[Impeller] Vulkan validation layers are (still) crashing Android emulators.

[matvuric]

Steps to reproduce

1. Run the project with an argument "--enable-impeller".

Expected results

App is running on the emulator

Actual results

After running the project my screen is locked and doesn't react on any input actions. Computer is still running, but doesn't show anything new.

Code sample

Code sample

Screenshots or Video

Screenshots / Video demonstration

[Upload media here]

Logs

Logs

√ Built build\app\outputs\flutter-apk\app-dev-profile.apk (93.4MB)
[IMPORTANT:flutter/shell/platform/android_context_vulkan_impeller.cc(67)] Using the Impeller rendering backend (Vulkan).

Flutter Doctor output

Doctor output

flutter doctor
Doctor summary (to see all details, run flutter doctor -v):
[√] Flutter (Channel stable, 3.22.0, on Microsoft Windows [Version 10.0.19045.4170], locale ru-RU)
[√] Windows Version (Installed version of Windows is version 10 or higher)
[√] Android toolchain - develop for Android devices (Android SDK version 34.0.0)
[√] Chrome - develop for the web
[√] Android Studio (version 2023.2)
[√] VS Code (version 1.89.1)
[√] Connected device (3 available)
[√] Network resources

• No issues found!

[danagbemava-nc]

Hi @matvuric, did this happen prior to flutter 3.22?
Does this happen with the counter app?

What gpu is your device using?

[matvuric]

@danagbemava-nc, no that also was happening on 3.19 too. I've started trying yesterday with 3.19 and had the same problem. Now I have flutter 3.22.
Yes, it is happening to counter app too.
I have geforce gtx 1060.

[jonahwilliams]

Which Android emulator version and API level are you using? I would recommend updating to the very latest AVD that you can.

[matvuric]

@jonahwilliams, I've tried pixel 3a and pixel 8 pro. API 34 x86_64

[jonahwilliams]

The device skin doesn't matter, its the AVD version. Can you try updating to latest and/or listing the AVD version you have installed?

[matvuric]

@jonahwilliams I have Android 14.0 API 34 x86_64 and installed Android VanillaIceCream x86_64. With the last one I have no problem with GPU, but emulator is crashing.

Launching lib\main.dart on sdk gphone16k x86 64 in debug mode...
Running Gradle task 'assembleDebug'...                             16,7s
√ Built build\app\outputs\flutter-apk\app-debug.apk
Installing build\app\outputs\flutter-apk\app-debug.apk...          434ms
I/flutter ( 4662): [IMPORTANT:flutter/shell/platform/android/android_context_vulkan_impeller.cc(67)] Using the Impeller rendering backend (Vulkan).
Error connecting to the service protocol: failed to connect to http://127.0.0.1:52232/rzqyY807_Lo=/

[ciriousjoker]

App crashes for us as well.

• Everything is running fine when running the app in Flutter 3.22.0 without Impeller
• Enabling Impeller makes it so not just the app crashes on launch, but the entire emulator

Unless you want me to update to API level 35, I already have the latest version of the latest production Android version.

I'm running this on a 2022 m2 mac mini.

---

I just tried using it on the VanillaIceCream emulator:

• App launches, but hangs immediately on the first drawn frame. It seems(!) like the frame is drawn by Flutter (as opposed to being drawn by Android through the Splashscreen api)
• ANR dialog after 10 secs or so

[jonahwilliams]

The emulator version is the important part, not the API level or phone form factor. You can look up the emulator version with:

$ANDROID_HOME/sdk/emulator/emulator --version

[danagbemava-nc]

@ciriousjoker @matvuric please run the command in #148481 (comment) and provide the output.

Thank you

[matvuric]

INFO    | Storing crashdata in: C:\Users\matvuric\AppData\Local\Temp\\AndroidEmulator\emu-crash-34.1.20.db, detection is enabled for process: 7556
INFO    | Android emulator version 34.1.20.0 (build_id 11610631) (CL:N/A)
ERROR   | No AVD specified. Use '@foo' or '-avd foo' to launch a virtual device named 'foo'

[ciriousjoker]

INFO | Storing crashdata in: /tmp/android-ciriousjoker/emu-crash-34.2.13.db, detection is enabled for process: 53017
INFO | Android emulator version 34.2.13.0 (build_id 11772612) (CL:N/A)
ERROR | No AVD specified. Use '@foo' or '-avd foo' to launch a virtual device named 'foo'

As per Android Studio sdk manager, this already is the newest version:

[jonahwilliams]

Thanks! This is unfortunate. We suspect the crash is related to vulkan validation layers being enabled by default for debugging, and while we've reached out to the Android emulator team about this several times they've been unable to fix it.

On the current master channel, we've disabled the validation layers and intend to keep them opt in, so you might be able to try there to see if it works. Otherwise, if you choose an ABI that we support profile/release builds for (x86_64, arm32, arm64), running in a profile build will disable validation layers.

[jonahwilliams]

We're going to cherry pick a change to turn off validation layers on 3.22, that should work around this problem

[jonahwilliams]

CP request and PR opened.

[jonahwilliams]

I believe the latest flutter hotfix should have resolved this issue. if not, please comment on this bug or file a new issue.