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dcl_maxOutputVertexCount (sm4 - asm)

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Declares the maximum number of vertices that can be output by a geometry shader.

dcl_maxOutputVertexCount count
Item Description
count
 [in] A 32-bit unsigned integer between 1 and n, inclusive.

A geometry shader can output a maximum of 1024 32-bit values. This maximum includes the size of the input data and the size of the data created by the shader.

Here are a few limitations:

  • If the number of vertices is reached before the geometry shader finishes executing, the shader terminates.
  • A geometry-shader can reach the end of its program before outputting any vertices; this is perfectly legal.
  • If you are debugging a geometry shader, you can tell the number of vertices generated by counting the number of emit instructions generated.

This instruction applies to the following shader stages:

Vertex Shader Geometry Shader Pixel Shader
x

This instruction is included to aid in debugging a shader in assembly; you cannot author a shader in assembly language using Shader Model 4.

Example

Here are some examples.

Assume input data made up of position (.xyzw) and color (.rgb). Each component consumes one byte; given 7 bytes, the maximum number of vertices the shader can generate would be 1024 / (4 + 3) = 146.

dcl_maxOutputVertexCount 146

Assume your geometry shader creates 32 4-component vectors. The maximum number of vertices the shader can generate would be 1024 / (32 * 4) = 8.

dcl_maxOutputVertexCount 8

Minimum Shader Model

This function is supported in the following shader models.

Shader Model Supported
Shader Model 5 yes
Shader Model 4.1 yes
Shader Model 4 yes
Shader Model 3 (DirectX HLSL) no
Shader Model 2 (DirectX HLSL) no
Shader Model 1 (DirectX HLSL) no

Shader Model 4 Assembly (DirectX HLSL)