Hi there!
You can disable 8 directions by turning off the "Enable 8 Directions" parameter in the Plugin Manager. However, I have not tested and cannot support 8D with other plugins, since it's just too many things to consider to make my plugin compatible. I would recommend using the feature provided by the plugin.
To use the 8 directions, just make sure the "Enable 8 Directions" parameter is turned on, and that your spritesheet is compliant with the layout defined in the the "8 Dir Layout" parameter. Also, the spritesheet file name must contain the "[d8]" tag. Please read through the "8 Directions Sprites" in the help section for more details.
Unfortunately, I am unable to create a sample project or work on new features / plugins for a while. =(