What to install to actually compile anything? (VS2008)

[peterb]

I have Visual studio 2008 because I actually used to use VB for some things, but I am not a programmer.

I only need this in the first place because there is apparently no other method of creating DTS files anymore.

Despite following the instructions here, and those on every site that makes even the smallest mention of compiling Torque or the DAE2DTS itself, I get nowhere.

I tried to compile dae2dts, errors gallore.. Tracked down that I needed to uninstall all newer Runtimes than the DirectX SDK and Reinstall an older one, which got rid of a small number, but most of the actual headers for DirectX (why does it ask for them anyway? It doesn't USE any directX functions!) were still not being found so I copied them all to the source folder.

This finally got down to only one error but regardless of reinstallations and deletions, copying, etc.. I cannot get it to get passed the issue of being unable to open x3daudio.lib

So I started trying to do the complete compile, which is proving to be even more of a mess.

So what do I need to do?

I can reformat to the bare hard drive and install windows (7x64) and only what I need to actually get this stupid thing to compile if that is what it takes, but I need to know what I need on here and what NOT to have on here in order for that to work.

So can someone who has actually gotten any of this to compile in the last few years tell me what I need to do here?

And all to get one exe tool to convert from one format to another.

[buckmaster]

I assume you're running Windows XP, then? Oh gosh. I don't know if anyone's tried to compile DAE2DTS recently. It should be easier to make the engine itself compile, since we do it all the time. We supported VS2008 last I checked (or at least, we haven't been getting emails from GG's CI server telling us it's broken, since I fixed it). @TRON may be able to help, as IIRC he's still running XP.

The last time I compiled in XP was in a virtual machine with SP2 installed, I think - all I had to do was install the DX SDK and compile as usual.

[peterb]

No, as I indicated, Win7,x64.

I have been told there is one other way to get DTS files, Milkshape, but it doesn't seem to be able to import models of any complexity.

[buckmaster]

I thought you meant you could install Windows 7 instead of XP. What compile errors do you get when trying to compile the engine itself, not dae2dts? A last resort would be to send your DTS files to someone and have them send you back the DAE files.