diff --git a/libs/video/renderer/vulkan/render.c b/libs/video/renderer/vulkan/render.c
index de2232898..4e25f1c55 100644
--- a/libs/video/renderer/vulkan/render.c
+++ b/libs/video/renderer/vulkan/render.c
@@ -238,11 +238,16 @@ QFV_RunRenderJob (vulkan_ctx_t *ctx)
 	for (uint32_t i = 0; i < job->num_steps; i++) {
 		int64_t step_start = Sys_LongTime ();
 		__auto_type step = &job->steps[i];
-		if (step->render) {
-			run_renderpass (step->render->active, ctx);
-		}
-		if (step->compute) {
-			run_compute (step->compute, ctx, step);
+		if (!step->process) {
+			// run render and compute steps automatically only if there's no
+			// process for the step (the idea is the proces uses the compute
+			// and renderpass objects for its own purposes).
+			if (step->render) {
+				run_renderpass (step->render->active, ctx);
+			}
+			if (step->compute) {
+				run_compute (step->compute, ctx, step);
+			}
 		}
 		if (step->process) {
 			run_process (step->process, ctx);
diff --git a/libs/video/renderer/vulkan/render_load.c b/libs/video/renderer/vulkan/render_load.c
index b64cd6314..52737a38f 100644
--- a/libs/video/renderer/vulkan/render_load.c
+++ b/libs/video/renderer/vulkan/render_load.c
@@ -183,12 +183,14 @@ count_comp_stuff (qfv_computeinfo_t *ci, objcount_t *counts)
 static void
 count_step_stuff (qfv_stepinfo_t *step, objcount_t *counts)
 {
-	if ((step->render && step->compute)
-		|| (step->render && step->process)
-		|| (step->compute && step->process)) {
-		Sys_Error ("%s: invalid step: must be one of render/compute/process",
+	if (step->render && step->compute && !step->process) {
+		Sys_Error ("%s: invalid step: must have process for render+compute",
 				   step->name);
 	}
+	if (!step->render && !step->compute && !step->process) {
+		Sys_Error ("%s: invalid step: must have at least one of "
+				   "proces/render/compute", step->name);
+	}
 	if (step->render) {
 		__auto_type rinfo = step->render;
 		counts->num_renderpasses += rinfo->num_renderpasses;