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Feb 8, 2001, 12:05am

Microsoft DirectX version 8.0a has been released on February 5. You can
download it for Windows 9x & Windows Me systems at
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/release.asp?ReleaseID=27741 and for
Windows 2000 at
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/release.asp?ReleaseID=27742. Please
take this into consideration, however: "The DirectX 8.0a run time cannot
be uninstalled. The installation process changes core components and
makes numerous registry changes within your operating system. Microsoft
does not support uninstallation." Microsoft may not support
uninstallation, but I have seen freeware utilities that can successfully
uninstall DX 8.x from systems, in case something goes wrong. I haven't
encountered any problems upgrading to DX 8.0a on my Win9x, WinMe, and
Win2000 computers and all of my previous games and D3D accelerated
programs work fine with DX 8.0a installed (some users complained that
newer versions of DX "broke" games and programs that were intended to be
used with an older version of DX, but that has yet to happen to me).

Also, new NVIDIA Detonator 3 reference drivers (version 6.50) for
Windows 9x, Me, NT, and 2000 have been released. Many people in the AW
community use NVIDIA based graphics cards (myself included) and would
probably benefit from updating your drivers. The drivers will work for
the following NVIDIA chipsets/GPUs/processors (whatever NVIDIA calls
them): TNT, TNT2, Vanta (including Vanta LT), GeForce (including DDR),
GeForce2, Quadro and Quadro2. Go to
http://www.nvidia.com/products.nsf/htmlmedia/detonator3.html to download
the drivers.

Now, you might be asking, "What does this have to do with the AW
community, Builderz?" Well, Active Worlds 3.x uses DirectX for 3D
graphic acceleration and I know some people that have not upgraded to
the latest version of DirectX yet. Furthermore, as I've stated above,
many AW citizens use NVIDIA graphics cards, and updated drivers usually
fix visual bugs or try to improve upon performance. Installing DX 8.0a
and/or the new NVIDIA drivers may or may not improve YOUR framerate(s)
in AW, but in certain areas they have for me. I just thought some users
would like to know about this information.

-Builderz

Feb 8, 2001, 9:56am

And I noticed www.fileplanet.com had it out like a week or two earlier
before Microsoft posted it onto their site.

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