1.30.1 - QUAKE ERROR: Couldn't create Vulkan device Linux

[JoshuaPettus]

When I try to launch the executable I get this out put from the commandline

Found SDL version 2.26.2 Detected 12 CPUs. Initializing vkQuake v1.30.1 Built with GCC 7.5.0 Host_Init Playing registered version. Console initialized. UDP4 Initialized UDPv6 Initialized Server using protocol 999+ (FTE-RMQ) Exe: 03:00:17 Mar 15 2023

Vulkan Initialization Using Vulkan 1.1 Instance extensions: VK_KHR_surface VK_KHR_xlib_surface VK_KHR_get_surface_capabilities2 VK_KHR_get_physical_device_properties2

Vendor: NVIDIA Device: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 Ti Driver: NVIDIA 470.161.03 Using subgroup operations Using ray queries

ERROR-OUT BEGIN

QUAKE ERROR: Couldn't create Vulkan device

Using Fedora 37

I don't get any other information as to why it failed. It did work with 1.22.3. Not sure what else I can provide

[Novum]

Do other applications that use Vulkan ray tracing work? Very likely a borked driver.

[j4reporting]

I have no issue with the driver installed from rpmfusion.org (RTX 2060) on Fedora37, driver version is 525.89.02. I'm not using the appimage, though. But this should not make any difference.

[Novum]

It's not an application issue. If I would have to guess it's likely that libnvidia-rtcore isn't correctly installed.

[JoshuaPettus]

Thank you everyone. I agree, it must be that, Thank you for pointing me in the right direction and your suggestions. I'll give it a try when I can take a look at it. In answer to the vulkan ray tracing, I'm not sure i have any other applications that make use of ray tracing.

[JoshuaPettus]

Thanks again, I managed to clean the slate, and get the rpmfusion.org drivers working. It's working great now. Thanks again for pointing me in the right direction!

[Novum]

Glad that it works

[jgb]

@Novum actually I've got the exact same error. Previous versions of vkQuake worked fine. The newest one fails like this:

Command line: ./vkquake.AppImage
Found SDL version 2.26.2
Detected 16 CPUs.
Initializing vkQuake v1.30.1
Built with GCC 7.5.0
Host_Init
Playing registered version.
Console initialized.
UDP4 Initialized
UDPv6 Initialized
Server using protocol 999+ (FTE-RMQ)
Exe: 03:00:17 Mar 15 2023

Vulkan Initialization
Using Vulkan 1.1
Instance extensions:
 VK_KHR_surface
 VK_KHR_xlib_surface
 VK_KHR_get_surface_capabilities2
 VK_KHR_get_physical_device_properties2

Vendor: NVIDIA
Device: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti
Driver: NVIDIA 525.89.02
Using subgroup operations
Using ray queries

ERROR-OUT BEGIN

QUAKE ERROR: Couldn't create Vulkan device

I installed libnvidia-rtcore like recommended above, didn't fix the problem. I'm on debian linux with glibc 2.36

[JoshuaPettus]

Their point is it's a setup issue. There is nothing wrong with the app itself. I myself had to do some digging online, totally clear out all NVIDIA drivers and reinstall from scratch. Made more difficult as I need it to work with SecureBoot but not impossible.

Also Debian, being a distribution that favors stability and really, really old packages, and NVIDIA which is always a wildcard, and is pain to get working on even cutting edge distros, I wouldn't be surprised if you are in for some pain. Not to say it's impossible, but you might have to do somethings which are an antithesis to Debian stability like go with third party repos, which are probably a mess. I really wouldn't recommend it normally.

[Novum]

@jgb I'm not your Linux distro support person. It's not an app bug and I will not remove the RT code because some people have corrupted systems.

[jgb]

@jgb I'm not your Linux distro support person. It's not an app bug and I will not remove the RT code because some people have corrupted systems.

Amazing response! The friendliness really oozes from my screen. I'm running debian (and have been for over 20 years), with the official nvidia binary drivers, and my system works just fine, with games and anything else. Reinstalling the drivers from scratch didn't help either, neither did installing libnvidia-rtcore. I'll get back to my "corrupted system" now.

[Novum]

It's not an app problem, therefore yes, your driver install is incomplete or corrupted. This isn't a debate. There is no issue in my code. The Vulkan init code has been the same since a dozen versions of vkQuake, it's just asking for RT extensions now. There is literally nothing I can do to help you other than to revert useful features for people with working systems.

Other applications on your system just don't use Vulkan ray tracing.

Debian probably ships some absurdly old Vulkan loader. Not my bug.