@@ -33,12 +33,15 @@
 -- this through `APPLE_STATIC_LOADER` + pthread_once; Linux through
 -- `__attribute__((constructor))`. Windows has neither.
 --
--- The supported Windows arrangement is the ordinary one every Vulkan
--- application uses: link `vulkan-1.lib` and let the system `vulkan-1.dll`,
--- installed by any GPU driver, do the ICD loading. The windows xpm entry is
--- therefore a small artifact carrying that import library — symbol stubs, no
--- code — generated from Khronos' own `loader/vulkan-1.def` (shipped in this
--- very loader tarball) with a single reproducible command:
+-- The supported Windows arrangement is the ordinary one: link `vulkan-1.lib`
+-- and load `vulkan-1.dll` at process start. Through 1.4.357.2 that DLL was
+-- assumed to come from the machine's GPU driver, which a driverless machine
+-- does not have (0xC0000135 before `main`, measured on `windows-2022`). From
+-- 1.4.357.3 the artifact also carries the DLL, built from the same tag, and
+-- `runtime.library_dirs` has mcpp place it beside every consuming executable;
+-- see the windows xpm entry. The import library in that artifact — symbol
+-- stubs, no code — is generated from Khronos' own `loader/vulkan-1.def`
+-- (shipped in this very loader tarball) with a single reproducible command:
 --
 --     llvm-dlltool -d vulkan-1.def -l lib/vulkan-1.lib -m i386:x86-64
 --
@@ -89,6 +92,16 @@ package = {
             -- version -- and where a consumer also names the farm directly, the
             -- two disagree and the build stops. Measured on a CI runner with a
             -- warm ~/.mcpp; see the note on compat.vulkan 1.4.357.1.
+            -- 1.4.357.3: the same loader source. A new version on every platform
+            -- because the WINDOWS artifact changed -- it now carries the loader DLL
+            -- (see the windows entry) -- and a version is one key across platforms.
+            ["1.4.357.3"] = {
+                url = {
+                    GLOBAL = "https://github.com/KhronosGroup/Vulkan-Loader/archive/refs/tags/vulkan-sdk-1.4.357.0.tar.gz",
+                    CN     = "https://gitcode.com/mcpp-res/vulkan/releases/download/1.4.357.0/vulkan-1.4.357.0.tar.gz",
+                },
+                sha256 = "54f2537df22313768da0317dda2abdaaab7711b4081c48c869a79db343d0ae70",
+            },
             ["1.4.357.2"] = {
                 url = {
                     GLOBAL = "https://github.com/KhronosGroup/Vulkan-Loader/archive/refs/tags/vulkan-sdk-1.4.357.0.tar.gz",
@@ -136,6 +149,16 @@ package = {
             -- version -- and where a consumer also names the farm directly, the
             -- two disagree and the build stops. Measured on a CI runner with a
             -- warm ~/.mcpp; see the note on compat.vulkan 1.4.357.1.
+            -- 1.4.357.3: the same loader source. A new version on every platform
+            -- because the WINDOWS artifact changed -- it now carries the loader DLL
+            -- (see the windows entry) -- and a version is one key across platforms.
+            ["1.4.357.3"] = {
+                url = {
+                    GLOBAL = "https://github.com/KhronosGroup/Vulkan-Loader/archive/refs/tags/vulkan-sdk-1.4.357.0.tar.gz",
+                    CN     = "https://gitcode.com/mcpp-res/vulkan/releases/download/1.4.357.0/vulkan-1.4.357.0.tar.gz",
+                },
+                sha256 = "54f2537df22313768da0317dda2abdaaab7711b4081c48c869a79db343d0ae70",
+            },
             ["1.4.357.2"] = {
                 url = {
                     GLOBAL = "https://github.com/KhronosGroup/Vulkan-Loader/archive/refs/tags/vulkan-sdk-1.4.357.0.tar.gz",
@@ -183,6 +206,37 @@ package = {
             -- version -- and where a consumer also names the farm directly, the
             -- two disagree and the build stops. Measured on a CI runner with a
             -- warm ~/.mcpp; see the note on compat.vulkan 1.4.357.1.
+            -- 1.4.357.3: THE LOADER DLL SHIPS WITH THE IMPORT LIBRARY.
+            --
+            -- `vulkan-1.dll` is not a Windows component: it arrives with a GPU
+            -- driver, with LunarG's Vulkan Runtime redistributable, or beside an
+            -- application. So a machine without a driver has no loader, and a
+            -- program linking `vulkan-1.lib` dies before `main` with 0xC0000135
+            -- (STATUS_DLL_NOT_FOUND). Measured on GitHub's `windows-2022` image
+            -- (mcpp-index #387 probe; `vulkan`, `eui-neo-vulkan` and
+            -- `vulkan-hpp-module` all failed that way).
+            --
+            -- The artifact adds `bin/vulkan-1.dll`, built from
+            -- `vulkan-sdk-1.4.357.0` -- the same tag as the headers and the .def --
+            -- by xlings-res/vulkan-loader's windows workflow, which loads the DLL
+            -- and resolves its entry points before publishing. `lib/vulkan-1.lib`
+            -- is byte-identical to 1.4.357.1's, and the DLL exports exactly the
+            -- 265 names in `vulkan-1.def`: every import that library can produce
+            -- resolves, so no consumer can hit "entry point not found".
+            --
+            -- ON A MACHINE THAT ALREADY HAS A DRIVER nothing is lost. The copy
+            -- beside the executable is found first (the application directory
+            -- precedes System32), and the loader still reads
+            -- HKLM\SOFTWARE\Khronos\Vulkan\Drivers, so the GPU driver the
+            -- machine has is the ICD it uses. This is the ordinary arrangement for
+            -- an application that redistributes the loader.
+            ["1.4.357.3"] = {
+                url = {
+                    GLOBAL = "https://github.com/xlings-res/vulkan-import/releases/download/1.4.357.3/vulkan-import-1.4.357.3.tar.gz",
+                    CN     = "https://gitcode.com/mcpp-res/vulkan-import/releases/download/1.4.357.3/vulkan-import-1.4.357.3.tar.gz",
+                },
+                sha256 = "8118f1bd897e553baffabf484a14db980ce1f0a6cfdb5a6222c0a236ecdf12f5",
+            },
             ["1.4.357.2"] = {
                 url = {
                     GLOBAL = "https://github.com/xlings-res/vulkan-import/releases/download/1.4.357.1/vulkan-import-1.4.357.1.tar.gz",
@@ -359,15 +413,26 @@ package = {
             -- .def it came from. The anchor keeps a buildable target, the same
             -- shape `compat.opengl` uses for a headers-only package.
             --
-            -- The artifact is packed FLAT — lib/ at the archive root, no wrap
-            -- directory — because `-L` is not glob-expanded the way
+            -- The artifact is packed FLAT — lib/ and bin/ at the archive root, no
+            -- wrap directory — because `-L` is not glob-expanded the way
             -- include_dirs and sources are. With a wrap layer the relative
             -- `-Llib` below misses and the link fails with
             -- "LNK1181: cannot open input file 'vulkan-1.lib'".
             sources = { "mcpp_generated/vulkan_import_anchor.c" },
             ldflags = { "-Llib", "-lvulkan-1" },
             runtime = {
-                -- vulkan-1.dll ships with the GPU driver, not with us.
+                -- THE LOADER TRAVELS WITH THE PROGRAM (1.4.357.3+). mcpp copies
+                -- every *.dll under a dependency's runtime library_dirs beside the
+                -- executable it builds -- for transitive dependencies too -- and
+                -- `mcpp pack` always searches the executable's own directory, so
+                -- the same file reaches a packed distribution. Versions before
+                -- 1.4.357.3 have no bin/ in their artifact; mcpp skips a declared
+                -- directory that does not exist, so for them this is inert.
+                --
+                -- The ICD is deliberately NOT supplied: on a machine with a GPU
+                -- driver the driver's ICD is the right one, and a software
+                -- fallback would hide a missing driver behind a slow device.
+                library_dirs = { "bin" },
                 dlopen_libs  = { "vulkan-1.dll" },
                 capabilities = { "vulkan.icd.driver" },
             },
 
@@ -148,6 +148,13 @@ package = {
                 url    = "https://github.com/sudoevolve/EUI-NEO/archive/refs/tags/v0.5.9.tar.gz",
                 sha256 = "370d1da706d94bbbb144fa1634e1d9796a8a1ffd58b696fbb801296aef15703d",
             },
+            -- 0.5.9.1: upstream 0.5.9 unchanged. Exists because the `vulkan`
+            -- feature now pins compat.vulkan 1.4.357.3, whose Windows artifact
+            -- carries the loader DLL; an installed 0.5.9 records the old pin.
+            ["0.5.9.1"] = {
+                url    = "https://github.com/sudoevolve/EUI-NEO/archive/refs/tags/v0.5.9.tar.gz",
+                sha256 = "370d1da706d94bbbb144fa1634e1d9796a8a1ffd58b696fbb801296aef15703d",
+            },
         },
         macosx = {
             ["0.5.3"] = {
@@ -183,6 +190,13 @@ package = {
                 url    = "https://github.com/sudoevolve/EUI-NEO/archive/refs/tags/v0.5.9.tar.gz",
                 sha256 = "370d1da706d94bbbb144fa1634e1d9796a8a1ffd58b696fbb801296aef15703d",
             },
+            -- 0.5.9.1: upstream 0.5.9 unchanged. Exists because the `vulkan`
+            -- feature now pins compat.vulkan 1.4.357.3, whose Windows artifact
+            -- carries the loader DLL; an installed 0.5.9 records the old pin.
+            ["0.5.9.1"] = {
+                url    = "https://github.com/sudoevolve/EUI-NEO/archive/refs/tags/v0.5.9.tar.gz",
+                sha256 = "370d1da706d94bbbb144fa1634e1d9796a8a1ffd58b696fbb801296aef15703d",
+            },
         },
         windows = {
             ["0.5.3"] = {
@@ -218,6 +232,13 @@ package = {
                 url    = "https://github.com/sudoevolve/EUI-NEO/archive/refs/tags/v0.5.9.tar.gz",
                 sha256 = "370d1da706d94bbbb144fa1634e1d9796a8a1ffd58b696fbb801296aef15703d",
             },
+            -- 0.5.9.1: upstream 0.5.9 unchanged. Exists because the `vulkan`
+            -- feature now pins compat.vulkan 1.4.357.3, whose Windows artifact
+            -- carries the loader DLL; an installed 0.5.9 records the old pin.
+            ["0.5.9.1"] = {
+                url    = "https://github.com/sudoevolve/EUI-NEO/archive/refs/tags/v0.5.9.tar.gz",
+                sha256 = "370d1da706d94bbbb144fa1634e1d9796a8a1ffd58b696fbb801296aef15703d",
+            },
         },
     },
 
@@ -420,7 +441,7 @@ package = {
                     "*/core/render/vulkan/vulkan_shadertoy.cpp",
                     "*/core/render/vulkan/vulkan_text.cpp",
                 },
-                deps = { ["compat.vulkan"] = "1.4.357.0" },
+                deps = { ["compat.vulkan"] = "1.4.357.3" },
             },
             -- ── Window backend ────────────────────────────────────────────
             -- Exclusive in the same way and for the same reason as the render
 
@@ -159,6 +159,17 @@ package = {
     -- header, loader and bindings repositories together.
     xpm = {
         linux = {
+            -- 1.4.357.1: the same headers, pinned to compat.vulkan 1.4.357.3, whose
+            -- Windows artifact carries the loader DLL. A new version rather than a
+            -- moved pin, because an installed copy records the pin it resolved
+            -- with (see compat.vulkan 1.4.357.1).
+            ["1.4.357.1"] = {
+                url = {
+                    GLOBAL = "https://github.com/KhronosGroup/Vulkan-Headers/archive/refs/tags/vulkan-sdk-1.4.357.0.tar.gz",
+                    CN     = "https://gitcode.com/mcpp-res/vulkan-headers/releases/download/1.4.357.0/vulkan-headers-1.4.357.0.tar.gz",
+                },
+                sha256 = "e87dce08116151f6b6d7de6b6faf41498e87e6cf848ff16fa3bd5402190ad4a3",
+            },
             ["1.4.357.0"] = {
                 url = {
                     GLOBAL = "https://github.com/KhronosGroup/Vulkan-Headers/archive/refs/tags/vulkan-sdk-1.4.357.0.tar.gz",
@@ -168,6 +179,17 @@ package = {
             },
         },
         macosx = {
+            -- 1.4.357.1: the same headers, pinned to compat.vulkan 1.4.357.3, whose
+            -- Windows artifact carries the loader DLL. A new version rather than a
+            -- moved pin, because an installed copy records the pin it resolved
+            -- with (see compat.vulkan 1.4.357.1).
+            ["1.4.357.1"] = {
+                url = {
+                    GLOBAL = "https://github.com/KhronosGroup/Vulkan-Headers/archive/refs/tags/vulkan-sdk-1.4.357.0.tar.gz",
+                    CN     = "https://gitcode.com/mcpp-res/vulkan-headers/releases/download/1.4.357.0/vulkan-headers-1.4.357.0.tar.gz",
+                },
+                sha256 = "e87dce08116151f6b6d7de6b6faf41498e87e6cf848ff16fa3bd5402190ad4a3",
+            },
             ["1.4.357.0"] = {
                 url = {
                     GLOBAL = "https://github.com/KhronosGroup/Vulkan-Headers/archive/refs/tags/vulkan-sdk-1.4.357.0.tar.gz",
@@ -177,6 +199,17 @@ package = {
             },
         },
         windows = {
+            -- 1.4.357.1: the same headers, pinned to compat.vulkan 1.4.357.3, whose
+            -- Windows artifact carries the loader DLL. A new version rather than a
+            -- moved pin, because an installed copy records the pin it resolved
+            -- with (see compat.vulkan 1.4.357.1).
+            ["1.4.357.1"] = {
+                url = {
+                    GLOBAL = "https://github.com/KhronosGroup/Vulkan-Headers/archive/refs/tags/vulkan-sdk-1.4.357.0.tar.gz",
+                    CN     = "https://gitcode.com/mcpp-res/vulkan-headers/releases/download/1.4.357.0/vulkan-headers-1.4.357.0.tar.gz",
+                },
+                sha256 = "e87dce08116151f6b6d7de6b6faf41498e87e6cf848ff16fa3bd5402190ad4a3",
+            },
             ["1.4.357.0"] = {
                 url = {
                     GLOBAL = "https://github.com/KhronosGroup/Vulkan-Headers/archive/refs/tags/vulkan-sdk-1.4.357.0.tar.gz",
@@ -207,6 +240,6 @@ package = {
         targets = { ["vulkan_hpp"] = { kind = "lib" } },
         -- The loader, for the static dispatcher's direct calls — and, through
         -- it, `compat.vulkan-headers` for the includes these units open.
-        deps    = { ["compat.vulkan"] = "1.4.357.0" },
+        deps    = { ["compat.vulkan"] = "1.4.357.3" },
     },
 }
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ version = "0.1.0"
 # package resolves the exclusive choice in its own preprocessor from the
 # MCPP_FEATURE_* flags. The window backend stays GLFW, unnamed.
 [dependencies.compat]
-eui-neo = { version = "0.5.9", features = ["vulkan"] }
+eui-neo = { version = "0.5.9.1", features = ["vulkan"] }
 
 [build]
 cxxflags = ["-DHAVE_EUI_VULKAN=1"]
@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@ name = "vulkan-hpp-module-tests"
 version = "0.1.0"
 
 [dependencies.khronos]
-vulkan-hpp = "1.4.357.0"
+vulkan-hpp = "1.4.357.1"
 
 # No [build] section, and no per-platform gating: unlike tests/examples/vulkan,
 # which had to publish its own HAVE_VULKAN_LOADER switch, nothing here is
 
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@ name = "vulkan-tests"
 version = "0.1.0"
 
 [dependencies.compat]
-vulkan = "1.4.357.0"
+vulkan = "1.4.357.3"
 
 # All three platforms now carry compat.vulkan — linux/macOS build the loader
 # from source, windows links the import library. HAVE_VULKAN_LOADER stays as the
 
@@ -8,14 +8,22 @@
 // legitimately ABSENT on a driverless machine and asserting on it would just be
 // testing the runner's hardware.
 //
-// HAVE_VULKAN_LOADER is set by THIS project's own [target.'cfg(...)'.build]
-// cxxflags, because compat.vulkan has no windows entry. A consumer that keys
-// its source off a dependency's presence has to declare that itself.
+// HAVE_VULKAN_LOADER is set by THIS project's own [build] cxxflags. A consumer
+// that keys its source off a dependency's presence has to declare that itself.
 #if defined(HAVE_VULKAN_LOADER)
 #include <vulkan/vulkan.h>
 #endif
 import std;
 
+#if defined(HAVE_VULKAN_LOADER) && defined(_WIN32)
+// Declared rather than taken from <windows.h>: two functions are needed, and
+// the header's macros and min/max collide with `import std`. Both live in
+// kernel32, which every Windows program already links.
+extern "C" __declspec(dllimport) void* GetModuleHandleW(const wchar_t* name);
+extern "C" __declspec(dllimport) unsigned long GetModuleFileNameW(void* module, wchar_t* path,
+                                                                  unsigned long size);
+#endif
+
 #if !defined(HAVE_VULKAN_LOADER)
 int main() {
     std::println("compat.vulkan: skipped (no windows build — static loader unsupported upstream)");
@@ -36,6 +44,44 @@ int main() {
         return 2;
     }
 
+#if defined(_WIN32)
+    // WHERE THE LOADER CAME FROM is the point of compat.vulkan 1.4.357.3 on
+    // Windows: the package now ships vulkan-1.dll and mcpp places it beside the
+    // executable, so a machine with no GPU driver can still start this program.
+    // The loader has just answered, so the DLL is mapped; its directory must be
+    // this executable's. That holds on a machine WITH a driver too (the
+    // application directory precedes System32), which is what makes this a real
+    // check: with an older compat.vulkan the loader came from System32 there,
+    // and on a driverless machine the process never reached main.
+    {
+        std::vector<wchar_t> dll(32768), exe(32768);
+        void* module = GetModuleHandleW(L"vulkan-1.dll");
+        if (module == nullptr) {
+            std::println("vulkan-1.dll answered but is not mapped in this process");
+            return 7;
+        }
+        const auto dllLen = GetModuleFileNameW(module, dll.data(), 32768);
+        const auto exeLen = GetModuleFileNameW(nullptr, exe.data(), 32768);
+        auto dirOf = [](std::wstring_view p) {
+            std::wstring d(p.substr(0, p.find_last_of(L"\\/")));
+            for (auto& c : d) c = static_cast<wchar_t>(std::towlower(c));
+            return d;
+        };
+        auto narrow = [](std::wstring_view p) {
+            std::string out;
+            for (wchar_t c : p) out.push_back(c < 128 ? static_cast<char>(c) : '?');
+            return out;
+        };
+        const std::wstring_view dllPath(dll.data(), dllLen), exePath(exe.data(), exeLen);
+        if (dirOf(dllPath) != dirOf(exePath)) {
+            std::println("vulkan-1.dll was loaded from {}, not beside {}",
+                         narrow(dllPath), narrow(exePath));
+            return 8;
+        }
+        std::println("compat.vulkan: loader deployed beside the executable ({})", narrow(dllPath));
+    }
+#endif
+
     std::uint32_t extensionCount = 0;
     if (vkEnumerateInstanceExtensionProperties(nullptr, &extensionCount, nullptr) != VK_SUCCESS) {
         std::println("vkEnumerateInstanceExtensionProperties failed");