registry/vulkan/appendices/VK_NV_dedicated_allocation.txt

// Copyright (c) 2016-2020 NVIDIA Corporation
//
// SPDX-License-Identifier: CC-BY-4.0

include::{generated}/meta/{refprefix}VK_NV_dedicated_allocation.txt[]

=== Other Extension Metadata

*Last Modified Date*::
    2016-05-31
*IP Status*::
    No known IP claims.
*Contributors*::
  - Jeff Bolz, NVIDIA

=== Description

This extension allows device memory to be allocated for a particular buffer
or image resource, which on some devices can significantly improve the
performance of that resource.
Normal device memory allocations must support memory aliasing and sparse
binding, which could interfere with optimizations like framebuffer
compression or efficient page table usage.
This is important for render targets and very large resources, but need not
(and probably should not) be used for smaller resources that can benefit
from suballocation.

This extension adds a few small structures to resource creation and memory
allocation: a new structure that flags whether am image/buffer will have a
dedicated allocation, and a structure indicating the image or buffer that an
allocation will be bound to.

include::{generated}/interfaces/VK_NV_dedicated_allocation.txt[]

=== Examples

[source,c++]
--------------------------------------

    // Create an image with
    // VkDedicatedAllocationImageCreateInfoNV::dedicatedAllocation
    // set to VK_TRUE

    VkDedicatedAllocationImageCreateInfoNV dedicatedImageInfo =
    {
        VK_STRUCTURE_TYPE_DEDICATED_ALLOCATION_IMAGE_CREATE_INFO_NV,            // sType
        NULL,                                                                   // pNext
        VK_TRUE,                                                                // dedicatedAllocation
    };

    VkImageCreateInfo imageCreateInfo =
    {
        VK_STRUCTURE_TYPE_IMAGE_CREATE_INFO,    // sType
        &dedicatedImageInfo                     // pNext
        // Other members set as usual
    };

    VkImage image;
    VkResult result = vkCreateImage(
        device,
        &imageCreateInfo,
        NULL,                       // pAllocator
        &image);

    VkMemoryRequirements memoryRequirements;
    vkGetImageMemoryRequirements(
        device,
        image,
        &memoryRequirements);

    // Allocate memory with VkDedicatedAllocationMemoryAllocateInfoNV::image
    // pointing to the image we are allocating the memory for

    VkDedicatedAllocationMemoryAllocateInfoNV dedicatedInfo =
    {
        VK_STRUCTURE_TYPE_DEDICATED_ALLOCATION_MEMORY_ALLOCATE_INFO_NV,             // sType
        NULL,                                                                       // pNext
        image,                                                                      // image
        VK_NULL_HANDLE,                                                             // buffer
    };

    VkMemoryAllocateInfo memoryAllocateInfo =
    {
        VK_STRUCTURE_TYPE_MEMORY_ALLOCATE_INFO,                 // sType
        &dedicatedInfo,                                         // pNext
        memoryRequirements.size,                                // allocationSize
        FindMemoryTypeIndex(memoryRequirements.memoryTypeBits), // memoryTypeIndex
    };

    VkDeviceMemory memory;
    vkAllocateMemory(
        device,
        &memoryAllocateInfo,
        NULL,                       // pAllocator
        &memory);

    // Bind the image to the memory

    vkBindImageMemory(
        device,
        image,
        memory,
        0);

--------------------------------------

=== Version History

 * Revision 1, 2016-05-31 (Jeff Bolz)
   - Internal revisions