I'm trying to render a simple triangle on screen using Direct3D 11, but nothing shows up. Here are my vertices:

SimpleVertex vertices[] = {
    { XMFLOAT3(-1.0f, -1.0f, 0.0f) },
    { XMFLOAT3( 1.0f, -1.0f, 0.0f) },
    { XMFLOAT3( -1.0f, 1.0f, 0.0f) },
};

The expected output is a triangle with one point in the top left corner of the screen, one point in the top right corner of the screen, and one point in the bottom left corner of the screen. However, nothing is being rendered anywhere.

I'm not performing any matrix transformations, and the vertex shader just passes the input directly to the output. Everything seems to be set up correctly, and when I use the graphics debugger in Visual Studio 2012, the correct vertex position is being passed to the vertex shader. However, it skips directly from the vertex shader stage to the output merger stage in the pipeline. I assume this means that nothing is being sent to the pixel shader, which would again mean that the vectors are being discarded in the rasterizer stage. Why is this happening?
Here is my rasterizer state:

D3D11_RASTERIZER_DESC rasterizerDesc;
rasterizerDesc.AntialiasedLineEnable = false;
rasterizerDesc.CullMode = D3D11_CULL_NONE;
rasterizerDesc.DepthBias = 0;
rasterizerDesc.DepthBiasClamp = 0.0f;
rasterizerDesc.DepthClipEnable = true;
rasterizerDesc.FillMode = D3D11_FILL_SOLID;
rasterizerDesc.FrontCounterClockwise = false;
rasterizerDesc.MultisampleEnable = false;
rasterizerDesc.ScissorEnable = false;
rasterizerDesc.SlopeScaledDepthBias = 0.0f;

And my viewport (width/height are the window client area matching my back buffer, which are set to 1024x576 in my test setup):

D3D11_VIEWPORT viewport;
viewport.Height = static_cast< float >( height );
viewport.MaxDepth = 1.0f;
viewport.MinDepth = 0.0f;
viewport.TopLeftX = 0.0f;
viewport.TopLeftY = 0.0f;
viewport.Width = static_cast< float >( width );

Can anyone see what is making the rasterize stage skip my vertices? Or are there any other parts of my D3D setup that could be causing this?

I failed a bit with the Y axis there, my bad. Thanks for pointing that out! :) But as you say it still shouldn't matter with culling turned off, and I tried to change the vertex data to the correct coordinates now but with no effect.

I'm pretty sure the render target and the shaders are being set properly. I do have the D3D11_CREATE_DEVICE_DEBUG flag set, but there are no D3D warnings or errors in the debug output. Here's the full initializaiton procedure of the device and render target:

bool D3D11RenderSystem::Initialize()
{
	Log::LoggingContext loggingContext( "D3D11RenderSystem::Initialize()" );

	IDXGIFactory* pFactory;
	HRESULT hr = CreateDXGIFactory( __uuidof( IDXGIFactory ), reinterpret_cast< void** >( &pFactory ) );
	if ( FAILED( hr ) )
	{
		Log::Write( "ERROR: Could not create DXGI factory!" );
		return false;
	}

	IDXGIAdapter* pAdapter;
	hr = pFactory->EnumAdapters( 0, &pAdapter );
	if ( FAILED( hr ) )
	{
		Log::Write( "ERROR: Could not get DXGI adapter!" );
		return false;
	}

	IDXGIOutput* pAdapterOutput;
	hr = pAdapter->EnumOutputs( 0, &pAdapterOutput );
	if ( FAILED( hr ) )
	{
		Log::Write( "ERROR: Could not get DXGI adapter output!" );
		return false;
	}

	unsigned int numDisplayModes;
	hr = pAdapterOutput->GetDisplayModeList( DXGI_FORMAT_R8G8B8A8_UNORM, DXGI_ENUM_MODES_INTERLACED, &numDisplayModes, nullptr );
	if ( FAILED( hr ) || numDisplayModes == 0 )
	{
		Log::Write( "ERROR: Could not get number of adapter display modes!" );
		return false;
	}

	auto displayModeList = new DXGI_MODE_DESC[ numDisplayModes ];
	hr = pAdapterOutput->GetDisplayModeList( DXGI_FORMAT_R8G8B8A8_UNORM, DXGI_ENUM_MODES_INTERLACED, &numDisplayModes, displayModeList );
	if ( FAILED( hr ) )
	{
		Log::Write( "ERROR: Could not get list of adapter display modes!" );
		return false;
	}

	RECT cr;
	GetClientRect( m_pWindow, &cr );
	unsigned int width = cr.right - cr.left;
	unsigned int height = cr.bottom - cr.top;

	unsigned int numerator = 0;
	unsigned int denominator = 1;

	for ( unsigned int i = 0; i < numDisplayModes; ++i )
		if ( displayModeList[ i ].Width == width && displayModeList[ i ].Height == height )
		{
			numerator = displayModeList[ i ].RefreshRate.Numerator;
			denominator = displayModeList[ i ].RefreshRate.Denominator;
		}

	DXGI_ADAPTER_DESC adapterDesc;
	hr = pAdapter->GetDesc( &adapterDesc );
	if ( FAILED( hr ) )
	{
		Log::Write( "ERROR: Could not get adapter description!" );
		return false;
	}

	std::wstring videoCardDescription( adapterDesc.Description );
	m_videoCardDescription = std::string( videoCardDescription.begin(), videoCardDescription.end() );

	m_videoCardMemory = adapterDesc.DedicatedVideoMemory / 1024 / 1024;

	std::stringstream ss;
	ss << "Detected video card: " << m_videoCardDescription;
	Log::Write( ss.str() );
	ss.str( "" );
	ss << "Video memory: " << m_videoCardMemory << " MB";
	Log::Write( ss.str() );

	delete[] displayModeList;

	ComRelease( pAdapterOutput );
	ComRelease( pAdapter );
	ComRelease( pFactory );

	unsigned int debugFlags = 0;

	bool tripleBuffering = true;

	DXGI_SWAP_CHAIN_DESC swapChainDesc;
	swapChainDesc.BufferCount = tripleBuffering ? 2 : 1;
	swapChainDesc.BufferDesc.Format = DXGI_FORMAT_R8G8B8A8_UNORM;
	swapChainDesc.BufferDesc.Height = height;
	swapChainDesc.BufferDesc.RefreshRate.Denominator = m_vsync ? denominator : 1;
	swapChainDesc.BufferDesc.RefreshRate.Numerator = m_vsync ? numerator : 0;
	swapChainDesc.BufferDesc.Scaling = DXGI_MODE_SCALING_UNSPECIFIED;
	swapChainDesc.BufferDesc.ScanlineOrdering = DXGI_MODE_SCANLINE_ORDER_UNSPECIFIED;
	swapChainDesc.BufferDesc.Width = width;
	swapChainDesc.BufferUsage = DXGI_USAGE_RENDER_TARGET_OUTPUT;
	swapChainDesc.Flags = 0;
	swapChainDesc.OutputWindow = m_pWindow;
	swapChainDesc.SampleDesc.Count = 1;
	swapChainDesc.SampleDesc.Quality = 0;
	swapChainDesc.SwapEffect = DXGI_SWAP_EFFECT_DISCARD;
	swapChainDesc.Windowed = !m_fullscreen;

	D3D_FEATURE_LEVEL featureLevels[] =
	{
		D3D_FEATURE_LEVEL_11_1,
		D3D_FEATURE_LEVEL_11_0,
		D3D_FEATURE_LEVEL_10_1,
		D3D_FEATURE_LEVEL_10_0
	};
	const unsigned int numFeatureLevels = ARRAYSIZE( featureLevels );

	D3D_DRIVER_TYPE driverTypes[] =
	{
		D3D_DRIVER_TYPE_HARDWARE,
		D3D_DRIVER_TYPE_WARP,
		D3D_DRIVER_TYPE_REFERENCE
	};
	const unsigned int numDriverTypes = ARRAYSIZE( driverTypes );

	unsigned int creationFlags = 0;
#ifdef _DEBUG
	creationFlags |= D3D11_CREATE_DEVICE_DEBUG;
#endif

	for ( unsigned int driverType = 0; driverType < numDriverTypes; ++driverType )
	{
		hr = D3D11CreateDeviceAndSwapChain(
			nullptr,
			driverTypes[ driverType ],
			nullptr,
			creationFlags,
			featureLevels,
			numFeatureLevels,
			D3D11_SDK_VERSION,
			&swapChainDesc,
			&m_pSwapChain,
			&m_pDevice,
			&m_featureLevel,
			&m_pDeviceContext
		);

		if ( SUCCEEDED( hr ) )
		{
			m_driverType = driverTypes[ driverType ];
			break;
		}
	}
	if ( FAILED( hr ) )
	{
		Log::Write( "ERROR: Could not create device and swap chain!" );
		return false;
	}

	ID3D11Texture2D* pBackBuffer;
	hr = m_pSwapChain->GetBuffer( 0, __uuidof( ID3D11Texture2D ), reinterpret_cast< void** >( &pBackBuffer ) );
	if ( FAILED( hr ) )
	{
		Log::Write( "ERROR: Could not get back buffer texture!" );
		return false;
	}

	hr = m_pDevice->CreateRenderTargetView( pBackBuffer, nullptr, &m_pRenderTargetView );
	if ( FAILED( hr ) )
	{
		Log::Write( "ERROR: Could not create render target view!" );
		return false;
	}

	ComRelease( pBackBuffer );

	D3D11_TEXTURE2D_DESC depthBufferDesc;
	depthBufferDesc.ArraySize = 1;
	depthBufferDesc.BindFlags = D3D11_BIND_DEPTH_STENCIL;
	depthBufferDesc.CPUAccessFlags = 0;
	depthBufferDesc.Format = DXGI_FORMAT_D24_UNORM_S8_UINT;
	depthBufferDesc.Height = height;
	depthBufferDesc.MipLevels = 1;
	depthBufferDesc.MiscFlags = 0;
	depthBufferDesc.SampleDesc.Count = 1;
	depthBufferDesc.SampleDesc.Quality = 0;
	depthBufferDesc.Usage = D3D11_USAGE_DEFAULT;
	depthBufferDesc.Width = width;

	hr = m_pDevice->CreateTexture2D( &depthBufferDesc, nullptr, &m_pDepthStencilBuffer );
	if ( FAILED( hr ) )
	{
		Log::Write( "ERROR: Could not create depth stencil buffer!" );
		return false;
	}

	D3D11_DEPTH_STENCIL_DESC depthStencilDesc;
	depthStencilDesc.BackFace.StencilDepthFailOp = D3D11_STENCIL_OP_DECR;
	depthStencilDesc.BackFace.StencilFailOp = D3D11_STENCIL_OP_KEEP;
	depthStencilDesc.BackFace.StencilFunc = D3D11_COMPARISON_ALWAYS;
	depthStencilDesc.BackFace.StencilPassOp = D3D11_STENCIL_OP_KEEP;
	depthStencilDesc.DepthEnable = true;
	depthStencilDesc.DepthFunc = D3D11_COMPARISON_LESS;
	depthStencilDesc.DepthWriteMask = D3D11_DEPTH_WRITE_MASK_ALL;
	depthStencilDesc.FrontFace.StencilDepthFailOp = D3D11_STENCIL_OP_INCR;
	depthStencilDesc.FrontFace.StencilFailOp = D3D11_STENCIL_OP_KEEP;
	depthStencilDesc.FrontFace.StencilFunc = D3D11_COMPARISON_ALWAYS;
	depthStencilDesc.FrontFace.StencilPassOp = D3D11_STENCIL_OP_KEEP;
	depthStencilDesc.StencilEnable = true;
	depthStencilDesc.StencilReadMask = 0xFF;
	depthStencilDesc.StencilWriteMask = 0xFF;

	hr = m_pDevice->CreateDepthStencilState( &depthStencilDesc, &m_pDepthStencilState );
	if ( FAILED( hr ) )
	{
		Log::Write( "ERROR: Could not create depth stencil state!" );
		return false;
	}

	m_pDeviceContext->OMSetDepthStencilState( m_pDepthStencilState, 1 );

	D3D11_DEPTH_STENCIL_VIEW_DESC depthStencilViewDesc;
	ZeroMemory( &depthStencilViewDesc, sizeof( depthStencilViewDesc ) );
	depthStencilViewDesc.Format = DXGI_FORMAT_D24_UNORM_S8_UINT;
	depthStencilViewDesc.Texture2D.MipSlice = 0;
	depthStencilViewDesc.ViewDimension = D3D11_DSV_DIMENSION_TEXTURE2D;

	hr = m_pDevice->CreateDepthStencilView( m_pDepthStencilBuffer, &depthStencilViewDesc, &m_pDepthStencilView );
	if ( FAILED( hr ) )
	{
		Log::Write( "ERROR: Could not create depth stencil view!" );
		return false;
	}

	m_pDeviceContext->OMSetRenderTargets( 1, &m_pRenderTargetView, m_pDepthStencilView );

	D3D11_RASTERIZER_DESC rasterizerDesc;
	rasterizerDesc.AntialiasedLineEnable = false;
	rasterizerDesc.CullMode = D3D11_CULL_NONE;
	rasterizerDesc.DepthBias = 0;
	rasterizerDesc.DepthBiasClamp = 0.0f;
	rasterizerDesc.DepthClipEnable = true;
	rasterizerDesc.FillMode = D3D11_FILL_SOLID;
	rasterizerDesc.FrontCounterClockwise = false;
	rasterizerDesc.MultisampleEnable = false;
	rasterizerDesc.ScissorEnable = false;
	rasterizerDesc.SlopeScaledDepthBias = 0.0f;

	hr = m_pDevice->CreateRasterizerState( &rasterizerDesc, &m_pRasterizerState );
	if ( FAILED( hr ) )
	{
		Log::Write( "ERROR: Could not create rasterizer state!" );
		return false;
	}

	m_pDeviceContext->RSSetState( m_pRasterizerState );

	D3D11_VIEWPORT viewport;
	viewport.Height = static_cast< float >( height );
	viewport.MaxDepth = 1.0f;
	viewport.MinDepth = 0.0f;
	viewport.TopLeftX = 0.0f;
	viewport.TopLeftY = 0.0f;
	viewport.Width = static_cast< float >( width );

	m_pDeviceContext->RSSetViewports( 1, &viewport );

	IDXGIDevice* pDevice = nullptr;
	m_pDevice->QueryInterface( __uuidof( IDXGIDevice ), reinterpret_cast<void** >( &pDevice ) );

	pDevice->GetParent( __uuidof( IDXGIAdapter ), reinterpret_cast< void** >( &pAdapter ) );

	pAdapter->GetParent( __uuidof( IDXGIFactory ), reinterpret_cast< void** >( &pFactory ) );

	pFactory->MakeWindowAssociation( m_pWindow, DXGI_MWA_NO_ALT_ENTER );
	
	ComRelease( pDevice );
	ComRelease( pAdapter );
	ComRelease( pFactory );

	return true;
}

And here's the shader creation:

bool StartupScene::Load( Untopia::ICore* pCore )
{
	Log::LoggingContext loggingContext( "StartupScene::Load()" );

	auto pRenderSystem = reinterpret_cast< D3D11RenderSystem* >( pCore->GetSubsystem( "render" ) );
	auto pDevice = pRenderSystem->GetDevice();

	SimpleVertex vertices[]= 
	{
		{ XMFLOAT3( -1.0f,  1.0f, 0.0f ) },
		{ XMFLOAT3(  1.0f,  1.0f, 0.0f ) },
		{ XMFLOAT3( -1.0f, -1.0f, 0.0f ) },
	};
	m_vertexCount = ARRAYSIZE( vertices );


	D3D11_BUFFER_DESC vertexBufferDesc;
	vertexBufferDesc.BindFlags = D3D11_BIND_VERTEX_BUFFER;
	vertexBufferDesc.ByteWidth = sizeof( Vertex ) * m_vertexCount;
	vertexBufferDesc.CPUAccessFlags = 0;
	vertexBufferDesc.MiscFlags = 0;
	vertexBufferDesc.StructureByteStride = 0;
	vertexBufferDesc.Usage = D3D11_USAGE_DEFAULT;

	D3D11_SUBRESOURCE_DATA vertexData;
	vertexData.pSysMem = vertices;
	vertexData.SysMemPitch = 0;
	vertexData.SysMemSlicePitch = 0;

	HRESULT hr = pDevice->CreateBuffer( &vertexBufferDesc, &vertexData, &m_pVertexBuffer );
	if ( FAILED( hr ) )
	{
		Log::Write( "ERROR: Could not create vertex buffer!" );
		return false;
	}

	char* vsBytes = nullptr;
	unsigned int numVsBytes = 0;
	std::ifstream vsFile( "SimpleVS.cso", std::ios::in | std::ios::binary | std::ios::ate );
	if ( vsFile.is_open() )
	{
		numVsBytes = static_cast<unsigned int>( vsFile.tellg() );
		vsBytes = new char[ numVsBytes ];
		vsFile.seekg( 0, std::ios::beg );
		vsFile.read( vsBytes, numVsBytes );
		vsFile.close();
	}
	hr = pDevice->CreateVertexShader( vsBytes, numVsBytes, nullptr, &m_pVertexShader );
	if ( FAILED( hr ) )
	{
		Log::Write( "ERROR: Could not create vertex shader!" );
		return false;
	}

	D3D11_INPUT_ELEMENT_DESC inputLayouts[] = { { "POSITION", 0, DXGI_FORMAT_R32G32B32_FLOAT, 0, 0, D3D11_INPUT_PER_VERTEX_DATA, 0 }, };

	hr = pDevice->CreateInputLayout( inputLayouts, ARRAYSIZE( inputLayouts ), vsBytes, numVsBytes, &m_pInputLayout );
	if ( FAILED( hr ) )
	{
		Log::Write( "ERROR: Could not create input layout!" );
		return false;
	}

	delete[] vsBytes;

	char* psBytes = nullptr;
	unsigned int numPsBytes = 0;
	std::ifstream psFile( "SimplePS.cso", std::ios::in | std::ios::binary | std::ios::ate );
	if ( psFile.is_open() )
	{
		numPsBytes = static_cast<unsigned int>( psFile.tellg() );
		psBytes = new char[ numPsBytes ];
		psFile.seekg( 0, std::ios::beg );
		psFile.read( psBytes, numPsBytes );
		psFile.close();
	}
	hr = pDevice->CreatePixelShader( psBytes, numPsBytes, nullptr, &m_pPixelShader );
	if ( FAILED( hr ) )
	{
		Log::Write( "ERROR: Could not create pixel shader!" );
		return false;
	}

	delete[] psBytes;

	return true;
}

And finally, the rendering function:

void StartupScene::Render( IRenderSystem* pRenderSystem )
{
	auto pDeviceContext = reinterpret_cast< D3D11RenderSystem* >( pRenderSystem )->GetDeviceContext();

	unsigned int stride = 0;
	unsigned int offset = 0;

	pDeviceContext->IASetVertexBuffers( 0, 1, &m_pVertexBuffer, &stride, &offset );
	pDeviceContext->IASetPrimitiveTopology( D3D11_PRIMITIVE_TOPOLOGY_TRIANGLELIST );

	pDeviceContext->VSSetConstantBuffers( 0, 1, &m_pMatrixBuffer );

	pDeviceContext->IASetInputLayout( m_pInputLayout );

	pDeviceContext->VSSetShader( m_pVertexShader, nullptr, 0 );
	pDeviceContext->PSSetShader( m_pPixelShader, nullptr, 0 );

	pDeviceContext->Draw( m_vertexCount, 0 );
}

pDeviceContext->VSSetConstantBuffers( 0, 1, &m_pMatrixBuffer );

The quoted part is commented out, but either way there is no constant buffer set or used in the shader.

Also, here's the graphics debugger log file: [attachment=13303:Graphics Experiment.zip]

You seem to enable depth and stencil testing. Do you correctly clear the buffers?

Try disabling depth and stencil testing.

Yeah, I've tried to disable/remove anything related to the depth/stencil testing, but it makes no difference. Here's how I clear my buffers:

m_pDeviceContext->ClearRenderTargetView( m_pRenderTargetView, clearColor );
m_pDeviceContext->ClearDepthStencilView( m_pDepthStencilView, D3D11_CLEAR_DEPTH, 1.0f, 0 );

Is this incorrect?

unsigned int stride = 0;

unsigned int stride = sizeof( SimpleVertex );

That did it. Thank you so much!