What causes "This Texture is not a valid Depth-Stencil Texture" in stride3d/stride?

Create the source texture with TextureFlags.DepthStencil (e.g. depth buffer = Texture.New2D(..., TextureFlags.DepthStencil))

stride3d/stride · error · NotSupportedException

This Texture is not a valid Depth-Stencil Texture

Error message

This Texture is not a valid Depth-Stencil Texture

What it means

The Texture.ToDepthStencilReadOnlyTexture extension throws NotSupportedException when the source texture does not have the DepthStencil flag (texture.IsDepthStencil is false). A read-only depth-stencil view can only be created on a texture that was created as a depth-stencil resource. The library refuses rather than producing an invalid GPU view.

Solutions

Create the source texture with TextureFlags.DepthStencil (e.g. depth buffer = Texture.New2D(..., TextureFlags.DepthStencil))
Verify texture.IsDepthStencil before calling the extension and route color textures to a different path
Pass the correct texture (the depth buffer of the render target, e.g. depthBuffer or RenderTarget.DepthStencilBuffer)
Check texture creation code after resolution changes to ensure flags are preserved

Example fix

// before
Texture readonlyDepth = colorTarget.ToDepthStencilReadOnlyTexture(); // throws
// after
var depth = Texture.New2D(device, width, height, PixelFormat.R32_Typeless, TextureFlags.DepthStencil | TextureFlags.ShaderResource);
Texture readonlyDepth = depth.ToDepthStencilReadOnlyTexture();

Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

if (texture.IsDepthStencil)
    var view = texture.ToDepthStencilReadOnlyTexture();
else
    Log.Error("ToDepthStencilReadOnlyTexture requires a TextureFlags.DepthStencil texture");

Type guard

static bool IsDepthTexture(Texture t) => t?.IsDepthStencil == true;

Try / catch

try { view = texture.ToDepthStencilReadOnlyTexture(); }
catch (NotSupportedException) { Log.Error("Texture lacks DepthStencil flags"); }

Prevention

Create depth textures with TextureFlags.DepthStencil explicitly
Bind RenderTarget.DepthStencilBuffer, never the color target, for depth passes
Add debug asserts on IsDepthStencil at pass setup

When it happens

Trigger: Calling ToDepthStencilReadOnlyTexture() on a color/render-target texture, or on a plain shader-resource texture that was never created with TextureFlags.DepthStencil.

Common situations: Wiring a shadow-map or SSAO pass and accidentally passing the scene color target instead of the depth buffer; recreating the depth texture without DepthStencil flags after a resize; refactoring where the wrong Texture property is bound.

Understand the failure class

Background: UnsupportedOperationException and "is not supported" errors: when a library deliberately refuses a call — this error's family across 30 libraries.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of stride3d/stride@96fad776d2 (2026-09-14). Data as JSON: /api/errors/67e20d6ea044511b. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at sources/engine/Stride.Graphics/Texture.Extensions.cs:45

    /// <returns>A new <see cref="Texture"/> representing the Texture View bound to <paramref name="texture"/>.</returns>
    public static Texture ToTextureView(this Texture texture, ViewType viewType, int arraySlice, int mipLevel)
    {
        var viewDescription = texture.ViewDescription;
        viewDescription.Type = viewType;
        viewDescription.ArraySlice = arraySlice;
        viewDescription.MipLevel = mipLevel;
        return texture.ToTextureView(viewDescription);
    }

    /// <summary>
    ///   Creates a Shader Resource View that is read-only on a Depth-Stencil Texture.
    /// </summary>
    /// <param name="texture">The Texture to create a read-only Depth-Stencil Texture View for.</param>
    /// <returns>A new <see cref="Texture"/> representing the Texture View bound to <paramref name="texture"/>.</returns>
    public static Texture ToDepthStencilReadOnlyTexture(this Texture texture)
    {
        if (!texture.IsDepthStencil)
            throw new NotSupportedException("This Texture is not a valid Depth-Stencil Texture");

        var viewDescription = texture.ViewDescription;
        viewDescription.Flags = TextureFlags.DepthStencilReadOnly;
        return texture.ToTextureView(viewDescription);
    }

    /// <summary>
    ///   Creates a Shader Resource View on a Depth-Stencil Texture.
    /// </summary>
    /// <param name="texture">The Texture to create a Depth-Stencil Texture View for.</param>
    /// <returns>A new <see cref="Texture"/> representing the Texture View bound to <paramref name="texture"/>.</returns>
    public static Texture CreateDepthTextureCompatible(this Texture texture)
    {
        if (!texture.IsDepthStencil)
            throw new NotSupportedException("This Texture is not a valid Depth-Stencil Texture");

        var description = texture.Description;
        description.Format = Texture.ComputeShaderResourceFormatFromDepthFormat(description.Format); // TODO: review this

View on GitHub (pinned to 96fad776d2)