Setting up Vulkan

Quick Links:

Installing the Vulkan SDK

  1. Go to https://vulkan.lunarg.com/sdk/home
  2. Download the latest version of the Vulkan SDK
  3. Run the installer
  4. Select the components that you want to install
  5. Click Install

Sample Code

By the end of this guide, you should be able to run the following code, although this code wont do much it will be able to create a Vulkan instance and then destroy it.

#include <vulkan/vulkan.h>

int main()
{
 // Create a Vulkan instance
 VkInstanceCreateInfo createInfo = {};
 createInfo.sType = VK_STRUCTURE_TYPE_INSTANCE_CREATE_INFO;

 VkInstance instance;
 vkCreateInstance(&createInfo, nullptr, &instance);

 // Destroy the Vulkan instance
 vkDestroyInstance(instance, nullptr);

 return 0;
}

output:

C:\...\MyProject\x64\Debug\MyProject.exe (process *) exited with code 0.

Visual Studio

Assuming you already have a project that builds, we will now add all the properties needed to start using the Vulkan SDK.

Adding the Vulkan SDK to your project

  1. Open your project in the Solution Explorer.
  2. Access Properties by right-clicking on your project.
  3. Go to C/C++.
    • In General:
      • For Additional Include Directories:
        • Open the dropdown menu.
        • Select Edit.
        • Add a new line with $(VULKAN_SDK)\Include.
        • Confirm with OK.
  4. Go to Linker.
    • In General:
      • For Additional Library Directories:
        • Open the dropdown menu.
        • Select Edit.
        • Add a new line with $(VULKAN_SDK)\Lib.
        • Confirm with OK.
    • In Input:
      • For Additional Dependencies.
        • Select Edit.
        • Add a new line with vulkan-1.lib.
        • Confirm with OK.
  5. Confirm with OK.

If you are using a 32-bit compiler, you will need to use $(VULKAN_SDK)\Lib32 instead of $(VULKAN_SDK)\Lib.

Common Errors In Visual Studio

Error Solution
vulkan/vulkan.h: No such file or directory Make sure that the directory that you added to VC++ Directories > Include Directories exists and contains the vulkan.h file
vulkan-1.lib: No such file or directory or LNK1104: cannot open file vulkan-1.lib Make sure that the directory that you added to VC++ Directories > Library Directories exists and contains the vulkan-1.lib file
LNK2019: unresolved external symbol _vkSomeFunction referenced in function _main Make sure that you added vulkan-1.lib to Linker > Input > Additional Dependencies. This can also happen if you are using a 32-bit compiler and you added $(VULKAN_SDK)\Lib instead of $(VULKAN_SDK)\Lib32 to VC++ Directories > Library Directories
I did everything right but I still get errors Make sure that you have the latest version of the Vulkan SDK installed. Next I would suggest checking that the $(VULKAN_SDK) variable is set correctly. You can do this by opening a command prompt and typing echo %VULKAN_SDK%. If the variable is not set correctly, you will need to set it manually. You can do this by going to Control Panel > System and Security > System > Advanced System Settings > Environment Variables. Next you want to click on New under User variables for <your username>. Now you want to set the variable name to VULKAN_SDK and the variable value to the path to the Vulkan SDK. For example C:\VulkanSDK\ <version>. Now you want to click OK and then OK again. Now you want to restart visual studio and try again. If you still get errors, I would suggest reinstalling the Vulkan SDK.

CMake

Cmake is a cross-platform build system that can be used to generate project files for a variety of IDEs and compilers. Cmake can be somewhat confusing as it has its own syntax, but once you get used to it, it is very easy to use and can actually be faster than using the IDEs built-in project generation.

To use the Vulkan SDK with CMake, you will need to use the FindVulkan.cmake module, This module is included with the Vulkan SDK, and it can be found in the C:\VulkanSDK\<version>\Bin directory.

find_package(Vulkan REQUIRED)

This will set the following variables:

  • Vulkan_FOUND
  • Vulkan_INCLUDE_DIRS
  • Vulkan_LIBRARIES
  • Vulkan_LIBRARY
  • Vulkan_LIBRARY_DEBUG
  • Vulkan_LIBRARY_RELEASE
  • Vulkan_LIBRARY_RELWITHDEBINFO
  • Vulkan_LIBRARY_MINSIZEREL

You can then use these variables to add the Vulkan SDK to your project.

target_include_directories(MyProject PRIVATE ${Vulkan_INCLUDE_DIRS})
target_link_libraries(MyProject PRIVATE ${Vulkan_LIBRARIES})

If you are using a 32-bit compiler, you will need to use Vulkan_LIBRARY_DEBUG and Vulkan_LIBRARY_RELEASE instead of Vulkan_LIBRARY.

Complete CMakeLists.txt 

cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 3.16)

project(MyProject)

find_package(Vulkan REQUIRED)

add_executable(MyProject src/main.cpp)

target_include_directories(MyProject PRIVATE ${Vulkan_INCLUDE_DIRS})
target_link_libraries(MyProject PRIVATE ${Vulkan_LIBRARIES})

Common Errors In CMake

Error Solution
Could not find a package configuration file provided by “Vulkan”.
Could not find module FindVulkan.cmake or a configuration file for package “Vulkan”		 Make sure that you have the latest version of the Vulkan SDK installed. Next I would suggest checking that the VULKAN_SDK environment variable is set correctly. You can do this by opening a command prompt and typing echo %VULKAN_SDK%. If the variable is not set correctly, you will need to set it manually. You can do this by going to Control Panel > System and Security > System > Advanced System Settings > Environment Variables. Next you want to click on New under User variables for <your username>. Now you want to set the variable name to VULKAN_SDK and the variable value to the path to the Vulkan SDK. For example C:\VulkanSDK\ <version>. Now you want to click OK and then OK again. Now you want to restart visual studio and try again. If you still get errors, I would suggest reinstalling the Vulkan SDK.

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