D3D11CreateDevice

Synopsis

HRESULT D3D11CreateDevice(
    IDXGIAdapter*            pAdapter,
    D3D_DRIVER_TYPE         DriverType,
    HMODULE                  Software,
    UINT                     Flags,
    const D3D_FEATURE_LEVEL* pFeatureLevels,
    UINT                     FeatureLevels,
    UINT                     SDKVersion,
    ID3D11Device**           ppDevice,
    D3D_FEATURE_LEVEL*       pFeatureLevel,
    ID3D11DeviceContext**    ppImmediateContext
);

Parameters

Parameter	In/Out	Description
`pAdapter`	In	Pointer to the adapter to use, or `NULL` to let the system select one.
`DriverType`	In	Specifies the driver type (e.g., `D3D_DRIVER_TYPE_HARDWARE`).
`Software`	In	Handle to a DLL that implements a software rasterizer (only used when `DriverType` is `D3D_DRIVER_TYPE_SOFTWARE`).
`Flags`	In	Creation flags (e.g., `D3D11_CREATE_DEVICE_DEBUG`).
`pFeatureLevels`	In	Array of feature levels to attempt, ordered from highest to lowest.
`FeatureLevels`	In	Number of entries in `pFeatureLevels`.
`SDKVersion`	In	Must be set to `D3D11_SDK_VERSION`.
`ppDevice`	Out	Receives the created `ID3D11Device` interface pointer.
`pFeatureLevel`	Out	Returns the feature level of the created device.
`ppImmediateContext`	Out	Receives the immediate context (`ID3D11DeviceContext`).

Return Value

If the function succeeds, it returns S_OK. Otherwise, it returns an HRESULT error code such as E_INVALIDARG or DXGI_ERROR_NOT_FOUND.

Remarks

The function creates a Direct3D 11 device and an immediate context. The device represents the virtual GPU, while the context is used for rendering commands.
When DriverType is D3D_DRIVER_TYPE_HARDWARE and pAdapter is NULL, the runtime selects the default adapter.
Debug layers can be enabled with D3D11_CREATE_DEVICE_DEBUG but require the Graphics Tools optional component to be installed.
Feature level negotiation determines the highest level supported by both the hardware and the requested list.

Example

#include <d3d11.h>
#include <dxgi.h>
#pragma comment(lib, "d3d11.lib")
#pragma comment(lib, "dxgi.lib")

int main()
{
    ID3D11Device*           device = nullptr;
    ID3D11DeviceContext*    context = nullptr;
    D3D_FEATURE_LEVEL       featureLevel;

    D3D_FEATURE_LEVEL levels[] = {
        D3D_FEATURE_LEVEL_11_1,
        D3D_FEATURE_LEVEL_11_0,
        D3D_FEATURE_LEVEL_10_1,
        D3D_FEATURE_LEVEL_10_0
    };

    HRESULT hr = D3D11CreateDevice(
        nullptr,                    // default adapter
        D3D_DRIVER_TYPE_HARDWARE,
        nullptr,
        D3D11_CREATE_DEVICE_DEBUG,
        levels,
        _countof(levels),
        D3D11_SDK_VERSION,
        &device,
        &featureLevel,
        &context
    );

    if (SUCCEEDED(hr))
    {
        // Device and context ready for rendering
    }
    // Release resources
    if (context) context->Release();
    if (device)  device->Release();
    return 0;
}

Synopsis

Parameters

Return Value

Remarks

Example

See Also