MonoGame/MonoGame · error · ArgumentOutOfRangeException

Texture width must be greater than zero

Error message

Texture width must be greater than zero

What it means

Thrown by the Texture2D constructor as an ArgumentOutOfRangeException when width <= 0. GPU textures must have positive dimensions; the constructor also computes TexelWidth = 1f/width, so a zero width would later cause division issues and is rejected up front.

Source

Thrown at MonoGame.Framework/Graphics/Texture2D.cs:223

        /// <param name="shared">
        /// Whether this render target resource should be a shared resource accessible on another device.
        /// This property is only valid for DirectX targets.
        /// </param>
        /// <param name="arraySize">The size of the texture array.</param>
        /// <exception cref="ArgumentNullException">The <paramref name="graphicsDevice"/> parameter is null.</exception>
        /// <exception cref="ArgumentOutOfRangeException">
        /// The <paramref name="width"/> and/or <paramref name="height"/> less than or equal to zero.
        /// </exception>
        /// <exception cref="ArgumentException">
        /// The <paramref name="arraySize"/> parameter is greater than 1 and the graphics device does not support
        /// texture arrays.
        /// </exception>
        protected Texture2D(GraphicsDevice graphicsDevice, int width, int height, bool mipmap, SurfaceFormat format, SurfaceType type, bool shared, int arraySize)
		{
            if (graphicsDevice == null)
                throw new ArgumentNullException("graphicsDevice", FrameworkResources.ResourceCreationWhenDeviceIsNull);
            if (width <= 0)
                throw new ArgumentOutOfRangeException("width","Texture width must be greater than zero");
            if (height <= 0)
                throw new ArgumentOutOfRangeException("height","Texture height must be greater than zero");
            if (arraySize > 1 && !graphicsDevice.GraphicsCapabilities.SupportsTextureArrays)
                throw new ArgumentException("Texture arrays are not supported on this graphics device", "arraySize");

            this.GraphicsDevice = graphicsDevice;
            this.width = width;
            this.height = height;
            this.TexelWidth = 1f / (float)width;
            this.TexelHeight = 1f / (float)height;

            this._format = format;
            this._levelCount = mipmap ? CalculateMipLevels(width, height) : 1;
            this.ArraySize = arraySize;

            // Texture will be assigned by the swap chain.
		    if (type == SurfaceType.SwapChainRenderTarget)
		        return;

View on GitHub (pinned to 1d71bbd0ff)

Solutions

1. Validate width > 0 before constructing, using Math.Max(1, width) or an explicit guard.
2. Ensure the source of the dimension (image header, config) is loaded and parsed before use.
3. Log the computed width at the call site to catch zero/negative values early.

Example fix

// before
_tex = new Texture2D(GraphicsDevice, _w, _h); // _w == 0

// after
if (_w <= 0 || _h <= 0)
    throw new InvalidOperationException("Texture size not ready: " + _w + "x" + _h);
_tex = new Texture2D(GraphicsDevice, _w, _h);

static int RequirePositiveWidth(int w)
{
    if (w <= 0) throw new ArgumentOutOfRangeException(nameof(w), "width must be > 0");
    return w;
}

static bool IsValidSize(int n) => n > 0;

When it happens

Trigger: Calling `new Texture2D(device, 0, h)` or `new Texture2D(device, -1, h)`; computing width from an unloaded image/metadata that defaulted to 0; passing a clamped or uninitialized size variable.

Common situations: Procedural texture sizing from data that hasn't loaded yet (default 0); off-by-one or sign errors in resize math; reading width from a header parsed as -1 on error.

Related errors

• Texture height must be greater than zero
• level must be smaller than the number of levels in this text
• arraySlice must be smaller than the ArraySize of this textur
• Rectangle must be inside the texture bounds
• Type T is of an invalid size for the format of this texture.

AI-assisted analysis of MonoGame/MonoGame@1d71bbd0ff (2026-08-13). Data as JSON: /api/errors/47bac434cc611008. Report an issue: GitHub.