Vulkan PostFX 1.9.0

Highlights

Vulkan PostFX 1.9.0 introduces VPFX v1 alpha, a new standardized shader pack / post-processing pack format for declaring pack metadata, capabilities, render graph structure, shader paths, and runtime resources.

This release focuses on VPFX infrastructure rather than new visual effects. It adds the pack format, validation pipeline, runtime materialization tests, backend abstraction, test packs, and authoring documentation.

Added

• Added VPFX native pack format v1 alpha.
• Added pack.json manifest parsing and validation.
• Added VPFX graph parsing and validation.
• Added pass id / debug_label support for clearer diagnostics.
• Added non-post/ shader path support.
  • Shader references now use <namespace>:<path>.
  • Zip entries are resolved as shaders/<path>.vsh and shaders/<path>.fsh.
• Added shader include preprocessing.
  • Supports #include "...".
  • Rejects .. path traversal.
  • Detects recursive include cycles.
• Added VPFX validation smoke test.
• Added VPFX runtime materialization smoke test.
• Added positive_minimal minimal VPFX test pack.
• Added multiple negative_* test packs for validator coverage.
• Added explicit VPFX runtime backend abstraction:
  • VpfxRuntimeBackend
  • VpfxRuntimeBackendCapabilities
  • VpfxPostChainBackend
• ActivePostEffectBridge now materializes VPFX packs through the explicit runtime backend abstraction.
• Added VPFX v1 pack format documentation.
• Added VPFX testing documentation.
• Added VPFX minimal pack authoring guide.
• Added known issues documentation.

Improved

• VPFX graph validation now checks:
  • undeclared output targets
  • missing input targets
  • undeclared texture inputs
  • self read/write passes
  • missing final output to minecraft:main
  • future target dependencies
• Runtime materialization now runs through the explicit minecraft_postchain backend.
• Backend information is now visible in runtime/test logs.
• VPFX documentation now describes the current alpha boundaries, test workflow, and known limitations.
• The minimal example pack uses composite/final to verify that VPFX no longer depends on the legacy post/ path assumption.

Known Limitations

• VPFX v1 is still an alpha spec.
• The current execution backend is still Minecraft PostChain.
• The native VPFX runtime is not complete yet.
• Compute shaders are not supported.
• shadow_depth is experimental.
• Iris / Sodium compatibility is not guaranteed.
• This build primarily targets Minecraft 26.2 snapshot / Fabric.
• VPFX schema may still change during the alpha period.

For Shader Pack Authors

Start with:

• docs/vpfx-pack-format-v1.md
• docs/vpfx-authoring-minimal-pack.md
• docs/vpfx-testing.md

A minimal VPFX pack contains:

pack.json
post_effect/main.json
shaders/composite/final.vsh
shaders/composite/final.fsh

VPFX shader references use:

<namespace>:<path>

and resolve to:

shaders/<path>.vsh
shaders/<path>.fsh