diff --git a/build.sh b/build.sh
index 316955f..80cf11c 100755
--- a/build.sh
+++ b/build.sh
@@ -46,13 +46,13 @@ glsl_out="-o./shaders/glsl/"
 
 clang_common="${include_flags} -g -Xclang -flto-visibility-public-std -Wno-unknown-warning-option -fdiagnostics-absolute-paths -Wall -Wno-missing-braces -Wno-unused-function -Wno-writable-strings -Wno-unused-value -Wno-unused-variable -Wno-unused-local-typedef -Wno-deprecated-register -Wno-deprecated-declarations -Wno-unused-but-set-variable -Wno-single-bit-bitfield-constant-conversion -Wno-compare-distinct-pointer-types -Wno-initializer-overrides -Wno-incompatible-pointer-types-discards-qualifiers -Wno-for-loop-analysis -DVMA_STATIC_VULKAN_FUNCTIONS=0"
 clang_debug="$compiler -g -O0 -DBUILD_DEBUG=1 ${clang_common} ${auto_compile_flags}"
-clang_release="$compiler -g -O2 -DBUILD_DEBUG=0 ${clang_common} ${auto_compile_flags}"
+clang_release="$compiler -g -O2 ${clang_common} ${auto_compile_flags}"
 clang_link="-lpthread -lm -lrt -ldl -l:libvma.a"
 clang_out="-o"
 
 gcc_common="${include_flags} -std=c99 -fuse-ld=mold -g -Wno-unknown-warning-option -Wall -Wno-missing-braces -Wno-unused-function -Wno-attributes -Wno-unused-value -Wno-unused-variable -Wno-unused-local-typedef -Wno-deprecated-declarations -Wno-unused-but-set-variable -Wno-compare-distinct-pointer-types -D_USE_MATH_DEFINES -Dstrdup=_strdup -Dgnu_printf=printf -DVMA_STATIC_VULKAN_FUNCTIONS=0"
 gcc_debug="$compiler -g -O0 -DBUILD_DEBUG=1 ${gcc_common} ${auto_compile_flags}"
-gcc_release="$compiler -g -O2 -DBUILD_DEBUG=0 ${gcc_common} ${auto_compile_flags}"
+gcc_release="$compiler -g -O2 ${gcc_common} ${auto_compile_flags}"
 gcc_link="-lpthread -lm -lrt -ldl -l:libvma.a -lstdc++"
 gcc_out="-o"
 
diff --git a/src/render_vulkan.c b/src/render_vulkan.c
index c4aa7ea..81155b3 100644
--- a/src/render_vulkan.c
+++ b/src/render_vulkan.c
@@ -401,7 +401,14 @@ static b32 InitVulkan(Arena *arena)
 	renderer.arena = CreateArena(mem, MB(4));
 
 	Assert(InitVkGlobalFunctions(), "Unable to load vulkan functions");
-	Assert(vkCreateInstance(&inst_info, NULL, &renderer.vk.inst) == VK_SUCCESS, "Error initializing instance");
+	{
+		VkResult result = vkCreateInstance(&inst_info, NULL, &renderer.vk.inst);
+		if (result != VK_SUCCESS)
+		{
+			Printfln("vkCreateInstance failure: %s", VkResultStr(result));
+			assert(false && "Failed to initialize instance");
+		}
+	}
 	Assert(InitVkInstanceFunctions(), "Unable to initialize instance functions");
 	
 	#ifdef BUILD_DEBUG
diff --git a/src/vulkan_config.c b/src/vulkan_config.c
index fdb9fd4..76b6d15 100644
--- a/src/vulkan_config.c
+++ b/src/vulkan_config.c
@@ -16,9 +16,12 @@ static VkApplicationInfo app_info = {
 };
 
 static const char *instance_layers[] = {
+#ifdef BUILD_DEBUG
 	"VK_LAYER_KHRONOS_validation"
+#endif
 };
 
+
 static const char *instance_extensions[] = {
 	VK_KHR_SURFACE_EXTENSION_NAME,
 	VK_KHR_XCB_SURFACE_EXTENSION_NAME,