succeed.

Valid Usage
Valid Usage (Implicit)

  • VUID-vkCreateInstance-pCreateInfo-parameter
    pCreateInfo must be a valid pointer to a valid VkInstanceCreateInfo structure

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

  • VUID-vkCreateInstance-pInstance-parameter
    pInstance must be a valid pointer to a VkInstance 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_LAYER_NOT_PRESENT

  • VK_ERROR_EXTENSION_NOT_PRESENT

  • VK_ERROR_INCOMPATIBLE_DRIVER

See Also

VK_VERSION_1_0, VkAllocationCallbacks, VkInstance, VkInstanceCreateInfo

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