Graphics API

Intermediate

Graphics APIs are responsible for performing basic rendering operations. They differ in platform availability and have their own benefits and drawbacks.

Supported graphics APIs

Stride has support for the following APIs:

Direct3D11

Available on platforms: Windows

Direct3D is a graphics API developed by Microsoft. Stride's implementation for version 11 is the most mature, which is why it's used as the default on Windows.

Direct3D12

Available on platforms: Windows

Version 12 of Direct3D is the newest release of the API. Currently, Stride's implementation for it isn't as stable as the one for 11, which is why it isn't used by default.

Vulkan

Available on platforms: Windows, Linux, MacOS, Android, iOS

Vulkan is a modern graphics API that provides great performance benefits and control over how rendering is performed. It's used as the default on non-Windows platforms.

Changing the graphics API

To change the graphics API used by your project, add the following line to the PropertyGroup of a platform package's .csproj file:

<StrideGraphicsApi>NameOfGraphicsAPIHere</StrideGraphicsApi>

The following values are supported:

Direct3D11
Direct3D12
Vulkan

Here's an example of how this would look like:

<Project Sdk="Microsoft.NET.Sdk">

    <PropertyGroup>
        <TargetFramework>net10.0-windows</TargetFramework>
        <RuntimeIdentifier>win-x64</RuntimeIdentifier>
        <ApplicationIcon>Resources/Icon.ico</ApplicationIcon>
        <OutputType>WinExe</OutputType>
        <RootNamespace>MyGame</RootNamespace>
        <ApplicationManifest>app.manifest</ApplicationManifest>
        
        <StrideGraphicsApi>Vulkan</StrideGraphicsApi>
    </PropertyGroup>

    ...
    
</Project>

Checking the API at runtime

You can check which API your project is using from GraphicsDevice.Platform.

public override void Update()
{
    DebugText.Print($"Graphics API: {GraphicsDevice.Platform}", new(50, 50));
}

Building the engine with a different API

When building the engine from source code, it will only contain support for your OS's default graphics API. To build all APIs, set StrideGraphicsApiDependentBuildAll to true in build parameters.

msbuild -p:StrideGraphicsApiDependentBuildAll=true ./build/Stride.sln

To only build selected APIs, set the StrideGraphicsApis property to your desired values.

Powershell
Bash

msbuild -p:StrideGraphicsApis=`"Api1`;Api2`" ./build/Stride.sln

msbuild -p:StrideGraphicsApis=\"Api1\;Api2\" ./build/Stride.sln

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