Loading texturecube using DirectXTK DDSTextureLoader

Question

I've been trying to implement a skybox for some time now and there's probably only a tiny problem left to solve. When I load a texture using DirectXTK's CreateDDSTextureFromFileEx with a TEXTURECUBE flag, the resulting shader resource has its view dimension set to Texture2D and not TextureCube, which means I can't treat it as a TextureCube in HLSL. Also the file I'm loading contains all six faces. Here's the code where the texture is loaded:

// Loading the texture
HRESULT hr = DirectX::CreateDDSTextureFromFileEx(device, filename, 0, D3D11_USAGE_IMMUTABLE, D3D11_BIND_SHADER_RESOURCE, 
    0, D3D11_RESOURCE_MISC_TEXTURECUBE, false, &texture, &mSkyboxSRV);

This is the error message being output by DirectX:

D3D11 ERROR: ID3D11DeviceContext::Draw: The Shader Resource View dimension declared in the shader code (TEXTURECUBE) does not match the view type bound to slot 0 of the Pixel Shader unit (TEXTURE2D). This mismatch is invalid if the shader actually uses the view (e.g. it is not skipped due to shader code branching). [ EXECUTION ERROR #354: DEVICE_DRAW_VIEW_DIMENSION_MISMATCH]

I've also tried this:

ID3D11Texture2D* texture = nullptr;

HRESULT hr = DirectX::CreateDDSTextureFromFileEx(device, filename, 0, D3D11_USAGE_IMMUTABLE, D3D11_BIND_SHADER_RESOURCE, 
0, D3D11_RESOURCE_MISC_TEXTURECUBE, false, (ID3D11Resource**)&texture, nullptr);

D3D11_TEXTURE2D_DESC texDesc;
texture->GetDesc(&texDesc);

D3D11_SHADER_RESOURCE_VIEW_DESC srvDesc;

srvDesc.TextureCube.MipLevels = texDesc.MipLevels;
srvDesc.TextureCube.MostDetailedMip = 0;
srvDesc.Format = texDesc.Format;
srvDesc.ViewDimension = D3D11_SRV_DIMENSION_TEXTURECUBE;

hr = device->CreateShaderResourceView(texture, &srvDesc, &mSkyboxSRV);

But that gives me an error message saying the texture's view dimension and the srv's view dimension are not the same:

D3D11 ERROR: ID3D11Device::CreateShaderResourceView: Resources created without D3D11_RESOURCE_MISC_TEXTURECUBE may not be treated as cubemap ShaderResourceViews. [ STATE_CREATION ERROR #126: CREATESHADERRESOURCEVIEW_INVALIDDESC]

Does anyone have any ideas on what to do? Any help is much appreciated!

Answer 1

When trying to debug failing DDS loads, you should do the following:

• Verify the DDS contains what you think it should. See DDSDump.cpp as a useful first-step.

• If you are getting a SUCCESS HRESULT back from the loader, then use the ID3D11Resource** parameter and use the code on the wiki to validate it is what you think it should be.

• Otherwise, step into the DDSTextureLoader code line-by-line to see where it is failing...

UPDATE: As of the August 2018 release of DirectX Tool Kit, if you call CreateDDSTextureFromFileEx with the D3D11_RESOURCE_MISC_TEXTURECUBE flag in the parameters -and- the DDS contains a 2D texture array with a multiple of six entries, then I'll pass it along as if it's a cubemap.

See this commit