(This is the documentation for SDL3, which is under heavy development and the API is changing! SDL2 is the current stable version!)

SDL_GPUPresentMode

Specifies the timing that will be used to present swapchain textures to the OS.

Header File

Syntax

typedef enum SDL_GPUPresentMode
{
    SDL_GPU_PRESENTMODE_VSYNC,
    SDL_GPU_PRESENTMODE_IMMEDIATE,
    SDL_GPU_PRESENTMODE_MAILBOX
} SDL_GPUPresentMode;

Remarks

Note that this value affects the behavior of SDL_AcquireGPUSwapchainTexture. VSYNC mode will always be supported. IMMEDIATE and MAILBOX modes may not be supported on certain systems.

It is recommended to query SDL_WindowSupportsGPUPresentMode after claiming the window if you wish to change the present mode to IMMEDIATE or MAILBOX.

VSYNC: Waits for vblank before presenting. No tearing is possible. If there is a pending image to present, the new image is enqueued for presentation. Disallows tearing at the cost of visual latency. When using this present mode, AcquireSwapchainTexture will block if too many frames are in flight.
IMMEDIATE: Immediately presents. Lowest latency option, but tearing may occur. When using this mode, AcquireSwapchainTexture will return NULL if too many frames are in flight.
MAILBOX: Waits for vblank before presenting. No tearing is possible. If there is a pending image to present, the pending image is replaced by the new image. Similar to VSYNC, but with reduced visual latency. When using this mode, AcquireSwapchainTexture will return NULL if too many frames are in flight.

Version

This enum is available since SDL 3.0.0