# VK_EXT_direct_mode_display(3) Manual Page

## Name

VK_EXT_direct_mode_display - instance extension

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## Registered Extension Number

89

## Revision

1

## Ratification Status

Ratified

## Extension and Version Dependencies

VK_KHR_display

## Contact

- James Jones [GitHub]cubanismo

## Other Extension Metadata

Last Modified Date

  2016-12-13

IP Status

  No known IP claims.

Contributors

  - Pierre Boudier, NVIDIA

  - James Jones, NVIDIA

  - Damien Leone, NVIDIA

  - Pierre-Loup Griffais, Valve

  - Liam Middlebrook, NVIDIA

## Description

This is extension, along with related platform extensions, allows applications to take exclusive control of displays associated with a native windowing system. This is especially useful for virtual reality applications that wish to hide HMDs (head mounted displays) from the native platform’s display management system, desktop, and/or other applications.

## New Commands

- vkReleaseDisplayEXT

## New Enum Constants

- `VK_EXT_DIRECT_MODE_DISPLAY_EXTENSION_NAME`

- `VK_EXT_DIRECT_MODE_DISPLAY_SPEC_VERSION`

## Issues

1) Should this extension and its related platform-specific extensions leverage `VK_KHR_display`, or provide separate equivalent interfaces.

RESOLVED: Use `VK_KHR_display` concepts and objects. `VK_KHR_display` can be used to enumerate all displays on the system, including those attached to/in use by a window system or native platform, but `VK_KHR_display_swapchain` will fail to create a swapchain on in-use displays. This extension and its platform-specific children will allow applications to grab in-use displays away from window systems and/or native platforms, allowing them to be used with `VK_KHR_display_swapchain`.

2) Are separate calls needed to acquire displays and enable direct mode?

RESOLVED: No, these operations happen in one combined command. Acquiring a display puts it into direct mode.

## Version History

- Revision 1, 2016-12-13 (James Jones)

  - Initial draft

## See Also

No cross-references are available

## Document Notes

For more information, see the Vulkan Specification

This page is a generated document. Fixes and changes should be made to the generator scripts, not directly.

## Copyright

Copyright 2014-2025 The Khronos Group Inc.

SPDX-License-Identifier: CC-BY-4.0