VK_KHR_load_store_op_none
This document describes useful load and store ops that did not exist in Vulkan 1.0.
1. Problem Statement
1.1. No-op Store Op
In Vulkan 1.0, there exist two VkAttachmentStoreOp
values: VK_ATTACHMENT_STORE_OP_STORE
and VK_ATTACHMENT_STORE_OP_DONT_CARE
.
The former causes the attachment contents to be written back to the image at the end of the render pass, and the latter causes the contents to be discarded.
Both these operations are write operations.
As a result:
-
The application needs to synchronize with these operations as write operations
-
The application needs to consume expensive bandwidth on some devices by using
VK_ATTACHMENT_STORE_OP_STORE
even if the attachment contents have not been modified.
In some cases, for example for a depth/stencil attachment that is being used as read-only, the contents of the attachment are not modified, yet should not be discarded either. There is thus a need for another store operation to retain the contents of the attachment without a write.
1.2. No-op Load Op
In Vulkan 1.0, there exist three VkAttachmentLoadOp
values: VK_ATTACHMENT_LOAD_OP_LOAD
, VK_ATTACHMENT_LOAD_OP_CLEAR
, and VK_ATTACHMENT_LOAD_OP_DONT_CARE
.
In some scenarios, a render pass subpass may not actually use an attachment.
Using VK_ATTACHMENT_LOAD_OP_LOAD
(followed by VK_ATTACHMENT_STORE_OP_NONE_KHR
) can be detrimental to performance on some devices.
Note that VK_ATTACHMENT_LOAD_OP_DONT_CARE
is not usable as it is a write operation and may corrupt the contents of the attachment.
In Vulkan 1.0, these attachments should be placed in a "preserve attachment" (i.e. `VkSubpassDescription::pPreserveAttachments).
This is not always possible however, in software where usage of attachments is not a priori known. This is the case in OpenGL emulation layers for example, and certain game engines. Due to the render pass compatibility rules, the application is not allowed to assume all attachments are used, only to move some to preserve attachments at the end of a logical render pass (where the Vulkan render pass is created).
The VK_KHR_dynamic_rendering
extension solves this problem by allowing the application to provide VK_NULL_HANDLE
in VkRenderingAttachmentInfo::imageView
.
The applications can thus simply avoid providing the view of the attachments that need to be preserved.
For applications using legacy render passes however, the problem remains.
2. Proposal
The VK_QCOM_render_pass_store_ops
extension introduced VK_ATTACHMENT_STORE_OP_NONE_QCOM
, which was later simultaneously adopted in the VK_EXT_load_store_op_none
and VK_KHR_dynamic_rendering
extensions.
This store op indicates to the driver that an attachment was not written to during a render pass, and thus it is not required to be updated after the render pass.
This is not a write operation and no such synchronization is necessary with this op.
The VK_EXT_load_store_op_none
extension introduced VK_ATTACHMENT_LOAD_OP_NONE_EXT
, analogous to VK_ATTACHMENT_STORE_OP_NONE_EXT
.
This load op indicates to the driver that an attachment does not need loading.
Together with VK_ATTACHMENT_STORE_OP_NONE_EXT
, this load op can be used to effectively turn an attachment into a preserve attachment without having to place it in VkSubpassDescription::pPreserveAttachments
.