stride3d/stride · critical · Exception

{cross.ContextCreate(&context)} : Could not create spirv con

Error message

{cross.ContextCreate(&context)} : Could not create spirv context

What it means

SpirvTranslator.GetEntryPoints first creates a SPIRV-Cross context via cross.ContextCreate. If the native call does not return Result.Success, the translator throws with the raw result code and "Could not create spirv context". This is a native library initialization failure — no SPIR-V has been parsed yet, so the problem is with creating the cross-compilation context itself (native state, memory, or bad library initialization).

Solutions

1. Verify the native SPIRV-Cross library for your platform/architecture ships with the app (correct runtime identifier folder).
2. Note the numeric Result code in the message and check it against SPIRV-Cross error codes (OOM vs initialization failure).
3. Reinstall/repair the package that carries the native binaries; ensure no old incompatible version is loaded from PATH.
4. If transient OOM, reduce concurrent translators or free memory and retry.

Example fix

// before: native deps missing on linux-x64 deployment
translator.GetEntryPoints(); // throws 'Could not create spirv context'
// after: ensure runtimes/linux-x64/native/libspirv-cross.so is deployed next to the app
translator.GetEntryPoints();

// verify native library loads before translation
try { _ = NativeLibrary.Load("spirv-cross"); }
catch (DllNotFoundException) { EnsureNativeAssetsDeployed(); }

try { var eps = translator.GetEntryPoints(); }
catch (Exception ex) when (ex.Message.Contains("Could not create spirv context")) {
    throw new InvalidOperationException(
        "Native SPIRV-Cross failed to init — check native binaries/Result code in message", ex);
}

When it happens

Trigger: Calling GetEntryPoints (or any translation entry) when the native SPIRV-Cross library fails to allocate/initialize its context — e.g. native DLL not properly loaded/initialized, incompatible native build, or OOM. The thrown message embeds the numeric Result returned by ContextCreate.

Common situations: Missing or mismatched native spirv-cross binary for the platform; running on an architecture without the native dependency; corrupted deployment of native assets.

Related errors

• spirv_to_dxil_pipeline failed; SPIR-V dumped to {dumpPath} {
• {cross.ContextParseSpirv(context, w, (nuint)Words.Length, &i
• Could not locate native executable ${executableName}
• Could not locate native library ${libraryName}
• Failed to initialize FreeType library (error {err})

AI-assisted analysis of stride3d/stride@96fad776d2 (2026-09-14). Data as JSON: /api/errors/2b115c7091c586af. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at sources/shaders/Stride.Shaders.Compilers/SpirvTranslator.cs:32

public unsafe record struct SpirvTranslator(ReadOnlyMemory<uint> Words)
{
    static readonly Cross cross;
    static readonly Logger Log = GlobalLogger.GetLogger("SpirvTranslator");

    static SpirvTranslator()
    {
        NativeLibraryHelper.PreloadLibrary("spirv-cross", typeof(SpirvTranslator));
        cross = Cross.GetApi();
    }

    public List<(string RealName, string TranslatedName, ExecutionModel ExecutionModel)> GetEntryPoints(Backend backend = Backend.Hlsl)
    {
        Context* context = null;
        ParsedIr* ir = null;
        Compiler* compiler = null;
        if (cross.ContextCreate(&context) != Result.Success)
            throw new Exception($"{cross.ContextCreate(&context)} : Could not create spirv context");
        fixed (uint* w = Words.Span)
            if (cross.ContextParseSpirv(context, w, (nuint)Words.Length, &ir) != Result.Success)
                throw new Exception($"{cross.ContextParseSpirv(context, w, (nuint)Words.Length, &ir)} : Could not parse spirv");

        cross.ContextSetErrorCallback(context, new((void* userData, byte* errorData) =>
        {
            var error = Marshal.PtrToStringAnsi((IntPtr)errorData);
            if (error != null)
                Log.Error(error);
        }), null);

        if (cross.ContextCreateCompiler(context, backend, ir, CaptureMode.Copy, &compiler) != Result.Success)
            throw new Exception($"{cross.ContextCreateCompiler(context, backend, ir, CaptureMode.Copy, &compiler)} : could not create compiler");

        var result = new List<(string RealName, string TranslatedName, ExecutionModel ExecutionModel)>();
        EntryPoint* entry_points = null;
        nuint num_entry_points = 0;
        cross.CompilerGetEntryPoints(compiler, &entry_points, &num_entry_points);

View on GitHub (pinned to 96fad776d2)