Note: this issue (or 2 issues) is discovered on Android PC emulation, but I believe it's a legitimate regression for any devices without any queues that support VK_QUEUE_SPARSE_BINDING_BIT

There are actually two bugs here, potentially affecting more than just Android drivers (though it seems to crash deterministically on some Android devices)

Bug 1: Regression in sparse queue family capability detection

Prior to https://github.com/doitsujin/dxvk/commit/5a4d89217249780e17451dbf6c7f678a4a0d472d, sparse queue functionality detection is done with a combination of

1. https://github.com/doitsujin/dxvk/blob/5982b0c9fccbdccd7f12421b2b12ae6f1e0af29f/src/dxvk/dxvk_adapter.cpp#L152

    if (m_queueFamilies[graphicsQueue].queueFlags & VK_QUEUE_SPARSE_BINDING_BIT) {
      // Prefer using the graphics queue as a sparse binding queue
      sparseQueue = graphicsQueue;
    } else {
      sparseQueue = findQueueFamily(
        VK_QUEUE_SPARSE_BINDING_BIT,
        VK_QUEUE_SPARSE_BINDING_BIT);
    }

1. https://github.com/doitsujin/dxvk/blob/5982b0c9fccbdccd7f12421b2b12ae6f1e0af29f/src/dxvk/dxvk_adapter.cpp#L526:

    DxvkAdapterQueueIndices queueFamilies = findQueueFamilies();
    queueFamiliySet.insert(queueFamilies.graphics);
    queueFamiliySet.insert(queueFamilies.transfer);

    if (queueFamilies.sparse != VK_QUEUE_FAMILY_IGNORED)
      queueFamiliySet.insert(queueFamilies.sparse);

Notably, sparse queues are conditionally enabled within the createinfo ONLY if the findQueueFamilies query didn't return VK_QUEUE_FAMILY_IGNORED

However, as of https://github.com/doitsujin/dxvk/commit/5a4d89217249780e17451dbf6c7f678a4a0d472d, the logic has changed to be unconditional enablement without the original VK_QUEUE_FAMILY_IGNORED check:

1. https://github.com/doitsujin/dxvk/blob/10c9ef05e08ca28af18366c7f163bf838828300c/src/dxvk/dxvk_device_info.cpp#L551

    if (graphicsQueue.queueFamilyProperties.queueFlags & VK_QUEUE_SPARSE_BINDING_BIT) {
      m_queueMapping.sparse.family = m_queueMapping.graphics.family;
    } else {
      m_queueMapping.sparse.family = findQueueFamily(
        VK_QUEUE_SPARSE_BINDING_BIT,
        VK_QUEUE_SPARSE_BINDING_BIT);
    }

    // Actually enable all the queues
    enableQueue(m_queueMapping.graphics);
    enableQueue(m_queueMapping.transfer);
    enableQueue(m_queueMapping.sparse);

1. https://github.com/doitsujin/dxvk/blob/10c9ef05e08ca28af18366c7f163bf838828300c/src/dxvk/dxvk_device_info.cpp#L577 which just enables the queue without checking if it's VK_QUEUE_FAMILY_IGNORED

In our case, from logs.txt you can see that the queue family for sparse is -1:

[19:23:19]  info:  Queues:
[19:23:19]  info:    Graphics : (0, 0)
[19:23:19]  info:    Transfer : (0, 0)
[19:23:19]  info:    Sparse   : (4294967295, 0)

I also added some debug logs to print out the deviceCreateInfo:

[19:23:19]  err:     queueCreateInfoCount: 2
[19:23:19]  err:       Queue[0]:
[19:23:19]  err:         sType: 2
[19:23:19]  err:         queueFamilyIndex: 0
[19:23:19]  err:         queueCount: 1
[19:23:19]  err:         pQueuePriorities: [ 1 ]
[19:23:19]  err:       Queue[1]:
[19:23:19]  err:         sType: 2
[19:23:19]  err:         queueFamilyIndex: 4294967295
[19:23:19]  err:         queueCount: 1
[19:23:19]  err:         pQueuePriorities: [ 1 ]

which tries to add a queueCreateInfo with a family index of -1/VK_QUEUE_FAMILY_IGNORED, causing vkCreateDevice to fail. I was able to confirm that changing the sparse queue enablement to

    // Actually enable all the queues
    enableQueue(m_queueMapping.graphics);
    enableQueue(m_queueMapping.transfer);
    // enableQueue(m_queueMapping.sparse);
    if (m_queueMapping.sparse.family != VK_QUEUE_FAMILY_IGNORED)
      enableQueue(m_queueMapping.sparse);

fixes the crash. However, if vkCreateDevice fails, it also shouldn't crash.

There's also a second bug that causes a null pointer exception / SEGFAULT when vkCreateDevice fails, which this bug inadvertently triggers.

Bug 2: SEGFAULT when vkCreateDevice fails due to change in error handling

The semantic of handling failed vkCreateDevice in dxvk::DxvkAdapter::createDevice was changed from throwing an exception (which downstream code still expects) to silently returning a nullptr (which downstream does not expect and does not check):

In the past, an error would've been thrown if vkCreateDevice fails: https://github.com/doitsujin/dxvk/blob/4f47cb21032926b1f136035e696dc286ebd3cdc7/src/dxvk/dxvk_adapter.cpp#L569

    if (vr != VK_SUCCESS)
      throw DxvkError("DxvkAdapter: Failed to create device");

Now, a nullptr is returned instead: https://github.com/doitsujin/dxvk/blob/10c9ef05e08ca28af18366c7f163bf838828300c/src/dxvk/dxvk_adapter.cpp#L228

    if (vr) {
      Logger::err(str::format("Failed to create Vulkan device: ", vr));
      return nullptr;
    }

However, it's still being called with the expectation that it throws instead of returning a nullptr, e.g.: https://github.com/doitsujin/dxvk/blob/4f47cb21032926b1f136035e696dc286ebd3cdc7/src/d3d11/d3d11_main.cpp#L103

    try {
      // ...
      Com<D3D11DXGIDevice> device = new D3D11DXGIDevice(
        pAdapter, nullptr, nullptr,
        dxvkInstance, dxvkAdapter, dxvkDevice, <-- is now nullable
        devFeatureLevel, Flags);
      // ...
    } catch (const DxvkError& e) {
      Logger::err("D3D11InternalCreateDevice: Failed to create D3D11 device");
      return E_FAIL;
    }

The D3D11DXGIDevice constructor then triggers:

  D3D11DXGIDevice::D3D11DXGIDevice(
          IDXGIAdapter*       pAdapter,
          ID3D12Device*       pD3D12Device,
          ID3D12CommandQueue* pD3D12Queue,
          Rc<DxvkInstance>    pDxvkInstance,
          Rc<DxvkAdapter>     pDxvkAdapter,
          Rc<DxvkDevice>      pDxvkDevice,
          D3D_FEATURE_LEVEL   FeatureLevel,
          UINT                FeatureFlags)
  : m_dxgiAdapter   (pAdapter),
    // ...
    m_dxvkDevice    (pDxvkDevice), <-- now nullable
    m_d3d11Device   (this, FeatureLevel, FeatureFlags),
    // ...

and the m_d3d11Device construction calls:

  D3D11Device::D3D11Device(
          D3D11DXGIDevice*    pContainer,
          D3D_FEATURE_LEVEL   FeatureLevel,
          UINT                FeatureFlags)
  : m_container         (pContainer),
    // ...
    m_dxvkDevice        (pContainer->GetDXVKDevice()), <-- now nullable
    m_dxvkAdapter       (m_dxvkDevice->adapter()),  <-- segfaults if dxvkDevice is null
    // ...

However, the user won't be able to play the game if vkCreateDevice fails, regardless of how it fails (segfaults vs exit(1))

Software information

TestD3D.exe

System information

• GPU: Adreno 650
• Driver: Turnip 25.0.0
• Wine version:
• DXVK version: Head as of 6/6/25 (v2.6.1-274-g10c9ef05)

Log files

Please attach Proton or Wine logs as a text file:

dxvk logs: logs.txt