VulkanTools Documentation

The VK_LAYER_LUNARG_screenshot layer is a Vulkan layer used to record frames from your application to image files.

To enable and configure this layer, you can use the Vulkan Configurator included with the Vulkan SDK, or follow standard Vulkan layer configuration procedures.

VulkanTools uses a custom process for managing C/C++ dependencies, similar to vcpkg.

• Enable dependency updates: Pass -D UPDATE_DEPS=ON during CMake configuration. This will grab dependencies listed in scripts/known_good.json.
• Default behavior: UPDATE_DEPS is OFF by default to remain compatible with system package managers.

Testing custom dependency versions: To test a specific dependency version without modifying known_good.json, you can modify CMAKE_PREFIX_PATH. Important: You must delete CMakeCache.txt (or the entire build directory) to clear cached search results before re-configuring.

# Delete the CMakeCache.txt which will cache find_* results
rm build -rf/
cmake -S . -B build/ ... -D CMAKE_PREFIX_PATH=~/foobar/my_custom_glslang_install/ ...

The Vulkan Layers Configuration tab is used to enable and set the execution order of Vulkan layers for Vulkan applications.

Through the layer configuration context menu, you can generate various configuration outputs, including:

• Documentation
• vk_layer_settings.txt files
• Environment variable scripts
• VK_EXT_layer_settings C++ helper library code

The Vulkan Drivers tab provides tools to:

• Add new Vulkan drivers to the system.
• Sort Vulkan physical devices.
• Force specific Vulkan physical devices to be used by all Vulkan applications.

Vulkan layers are libraries that intercept or hook Vulkan entry points for debugging, validation, or monitoring. They function in a hierarchy: when a layer intercepts an entry point, it processes it; otherwise, the call is passed to the next layer in the chain (which could be the driver).

Types of Layers:

• Instance Layers: Intercept instance-level entry points (functions where VkInstance or VkPhysicalDevice is the first parameter). These are activated at vkCreateInstance time.
• Device Layers: Intercept device-level entry points (functions where VkDevice, VkCommandBuffer, or VkQueue is the first parameter). These are activated at vkCreateDevice time.
• Global Layers: Intercept both instance and device level entry points.

Layers can be activated via vkCreateDevice/vkCreateInstance calls or by setting the VK_INSTANCE_LAYERS environment variable.

The Vulkan Diagnostics tab is used to generate diagnostic information for debugging. You can generate and export various logs, such as:

• Vulkan Loader logs
• Vulkan Loader configuration
• vulkaninfo output

These logs are intended to be shared when submitting bug reports to Vulkan GitHub repositories.