SetFVF or compiler do this

Those are bit flags and a integer value is passed in. PIX somehow has to analyze the bits from that value and does it in a different order.

The order doesn't matter here. It's the same you passed it.

Try this in your compiler and check the result.

int i1 = D3DFVF_XYZ | D3DFVF_TEX1 | D3DFVF_NORMAL;
int i2 = D3DFVF_XYZ | D3DFVF_NORMAL | D3DFVF_TEX1;
int i3 = D3DFVF_TEX1 | D3DFVF_NORMAL | D3DFVF_XYZ;
int i4 = D3DFVF_TEX1 | D3DFVF_XYZ | D3DFVF_NORMAL;

etc..