The first thing you need to know is that this is a beta release. It's purpose is to get feedback on what works well, what doesn't work well, and what doesn't work at all. Nothing in here should be viewed as the definitive final way that things are going to be, but it is a good indication. You will need D3D9 capable hardware with pixel shaders 2.0 support at a minimum. If you don't have that, stop right now. If you're in Intel land this means that you'll need at least a 915. If you haven't updated your DirectX in a while, it might be an idea to do so. This release was compiled against the April 2007 release of D3D9, so you will need to have at least that version.