Yes, and no. Not all cards support vertex shaders, but DirectX 8.1 can provide software emulation of vertex shaders if its instructed to do so. I'm not sure which one A6 uses.

Code:

D3DCREATE_HARDWARE_VERTEXPROCESSING
    Specifies hardware vertex processing. See Remarks.
D3DCREATE_MIXED_VERTEXPROCESSING
    Specifies mixed (both software and hardware) vertex processing. See Remarks.
D3DCREATE_SOFTWARE_VERTEXPROCESSING
    Specifies software vertex processing. See Remarks.

Remarks
Note that D3DCREATE_HARDWARE_VERTEXPROCESSING, D3DCREATE_MIXED_VERTEXPROCESSING,
and D3DCREATE_SOFTWARE_VERTEXPROCESSING are mutually exclusive flags, and that at
least one of these vertex processing flags must be specified when calling
CreateDevice.


Never argue with an idiot. They drag you down to their level then beat you with experience