# Graphics Execution > **Scope.** How the emulated vGPU runs **3D graphics** work — the OpenGL and > Vulkan command streams a stock guest submits — on the physical GPU, and what > is proven about it. This is the shared machinery behind > [`OpenGL.md`](OpenGL.md), [`Vulkan.md`](Vulkan.md) and the Windows/DirectX > target ([`DirectX.md`](DirectX.md)); CUDA compute uses the same submission and > completion path for a different engine workload > ([`Execution-Frontier.md`](Execution-Frontier.md)). Canonical sources: > [`../docs/04-implementation/05-graphics-execution-plan.md`](../docs/04-implementation/05-graphics-execution-plan.md) > (the plan and milestone ladder) and > [`../docs/04-implementation/04-real-render-walls.md`](../docs/04-implementation/04-real-render-walls.md) > (the measured walls); the docs tree wins on disagreement. Status: 2026-11-15, tree `master @ 692a7eb0`. Tags: `[live]` observed end to end; `[wip]` partially built; `[wall]` current blocker; `[target]` defined success state; `[planned]` designed, not built. ## 1. What "real pixels" means The acceptance target is strict: a **stock** guest GL or Vulkan application's draw commands are executed by the physical GPU's fixed-function 3D pipeline (vertex fetch, primitive assembly, rasterisation, fragment work, ROP), the render target is readable by the guest, and that image reaches the capture path through the emulated mdev. The pixels must not come from another GPU, a software rasteriser, or a host display round-trip. ## 2. The path a graphics command takes ```mermaid graph TD APP["Guest applications
OpenGL · Vulkan · CUDA"] --> LIB["Guest user space
GL: GLX client + the driver's GL core
Vulkan: the NVIDIA ICD
CUDA: libcuda"] APP --> X["X server (Linux GL)
GLX module + the NVIDIA DDX"] LIB --> KMD["Guest kernel: nvidia.ko
RM core, GSP client, channels, modeset/drm"] X --> KMD KMD -- "GPFIFO rings + doorbell;
method streams in push buffers" --> VG["Host module vgsp.ko
device model + emulation core"] VG --> L1["Lane 1: verbatim 3D
method-stream replay"] VG --> L2["Lane 2: synthesized launch
from a captured section"] VG --> L3["Lane 3: forwarded CUDA
launch (compute)"] L1 --> FE["Physical GPU
front-end fetch -> GR engine"] L2 --> FE L3 --> FE FE -- "engine-authored releases
(semaphores in guest memory)" --> VG VG -- "completion relay: MSI-X +
poller/event wake the guest" --> KMD ``` ```text guest apps (GL / Vulkan / CUDA) -> guest user space (GLX client + GL core, Vulkan ICD, libcuda) -> guest X server (GLX module + NVIDIA DDX) [OpenGL] -> nvidia.ko: channels, GPFIFO rings, doorbells [all APIs] -> vgsp.ko: capture sections, decode pushes, forward -> physical GPU front-end -> GR engine (3D + compute) / copy engines <- engine-authored releases written into guest memory <- completion relay (MSI-X + wakes) back to the guest ASCII fallback above; the diagram shows the three execution lanes. ``` ## 3. The three execution lanes Graphics work reaches the engines today in one of three shapes, in increasing fidelity: 1. **Verbatim 3D method-stream replay** `[live]`. The emulation captures the X server's graphics-class (`0xC597`, `TURING_A`) section from its channel, relocates the operand addresses into host-built shadow pages the engine can reach, and submits the stream unchanged. The engine retires it: the uploads (`LINE_LENGTH_IN`/`LAUNCH_DMA`), the state, program and texture binds, and the release all execute with no MMU fault. This proves the *mechanics* of 3D execution — object bind, window placement, operand relocation, completion — on real hardware. 2. **Synthesized launch from a captured section** `[live]`. A compute-shaped launch built from the captured section (operand list, program, a 64-word launch descriptor) reaches the engine and retires real `sm_75` SASS; the Turing shader-program-header form (`V3`) is accepted with zero header faults across repeated launches. This proved engine-side dispatch before the verbatim lane existed. The program itself is still a development stand-in at this rung — execution proof, not pixels. 3. **Forwarding the client's own pushes** `[wip]`. The X DDX channel `0x1000014` executes its 3D replay (12 launches per cycle), the 2D path is green, and a guest pbuffer `glClear(red)+glFinish+glReadPixels` probe returns a real pixel (`pixel=ff0000ff`): the replay and readback machinery works. The off-screen frame path then produced **500/500 non-black 640x480 animated frames** per run and captured videos (45.4 s on 2026-11-11; a 50 s 640x480 h264 capture on 2026-11-12). X and the stock NVIDIA GLX path are fully green (`glxinfo -B` returns 0, OpenGL 4.6.0 direct, `glxgears` ~520 FPS), and GZDoom reaches `V_Init: allocate screen` with its GL 4.6.0 context whenever the shared nvClip `modeNum` is even. The direct-GL ring/VAS anchor and USERD machinery are substantially hardened (verified page-directory discovery, per-rank content scans, eager push pins, client-allocated USERD resolution, foreign-USERD skip, aperture-aware fallback, wrapped-PUT acceptance), and the 11-12/11-13 wave closed the X side of the path: the DDX idle-DMA/ScreenInit wall, the USERD-latch lifetime, the same-pass re-probe thrash, the post-ScreenInit Xorg kernel-mode spin (a display-engine GET-past-PUT on a driver ring wrap) and the flip-event timeout are all fixed, and captured GL sections now execute on the engine (`GR LAUNCH submitted` / `GUEST GR LAUNCH OK`) with the data window populated (`n_data` 0 -> 1024). The direct-GL client's submission is now **fully decoded**: no client push carries a method-grammar draw header — its nine NV906F GPFIFO entries tile one contiguous buffer and its per-frame work is carried as rewritten data-block blobs plus small real state pushes (324/476/728 B, head `90110087 80000800`) that invoke MME macros (the QMD-carrier hypothesis was tested and refuted: the entry format has no QMD bit, the blob is not a QMD, and no QMD magic exists in the 256 MiB BAR1). Delivery into the lane then landed: a content-gated FB-shadow rescue (`e1eac368`) and the LOW-band rescue (`b7f09616`) recover the recycled client pushes, the 324-B draw-state push opens a `C597` section, is captured and marked for the verbatim 3D lane (the first direct-GL stream3d marks), and with the golden MME overlay satisfying the prelude gate it **reaches the engine** (`GR LAUNCH submitted` + OK, MME-PRELUDE pack 1701 IR words, MME-GOLDEN slot 0 accepted). The MME chain then advanced from the multi-part gate to **draw-macro execution**: the multi-part keep-window mechanism won multi-frame windows, the part-launch poison was eliminated (the real fault was the client's own `SET_REPORT_SEMAPHORE`/`SET_NOTIFY` writes to client VAs remapped by the host scratch page-table pool — redirected to a mapped scratch slot; 49 cycles with zero poison and zero MMU faults), the 2799-word pack completes (2799/2799), engine-global completion plus keep-done-across-recycle produced the first `MME-PACK-REARM`, the fixed-CB region is aliased, and the released calls run macros through to **`DRAW_IAB` (`mac=0x22`)**. Two synthesized-prelude defects were then fixed: the SPH-BIND prelude self-destructed because an auto-dropped run broke its kept/final count (`444ae2c1`), and the stage block was silently skipped by a double-counted budget; with both fixed the prelude emits 84 words and the DS stage VAs populate (one validated boot carried the full post-REARM chain, `mac=0x22` and `DS 86040624`). The **DS stage-0/1 image is now authored and live**: the module writes a VTG SPH at `family+0x900` (`SPH-AUTHOR`, first word `020a0481`), rewrites the window's own later `0x2054` slot-1 bind to the authored page (`SPH-SLOT1-REWRITE`), and the DS latch reads the authored image for both vertex slots (`DS-IMAGE st0=st1=020a0481 code=ff007321`; the DS value fell `0x86040626 -> 0x84000420`), reproduced on two boots. The remaining DS bits are stage type/context (SPH5/SPH10/SPH18); the `DRAW_IAB` (`mac=0x22`) call does not run in the 728-B draw window, whose released macros are `0x33/0x39/0x1/0x0`, so stores still miss (`wrote=0`, `px0=0`). The window/screen present is still the frontier (§6), and the per-boot binding lottery (the GL client usually rides the X channel in indirect mode, and X start keeps a first-generation lottery) is the throughput limiter. ## 4. The channel and object picture * **Every submission lives on a channel**: a GPFIFO ring plus engine objects, with a USERD the driver advances its put pointer in and a doorbell the host module traps. Channels are typed by engine: a graphics channel carries 3D state and draws; copy-class channels carry memory movements. * **The graphics object class** the guest's 3D stream binds is the Turing graphics class, `0xC597`. Streams now come from both the **X server's channel** and the **direct GL client's own channels** (`0xbeef0100` GR plus the `0xbeef0101`/`0xbeef0102` CE siblings); the 2D present/readback work rides lighter 2D-class and copy-engine shapes. * **Display and modeset** `[live]`. The guest's modeset path is served by an emulated display engine: the display push-buffer channels (core `0xc57d`, window `0xc57e`, immediate/window `0xc57b`) are registered, their push buffers parsed, and the notifier/`UPDATE` completion authored. The arm is class-aware (the window class has no NOTIFY bit; a bound notifier is the arm), and the X DDX's `0x8000 -> 0` notification completion is authored. This is what lets nvidia-modeset/NvKms register (`/dev/dri`), X settle and GLX clients obtain a real GL context. The display-capability seam is parameterised in the campaign configuration. * **Cells of state**: 3D streams are long—hundreds of method words per draw — and mix state binds (viewport, render target, ZS, blend/ROP), program and constant binds, vertex/index streams and draw-issuing methods. The capture machinery recognises the init-shaped operands today; the per-draw state vocabulary is being extended ([G-B in the plan]( ../docs/04-implementation/05-graphics-execution-plan.md)). * **Synchronisation**: tracking semaphores, notifications and fence values written by the engine; the guest's swap/present waits sit on top of those. ## 5. Completion, fences and presents The acceptance signal is the **engine-authored release**: a semaphore the engine writes when the work completes. For GL, completion flows through the channel's semaphores/notifications to the X server and the app's swap wait; for Vulkan, the client's fence value is released; for CUDA, the launch's release group wakes the client. The emulation relays engine completions into guest-observable memory (MSI-X plus a poller), and the guest resumes from there. For the display path, completion is the notifier write and `UPDATE -> FINISHED`; a completion event deferred by the reply path is force-retried until it posts, so the X server's mode set finishes. For the X DDX's own 2D push buffers, completion also requires the GPU-written engine get word to advance and the notifier to be recycled to `0xffff` after a kick; both are host-side levers now, and a diagnostic write of the get word released the DDX's reserve loop. For a windowed GL client the present is a kick; the GSP event-IRQ fix now sets the RISC-V SWGEN0 IRQSTAT/IRQMASK/IRQDEST and latches the CPU-tree leaf, so the guest services the event and glxgears completes swaps, and the GR backend no longer times out (the pair-close/pair-safe replay fixes are default ON; draws retire in 3-2400 ms). The stock GLX path is fully green (`glxinfo -B` returns 0 with OpenGL 4.6.0 direct rendering; `glxgears` renders ~520 FPS; the Xorg channel-idle WAIT count is zero), the DDX 3D replay renders and reads back a pbuffer pixel (`pixel=ff0000ff`), the off-screen frame path produced non-black animated frames and captured videos (45.4 s and 50 s), the RM write-lock holder (Xorg in the DDX vidheap scrub wait) is fixed (`df6e71bb`), the X DDX/ScreenInit stability walls are closed, and the direct-GL ring/USERD machinery is hardened. The MME pack completes and the draw macro runs, and the authored DS stage image is live for both vertex slots; the next step is the draw-issue macro (`mac=0x22`) and the stores, then the window/screen present path. During bring-up the module also carries a **diagnostics-only mirror** for apps that spin on a shared progress word; it exists so a run can proceed while the natural completion path is being finished. The 60-fps milestone explicitly requires it switched off, along with any external poke. ## 6. Where the frontier is (ranked walls) 1. **Direct-GL MME draw-macro execution and stores** `[wall]`. Delivery to the lane and the multi-part program gate are closed: the submission is fully decoded (nine NV906F entries tile one contiguous buffer; no method-grammar draw header exists; the per-frame work is data-block blobs plus real state pushes that invoke MME macros), the recycled pushes are recovered by the content-gated FB-shadow and LOW-band rescues, the client's 324-B draw-state push opens a `C597` section, is captured and marked for the verbatim 3D lane, and reaches the engine with the golden MME overlay (`GR LAUNCH submitted` + OK). The 2799-word pack completes (2799/2799), the first `MME-PACK-REARM` fires (engine-global completion plus keep-done-across-recycle), the fixed-CB region is aliased, the released calls run macros, and `DRAW_IAB` (`mac=0x22`) executes on the 324-B window class after a cross-lane `MME-PACK-REARM`. The **DS stage-0/1 image is now authored and live**: a VTG SPH is written at `family+0x900` (`SPH-AUTHOR`, first word `020a0481`) and the window's own `0x2054` slot-1 bind is rewritten to it (`SPH-SLOT1-REWRITE`), so the DS latch reads `st0=st1=020a0481 code=ff007321` and the DS value falls `0x86040626 -> 0x84000420` (reproduced on two boots). The remaining gates are the stage type/context bits (SPH5/SPH10/SPH18) and the draw-issue call: the 728-B draw window's released macros are `0x33/0x39/0x1/0x0`, the `DRAW_IAB` (`mac=0x22`) call does not run, and stores still miss (`wrote=0`, `px0=0`). Closed on the way: the QMD-carrier theory (refuted: no QMD bit in the entry format, no QMD magic in 256 MiB BAR1) and RT routing (the clear targets RT0 while the window binds RT1; RT0 bind verified 16x with correct target/geometry, still 61/61 `wrote=0`). The `CODESRC` fault-park class is prevented by relocating a suspect program page to the engine-mapped window-0 shadow (`17c7ed7c`; validated boot: 31 relocations, 51 GR launches, 79 GP_GET advances, 0 `FAULT_PDE`, 0 `WEDGE-REARM`, `backend_ok=35`). 2. **Window/screen present** `[wall]`. The pbuffer and off-screen frame paths are proven (`pixel=ff0000ff`, 500/500 non-black frames, captured videos), but a windowed present does not land: glxgears' window is black, the DDX shared-surface `gpuRefCount`/`lastKickoffRefCount` poll (W1) must be satisfied through a verified surface VA, and a synchronous window draw wedges X. 3. **X screen-init and stability** `[wip]` (was `[wall]`). The idle-DMA/ ScreenInit class, the USERD-latch lifetime, the same-pass re-probe thrash, the post-ScreenInit Xorg kernel-mode spin (display-engine GET-past-PUT on a driver ring wrap) and the flip-event timeout are fixed, and X has stayed green for >10 minutes in a validated window. What remains is a per-boot **first-generation lottery** that became the dominant throughput limiter for the graphics A/B runs: only an X started immediately after boot passes the DDX DMA init (3/7 windows in one runoff; long dead-start stretches later, with one green first-start boot, c382), later DMA instances can still fail, and the shared nvClip `modeNum` must be even for the GL client's state init (an odd value is guest userspace X-driver state, cleared by one X restart — not a host bug). Wrapped PUTs and the kick-idle marker/GET publication are handled; a guest kernel panic after a wedge is recovered by an offline filesystem check. 4. **Non-black window frames and sustained rate** `[wall]`/`[target]`. Once the draw stores, the window/screen present and X screen-init land, the capture must show motion in a window, then 60 fps in one VM with no forcing, then two VMs on two mediated devices with non-black frames in both. ## 7. What is proven today | Capability | State | |---|---| | X server initialises on the emulated vGPU (driver DMA sanity push, ScreenInit) | `[live]` | | Display engine serves the modeset push buffers; notifier plus `UPDATE -> FINISHED` | `[live]` (campaign configuration) | | nvidia-modeset/NvKms registers (`/dev/dri/card0`, `renderD128`, `fb0`); `nvidia-smi -L` enumerates | `[live]` | | `glxinfo` reports the emulated GPU with the NVIDIA renderer (OpenGL 4.6.0, direct rendering) | `[live]` | | X green on attempt 1 in three consecutive cycles (`ebf3130f`); X + stock GLX fully green on the current stack (`glxinfo -B` rc 0, OpenGL 4.6.0 direct, `glxgears` ~520 FPS, Xorg WAIT 0) | `[live]` | | GSP event-IRQ fix wakes the guest poll; glxgears completes swaps | `[live]` | | 2D path end-to-end: accelerated X fills read back via `xwd` | `[live]` | | Guest's real GL draws forward and execute on the physical GPU (`work_gr backend_ok=5-7`) | `[live]` | | GR backend timeouts fixed (`backend_timeout=0`; draws retire in 3-2400 ms) | `[live]` | | DDX 3D replay executes (`section captured` + `GR LAUNCH` on `0x1000014`, 12 launches/cycle) | `[live]` | | First real GPU readback: pbuffer `glClear(red)+glReadPixels` -> `pixel=ff0000ff` | `[live]` | | First non-black GPU-rendered frames: 500/500 off-screen 640x480 frames per run; 45.4 s video (`r1769`) and a 50 s capture (2026-11-12) | `[live]` | | Direct-GL GR ring `0xbeef0100` resolves; releases advance; ring/VAS anchor hardened (verified page-directory discovery, eager push pins, per-rank scans) | `[live]` | | Client-allocated USERD resolved from the channel's memory objects (`hUserdMemory`/`userdOffset`); foreign-USERD adoption skipped; aperture-aware wire fallback | `[live]` | | Guest adapter init with the all-sysmem instance configuration (`RMInstLoc`) — the BAR2-verify trap | `[live]` | | X DDX idle-DMA/ScreenInit, USERD-latch lifetime, re-probe thrash, Xorg kernel-mode spin (GET-past-PUT) and flip-event walls closed; X green for >10 minutes (`13a0c5d6`, `acb51d53`, `6ebc7cd4`, `770d6b4a`, `b9213c57`, `29690635`) | `[live]` | | Captured GL sections execute on the engine (`GR LAUNCH submitted` / `GUEST GR LAUNCH OK`); data window populated (`n_data` 0 -> 1024) | `[live]` | | Client push bodies decode as real GR method streams above 10 GiB through the VAS walk (live-PA bound raised to the registered guest-RAM top, `436cbf9d`; lookalike gate `7d27df77`) | `[live]` | | Direct-GL submission fully decoded: nine NV906F entries tile one contiguous buffer; no method-grammar draw header in any push; per-frame work is data-block blobs + real state pushes (324/476/728 B) invoking MME macros; QMD-carrier hypothesis refuted | `[live]` | | Recycled direct-GL pushes recovered (content-gated FB-shadow rescue `e1eac368`, LOW-band rescue `b7f09616`); client draw-state push opens a `C597` section, captures and is marked for the verbatim 3D lane | `[live]` | | Direct-GL state push reaches the engine with the golden MME overlay (`GR LAUNCH submitted` + OK; MME-PRELUDE pack 1701 IR words; MME-GOLDEN slot 0 accepted) | `[live]` | | `CODESRC` fault-park class prevented: suspect program page relocated to the engine-mapped window-0 shadow (`17c7ed7c`; validated boot 31 relocations, 51 GR launches, 79 GP_GET advances, 0 `FAULT_PDE`, 0 `WEDGE-REARM`, `backend_ok=35`) | `[live]` | | RT routing tested and refuted as the store cause: RT0 bind verified 16x with correct target/geometry, still 61/61 `wrote=0` | `[live]` (negative result) | | GZDoom passes `V_Init: allocate screen` with GL 4.6.0 when shared nvClip `modeNum` is even | `[live]` | | RM write-lock holder identified (Xorg in the DDX vidheap scrub wait) and fixed (`df6e71bb`) | `[live]` | | GL section capture: the X channel's `0xC597` stream decoded | `[live]` | | Verbatim 3D method-stream replay retired by the engine (no MMU fault) | `[live]` | | Synthesized launch executes real `sm_75` SASS; Turing `V3` program header accepted | `[live]` | | Emulated FB/GART sizing traps fixed (FB info replies in KB; GART default 256 MiB), removing the 4 GiB guest-allocation class | `[live]` | | Multi-part MME keep-window: multi-frame windows admitted; the 2799-word pack completes (2799/2799) | `[live]` | | Part-launch poison eliminated: client `SET_REPORT_SEMAPHORE`/`SET_NOTIFY` targets redirected to a mapped scratch slot (49 cycles, 0 poison, 0 MMU faults) | `[live]` | | First `MME-PACK-REARM` captured (engine-global completion plus keep-done-across-recycle); fixed-CB region aliased; released calls run macros | `[live]` | | `DRAW_IAB` (`mac=0x22`) executes on the 324-B window class after a cross-lane `MME-PACK-REARM`; SPH-BIND prelude emits 84 words; DS stage VAs populate | `[live]` | | DS stage-0/1 image: a VTG SPH is authored at `family+0x900` and the window's own slot-1 bind rewritten to it; the DS latch reads `st0=st1=020a0481` (`0x86040626 -> 0x84000420`, two boots) | `[live]` | | Remaining DS bits (stage type/context: SPH5/SPH10/SPH18); the 728-B draw window's released macros (`0x33/0x39/0x1/0x0`) do not include `DRAW_IAB` (`mac=0x22`); stores `wrote=0` | `[wall]` | | Window/screen present produces non-black window pixels | `[wall]` | | X screen-init first-generation lottery (`modeNum` parity; only an immediately-post-boot X passes DDX DMA init; dominant throughput limiter) | `[wip]` | | Non-black screen pixels from the emulated vGPU's 3D pipeline | `[wall]` | | Windows/DirectX guests | `[planned]` | ## 8. What is not claimed * No **window/screen** pixel has been produced by the emulated vGPU's 3D pipeline yet; every screen capture so far is black. The proven non-black frames and the videos (45.4 s and 50 s) come from the off-screen pbuffer path (pbuffer -> sysmem -> kvmfr ivshmem -> host reader), not from a windowed X screen capture. * Display/KMS bring-up (NvKms, `/dev/dri`, X, a real GL context) is not a rendered-frame claim. GZDoom reaching `V_Init: allocate screen` proves the client's GL init and the direct-GL GR lane, not the game loop or a presented frame; the client's draw-state push reaches the engine, the MME program completes and the draw macro executes, and the authored DS stage image is fetched by both vertex slots, but the 728-B window's draw-issue call and the stores are still missing, so the window stays black. * The engine-zero-write (NOWRITE) campaign is not a rendering result: it and the draw census together proved the submission is macro-driven (no method-grammar draw header exists), that RT routing is not the cause, and that the store wall is macro/front-end execution; they are measurements of the wall, not a 3D-pipeline defect or a pixels claim. * No frame-rate or latency numbers: the scheduled measurement is defined (60 fps over 60 s, no forcing) but not yet met. ## 9. Related pages * [`OpenGL.md`](OpenGL.md) — the guest OpenGL path and its status. * [`Vulkan.md`](Vulkan.md) — the guest Vulkan path and its status. * [`DirectX.md`](DirectX.md) — Windows guests and the DirectX target. * [`Execution-Frontier.md`](Execution-Frontier.md) — the CUDA compute chain, proven end to end. * [`Physical-GPU-Backend.md`](Physical-GPU-Backend.md) — the backend the work is forwarded to. * [`Introduction-to-GMMU.md`](Introduction-to-GMMU.md) — channels, GPFIFO, engines, and page tables. * [`Host-Module.md`](Host-Module.md) — where capture, decode and forwarding live. * [`../docs/04-implementation/05-graphics-execution-plan.md`](../docs/04-implementation/05-graphics-execution-plan.md) — the canonical plan: gap list, three approaches, and the M-GL1..M-GL6 milestone ladder with gates.