Active Worlds 3.3 introduced a new video mode for native Direct3D 8 support, bringing dramatic performance improvements like frame rates up to twice as high as in Active Worlds 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 Direct3D 8 compared with their performance using earlier versions of Direct3D.

As of Active Worlds 3.4, the advanced features of Direct3D 8 and above are now turned on or off through a checkbox next to Direct3D mode rather than being labeled as a specific version of Direct3D.

Important Note: Some of the more advanced features of Direct3D 8 and higher may 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 with the advanced features enabled should clear the Hardware T&L Support checkbox next to Direct3D..

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

Direct3D 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 with the light command. Direct3D 8 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.