vkGetPhysicalDeviceImageFormatProperties

vkGetPhysicalDevice... refers to a set of Vulkan API functions used to query the capabilities and properties of a VkPhysicalDevice, which represents a physical GPU or other compute device available to a Vulkan instance. The information obtained through these calls informs device selection and the configuration of a corresponding logical device.

Physical devices are discovered with vkEnumeratePhysicalDevices on a VkInstance. After selecting a suitable VkPhysicalDevice, applications use the vkGetPhysicalDevice* functions to retrieve features, memory properties, queue families, and other capabilities.

Key functions and what they provide:

- vkGetPhysicalDeviceProperties returns general device information such as deviceName, vendorID, deviceType, and limits (VkPhysicalDeviceLimits) that describe hardware-supported limits.

- vkGetPhysicalDeviceFeatures reports which optional features are supported by the device (for example, shader-related and architectural capabilities).

- vkGetPhysicalDeviceMemoryProperties describes memory heaps and memory types available on the device.

- vkGetPhysicalDeviceQueueFamilyProperties lists the queue families, including queueCount, queueFlags, timestampValidBits, and minImageTransferGranularity.

- vkGetPhysicalDeviceFormatProperties details support for a specific VkFormat, including tiling and feature support.

Extended queries are available via vkGetPhysicalDeviceProperties2 and vkGetPhysicalDeviceFormatProperties2, which provide access to additional properties defined by extensions and newer core versions. These queries are read-only and are essential for assessing compatibility with features such as ray tracing or multi-GPU configurations, and for making informed decisions when creating a logical device.