diff --git a/rpcs3/Emu/RSX/VK/VKHelpers.h b/rpcs3/Emu/RSX/VK/VKHelpers.h
index 9d07a4581e..fae75c0724 100644
--- a/rpcs3/Emu/RSX/VK/VKHelpers.h
+++ b/rpcs3/Emu/RSX/VK/VKHelpers.h
@@ -71,10 +71,11 @@ namespace vk
 
 	enum image_upload_options
 	{
-		upload_contents_async   = 1,
-		initialize_image_layout = 2,
-		preserve_image_layout   = 4,
-		source_is_gpu_resident  = 8,
+		upload_contents_async   = 0x0001,
+		initialize_image_layout = 0x0002,
+		preserve_image_layout   = 0x0004,
+		source_is_gpu_resident  = 0x0008,
+		source_is_userptr       = 0x0010,
 
 		// meta-flags
 		upload_contents_inline    = 0,
diff --git a/rpcs3/Emu/RSX/VK/VKRenderTargets.cpp b/rpcs3/Emu/RSX/VK/VKRenderTargets.cpp
index 138f7e46aa..736b886a77 100644
--- a/rpcs3/Emu/RSX/VK/VKRenderTargets.cpp
+++ b/rpcs3/Emu/RSX/VK/VKRenderTargets.cpp
@@ -724,6 +724,7 @@ namespace vk
 				subres.height_in_block
 			);
 			subres.data = std::span(ext_data);
+			upload_flags |= source_is_userptr;
 #else
 			const auto [scratch_buf, linear_data_scratch_offset] = vk::detile_memory_block(cmd, tiled_region, range, subres.width_in_block, subres.height_in_block, get_bpp());
 
diff --git a/rpcs3/Emu/RSX/VK/VKTexture.cpp b/rpcs3/Emu/RSX/VK/VKTexture.cpp
index c69064dbe4..eaf5c0b710 100644
--- a/rpcs3/Emu/RSX/VK/VKTexture.cpp
+++ b/rpcs3/Emu/RSX/VK/VKTexture.cpp
@@ -990,7 +990,7 @@ namespace vk
 		auto pdev = vk::get_current_renderer();
 		rsx::texture_uploader_capabilities caps{ .supports_dxt = pdev->get_texture_compression_bc_support(), .alignment = heap_align };
 		rsx::texture_memory_info opt{};
-		bool check_caps = true;
+		bool check_hw_caps = !(image_setup_flags & source_is_userptr);
 
 		vk::buffer* scratch_buf = nullptr;
 		u32 scratch_offset = 0;
@@ -1015,13 +1015,13 @@ namespace vk
 			image_linear_size = row_pitch * layout.depth * (rsx::is_compressed_host_format(caps, format) ? layout.height_in_block : layout.height_in_texel);
 
 			// Only do GPU-side conversion if occupancy is good
-			if (check_caps)
+			if (check_hw_caps)
 			{
 				caps.supports_byteswap = (image_linear_size >= 1024) || (image_setup_flags & source_is_gpu_resident);
 				caps.supports_hw_deswizzle = caps.supports_byteswap;
 				caps.supports_zero_copy = caps.supports_byteswap;
 				caps.supports_vtc_decoding = false;
-				check_caps = false;
+				check_hw_caps = false;
 			}
 
 			auto buf_allocator = [&](usz) -> std::tuple<void*, usz>