Fighting to compile SDL Hercules

ATTEMPTING RESOLUTION OF THE ISSUES COMPILING HERCULES

Out of desperation, I decided to remove Visual Studio and reinstall it, without applying the service pack afterwards. I had originally believed that my problems stemmed from the lack of the SP, but it might have contributed to the odd issues I faced.

1. The Hyperion build files use an option that doesn't exist in Visual Studio 2008 in spite of the readme file instructing me to buy this. 
2. Some step that should fill in the version parameters before invoking the build process is not taking place, or failing, because I end up with empty or malformed parameters that cause the compilation to terminate.
3. Using another of the routes suggested in the Hyperion readme file causes my VS 2008 system to try to run the x64 compiler which tries in vain to open bcrypt.dll. I searched my system and found it inside system32 but the compiler wasn't finding it.

Long long process to remove since VS 2008 installs dozens of components individually, but eventually I had it cleaned up and then installed again. I then ran into problem #2 again. After digging through dozens of makefile files and related objects, I saw that the version information is build by a windows script _dynamic_version.cmd but that didn't seem to be invoked properly by the nmake process. I ran it myself and then the data was available to complete those version flags properly.

Now, when the makefile is attempting to link code, it looks for but can't open bcrypt.lib causing a fatal error. I will have to dig through all the files again to see where and how this is requested. It isn't installed anywhere on my laptop. 

I decided to try to build the 32 bit version instead, hoping that would be more successful. It was up to a point, compiling and linking until it failed as it couldn't find legacy_stdio_definitions.lib file.

Various internet hints suggested that I add this to the dependencies, so I first had to search for the file to be sure I knew where it was and how to get it included. Some web postings suggest that it was added in VS 2015 so it definitely shouldn't be requested and it isn't on my system.

I am essentially stuck with either bcrypt.lib or legacy_stdio_definitions.lib errors. I have tried every version that SDL describes for building this (nmake commands, VS solution file or makefile.bat execution), but can't get through a build. 

If I did development on Windows and was familiar with VS I might know how to proceed, but at this point I have to set it aside and see if I can find an alternate route to building Hercules with the 3705 SDLC modifications.