Vulkan PostFX

Vulkan PostFX 1.4.0 — VPFX Native Pack Format v1 Update

This update moves the project onto the new VPFX native pack pipeline.

Added

• Added support for VPFX Native Pack Format v1 as the primary shader pack format.
• Added native pack.json manifest parsing for VPFX packs.
• Added native post_effect/main.json graph parsing for VPFX packs.
• Added validation for VPFX graph structure, runtime capabilities, and shader resource references.
• Added native ZIP pack discovery through the VPFX loading path.
• Added runtime materialization for VPFX ZIP shader assets.
• Added runtime loading for VPFX post-effect graphs from external ZIP packs.

Changed

• Switched external ZIP shader pack discovery to the new VPFX-native loading path.
• Updated the external pack activation flow so VPFX packs can now be selected directly from config and loaded as the active pack.
• Moved the pack pipeline away from the previous wrapper-style manifest assumptions toward a stricter native format.

Fixed

• Fixed the issue where external packs could load through the old path but were not yet attached to the new native pack standard.
• Fixed ZIP pack selection so valid VPFX packs are now discovered, selected, materialized, and loaded through the main runtime path.
• Fixed external PostChain activation for VPFX packs loaded from ZIP resources.
• Fixed runtime external target expansion so vulkanpostfx:shadow_depth is available to external post chains.
• Fixed runtime PostChain bundle injection for the custom shadow depth target.

Runtime Status

The runtime now successfully:

• parses the VPFX graph,
• loads a VPFX native ZIP pack,
• selects the configured external pack,
• materializes ZIP shader assets into the runtime namespace,
• loads the external post_effect/main.json,
• resolves the external PostChain,
• and injects the runtime shadow depth target during execution.

Notes

• This release establishes the native VPFX pack standard as the main external pack path.
• VPFX is a native format for this project and is not intended to be an OptiFine or Iris compatibility layer.
• The current release is focused on native pack loading, validation, and execution bring-up.
• Visual quality and shadow behavior will continue to improve in later updates.

Known Limitations

• This is still an experimental native-pack milestone rather than a final visual-complete shader release.
• Logging is currently verbose in some runtime paths and may be reduced in future updates.
• The project is now standardized around VPFX-native packs, so older non-VPFX pack layouts are not the target path going forward.