Active Worlds 3.3 includes a new video mode for native Direct3D 8 support. Direct3D 8 brings dramatic performance improvements; frame rates can be as much as twice as high as 3.2 on modern "Transform & Lighting" 3D video cards such as the Geforce or Radeon, and even older video cards show a significant performance boost under D3D8.

Important Note: D3D8 mode does not work well or at all on many older video cards, in particular older ATI Cards. Users with cards that have problems running under Direct3D 8 are advised to continue using either Direct3D 7 or software modes instead, which are both still supported in 3.3.

In addition to a modern video card, Direct3D 8 mode requires that you have DirectX 8.1 or later from Microsoft installed on your PC. The latest DirectX 8 compliant driver for your video card is also required.

Direct3D 8 mode can be enabled from the video settings dialog. For help with rendering problems and driver updates, please see our video troubleshooting page.

Note: there is a limitation in Direct3D 8 mode with the light command. Direct3D 8 mode does not support more than eight light sources in effect at any one time. One light source is always used up by the world's directional light source, leaving a maximum of seven for use with the light command. If more than seven lights are in effect, the browser will display the closest seven and the rest will simply be left dark. This is a limitation of RenderWare's Direct3D 8 library, not of Active Worlds.