stride3d/stride · error · ArgumentException

Element size cannot be less or equal 0 for structured buffer

Q: What causes "Element size cannot be less or equal 0 for structured buffer" in stride3d/stride?

Set StructureByteStride to the exact size of one element (e.g. sizeof(MyStruct)) in the BufferDescription.

Error message

Element size cannot be less or equal 0 for structured buffer

What it means

Thrown in Buffer.Recreate on D3D12 when a buffer flagged as StructuredBuffer has StructureByteStride <= 0. A structured buffer requires a nonzero element size so the GPU knows the stride between elements; the library rejects the description with ArgumentException up front.

Solutions

Set StructureByteStride to the exact size of one element (e.g. sizeof(MyStruct)) in the BufferDescription.
Remove the StructuredBuffer flag if the buffer is a plain byte/raw buffer.
Validate the description before calling Buffer.New / Recreate.

Example fix

// before
var desc = new BufferDescription(dataSize, BufferFlags.StructuredBuffer, ResourceUsage.Default);
// after
var desc = new BufferDescription(dataSize, BufferFlags.StructuredBuffer, ResourceUsage.Default);
desc.StructureByteStride = Unsafe.SizeOf<MyStruct>();

Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

if (desc.BufferFlags.HasFlag(BufferFlags.StructuredBuffer) && desc.StructureByteStride <= 0)
    throw new InvalidOperationException("StructureByteStride must be > 0 for StructuredBuffer");

Type guard

static bool IsValidStructuredBuffer(in BufferDescription d) => !d.BufferFlags.HasFlag(BufferFlags.StructuredBuffer) || d.StructureByteStride > 0;

Try / catch

try { buffer = Buffer.New(device, desc); }
catch (ArgumentException ex) when (ex.Message.Contains("structured buffer")) { desc.StructureByteStride = elementSize; buffer = Buffer.New(device, desc); }

Prevention

Always construct structured buffers through a helper that takes the element type and sets StructureByteStride = sizeOf<T>().
Remember BufferDescription's default StructureByteStride is 0 — set it explicitly.
Assert stride equals the shader-side struct size to avoid silent mismatches.

When it happens

Trigger: Creating or recreating a Buffer with BufferFlags.StructuredBuffer while BufferDescription.StructureByteStride is 0 (default) or negative — e.g. building the description manually and forgetting to set StructureByteStride, or using a helper overload that doesn't take an element size.

Common situations: Porting D3D11 code where the stride was inferred from a typed format, copy-pasting a byte-buffer description and adding the StructuredBuffer flag, or serializing a description where the stride field defaulted to 0.

Understand the failure class

Background: "Must be a positive integer", "Invalid value", "Unsupported": the invalid-argument-value error family, when a library rejects the value you pass — this error's family across 35 libraries.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of stride3d/stride@96fad776d2 (2026-09-14). Data as JSON: /api/errors/48a3e10ecdc4ffe0. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at sources/engine/Stride.Graphics/Direct3D12/Buffer.Direct3D12.cs:175

            var bufferFlags = bufferDescription.BufferFlags;
            var desiredResourceState = ResourceStates.Common;

            if (bufferFlags.HasFlag(BufferFlags.ConstantBuffer))
                desiredResourceState |= ResourceStates.VertexAndConstantBuffer;

            if (bufferFlags.HasFlag(BufferFlags.IndexBuffer))
                desiredResourceState |= ResourceStates.IndexBuffer;

            if (bufferFlags.HasFlag(BufferFlags.VertexBuffer))
                desiredResourceState |= ResourceStates.VertexAndConstantBuffer;

            if (bufferFlags.HasFlag(BufferFlags.ShaderResource))
                desiredResourceState |= ResourceStates.PixelShaderResource | ResourceStates.NonPixelShaderResource;

            if (bufferFlags.HasFlag(BufferFlags.StructuredBuffer))
            {
                if (bufferDescription.StructureByteStride <= 0)
                    throw new ArgumentException("Element size cannot be less or equal 0 for structured buffer");
            }

            if (bufferFlags.HasFlag(BufferFlags.ArgumentBuffer))
                desiredResourceState |= ResourceStates.IndirectArgument;

            var heapType = HeapType.Default;
            IsHostVisibleHeap = false;
            if (Usage == GraphicsResourceUsage.Staging)
            {
                // Per our own definition of staging resource (read-back only)
                if (hasInitData)
                    throw new InvalidOperationException("D3D12: Staging buffers can't be created with initial data.");

                heapType = HeapType.Readback;
                desiredResourceState = ResourceStates.CopyDest;
                IsHostVisibleHeap = true;
            }
            else if (Usage == GraphicsResourceUsage.Dynamic)

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